View email in your browser ([link removed])

Welcome to Inauguration Day. As our nation's second Catholic president, Joe Biden's inauguration events will feature many Catholic signs and symbolism. Rep. Paul Gosar, a Catholic, has divided his family with his support of President Donald Trump and his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
------------------------------------------------------------


** Biden's inauguration will feature Catholic signs, symbolism ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

In 1961, when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the nation's first Catholic president, Boston Cardinal Richard Cushing began his invocation "in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost."

Should Jesuit Fr. Leo O'Donovan choose to begin his invocation with the same trinitarian formula for the inauguration of the nation's second Catholic president, he'll likely use the now more common phrase "Holy Spirit" to begin his prayer.

And given his tendency to do so even when he's not in prayer, Joe Biden will almost certainly make the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of O'Donovan's prayer.

In the roughly 48-hour period of Biden's inaugural events, there will be no shortage of Catholic signs and symbolism. Some were already on display upon Biden's arrival in the nation's capital Jan. 19.

Read more of the story here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* Catholic sisters see the incoming Biden administration as a relief ([link removed]) and are hoping for policies more in line with Catholic social teaching.

* Jesuit Fr. Leo O'Donovan will offer the prayer Jan. 20 ([link removed]) , which will mark the election of the nation's second Catholic president.

* Biden's Catholic faith ([link removed]) that has been tested by personal loss of an enormous magnitude and one that has come into conflict with Democratic policy positions, forcing him to change and evolve along the way to keep up with shifting uniform stances within the party.

* Where will Biden attend church in Washington, D.C.? He will have a range of options ([link removed]) .

------------------------------------------------------------


** High-profile Catholic family grapples with religious, political divisions ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

While many Catholic families across the United States have struggled with ideological and political division in our increasingly polarized democracy, few have received as much national and international attention as the Gosars.

"The U.S. government is as fractured as my family," Bernadette Gosar, an 87-year-old mother of 10 adult children from Pinedale, Wyoming, told NCR. "This has been the most hurtful part of my life."

In recent weeks, three of Bernadette and her husband Antone Gosar's children have called for their brother Paul, who represents Arizona's 4th Congressional District, to be expelled from the House of Representatives. They allege that their brother, a Republican and staunch supporter of Donald Trump, played a role in inciting the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.

"We see this as our duty as citizens," Paul's brother, David Gosar, a lawyer living in Jackson, Wyoming, told NCR. "We cannot have our Capitol attacked and see no one pay the price except for the little boys playing soldier with their military gear. The people who instigated this also need to be held accountable."

You can read more of the story here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* Family feelings are raw, and friendships across party lines are becoming rarer in the current political climate. Catholics share how they maintain their crossover connections ([link removed]) .

* Half of U.S. Catholics who voted in the 2020 presidential election chose Donald Trump. Processing Trump's loss and reflecting on the turmoil facing the country, they share a mix of subdued disappointment and resignation ([link removed]) .

------------------------------------------------------------


** Building a Common Future ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

This week, we continue our series, Building a Common Future ([link removed]) , in which we asked Catholic politicians, activists and scholars to offer advice to President-elect Joe Biden.

"Building our common future: It's what the United States, indeed, the entire world needs right now," we wrote in an editorial ([link removed]) introducing the series.

Today's commentary ([link removed]) comes from NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters and focuses on how Joe Biden needs to fulfill his responsibility as head of state. "Biden replaces a man who had no grasp of the value of democracy and, consequently, no ability to employ the powerful symbolic power of the job in ways that fulfilled his responsibility as head of state," Winters writes. "Biden needs to fill the void that Trump left the past four years."

You can read Monday's commentary from José Luis Vilson on a fair and equitable education system here ([link removed]) . Tuesday's commentary from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic can be read here ([link removed]) .

Read the rest of Winters' commentary here ([link removed]) .
------------------------------------------------------------


** More headlines
------------------------------------------------------------
* In his latest column, Franciscan Fr. Daniel P. Horan says ([link removed]) that the church teaches that the government is not intended to prioritize "individual liberties" over communal flourishing, as so many right-leaning Americans wish, nor is the state intended by the church's teaching to be a hegemonic force for sectarian norms and partisan preferences.

* Transgender people take life-changing risks to honor their body-soul personhood, writes Sr. Luisa Derouen at Global Sisters Report ([link removed]) . When they are not treated with respect when seeking medical care, their whole person is wounded and traumatized.

------------------------------------------------------------


** Final thoughts
------------------------------------------------------------

To continue our Building a Common Future series ([link removed]) , we are hosting weekly livestream events with some of the writers of those commentaries. Join us on Facebook at 1:30 p.m. Central time tomorrow ([link removed]) as NCR executive editor Heidi Schlumpf, NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters and Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell of Network talk about the series. The event will also be streaming live on our YouTube page ([link removed]) .

NCR Forward members are also invited to a conversation at 2 p.m. Central tomorrow with Jennifer Reyes Lay and Felician Sr. Maryann Agnes Mueller, both leaders working against human trafficking. You can register for the session here ([link removed]) .

Until Thursday,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Managing Editor
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @ncrSLY ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------


** Featured Advertisers
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Generous scholarships available for online students. Engage in a transforming, intercultural experience at one of America's leading Catholic graduate schools of theology and ministry. ([link removed])
[link removed]
Healing harp therapy CD tested in Mayo Clinic study. Effective for recovery from anxiety, depression, pain, high blood pressure, digestive and sleep problems. ([link removed])
[link removed]
Online certificate and master's programs. 50% tuition waivers given to faith-based leaders, church workers, and educators. A leader in global distance education for more than 10 years. ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement
[link removed]

============================================================
** facebook.jpg ([link removed])
** twitter.jpg ([link removed])
** instagram.jpg ([link removed])

** Sign up ([link removed])
for other NCR newslettters
** Forward ([link removed])
this email to a friend

** UPDATE EMAIL PREFERENCES ([link removed])
Copyright © 2021 National Catholic Reporter, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for email newsletters or because it is included in your newspaper subscription.
National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co.
115 E Armour Blvd
Kansas City, MO 64111-1203
USA
** Contact ([link removed])
| ** Privacy Policy ([link removed])
| ** Unsubscribe from all NCR emails ([link removed])