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Welcome to Friday. The U.S. bishops have a working group to discuss the Biden administration in which they are recommending to develop a document on the importance of "Eucharistic coherence." Mexico's president causes a clamor by associating himself with the Virgin of Guadalupe as protector of his population, despite his lackluster response to COVID-19.
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** Bishops' working group on Biden operates in the shadows, excludes his local bishops ([link removed])
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In the more than two months since Archbishop José Gomez, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, announced a working group to deal with the incoming Biden administration, its full membership and the scope of its work has remained shrouded in secrecy.

NCR has learned that the full constitution of the 10-person task force, which does not include Biden's longtime bishop in Delaware nor his new local bishop in Washington, D.C., has met on two occasions. A letter obtained by NCR that Gomez sent to all U.S. bishops on Jan. 19 reveals that the group has recommended that the U.S. bishops' conference develop a document on the importance of "Eucharistic coherence or consistency."

In Gomez's letter to his fellow bishops, he noted that the Biden working group had made two recommendations: First, that Gomez write to Biden "as a pastor, acknowledging those areas where we are in agreement with him, and our promise to support him in those initiatives." The second initiative, wrote Gomez, was the proposal for a document outlining church teaching on the Eucharist, "including the fact that our relationship with Christ is not strictly a private affair." He added that the teaching document would be a part of the focus for the conference's 2021-2024 strategic plan.

You can read more of the story here ([link removed]) .
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** Mexico's president leverages Virgin of Guadalupe for political purposes ([link removed])
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On the Dec. 12 feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted photos of the national patroness's namesake basilica — a site normally teeming with millions of pilgrims but ordered closed by church and civic officials.

The Archdiocese of Mexico City urged pilgrims to stay away and celebrate virtually or at their local parish. The government, meanwhile, deployed the National Guard (a militarized police force) to ensure the stragglers arriving didn't come to the gates.

Still, the president took the empty scene as an opportunity to commend the population — as he has throughout the pandemic — tweeting in Spanish: "There's no better demonstration of the Mexican people's responsibility in the pandemic than this image of the Basilica on the day dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe."

The tweet caused a clamor, like most presidential pronouncements in Mexico, for its contrasts and contradictions. And the commendation — from a man who refuses to wear a mask and announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 24 after taking a commercial flight — clashed with scenes of crowded streets and shopping centers.

You can read more of the story here ([link removed]) .
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** Building a Common Future ([link removed])
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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 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 Rebecca Bratten Weiss and focuses on abortion. "While I value the perspective of my fellow whole-life advocates and highly regard their work, I have no plans to petition the Biden-Harris administration to make abortion illegal," she writes. "And this is not because I favor abortion. It is because I do not believe that the most prudent, ethical or effective way of reducing abortion in our society is to withdraw supply. Rather, we need to reduce abortion demand."

Read the rest of Bratten Weiss' commentary here ([link removed]) .

Here is where you can read Monday's commentary ([link removed]) from Melissa Rogers and EJ Dionne Jr. on religious liberty. Tuesday's commentary from Terry Sloan on the environment can be read here ([link removed]) . Thursday's commentary from Rep. Linda Sanchez on working people and their families can be found here ([link removed]) .
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** More headlines
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* Today is the March for Life, and NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters says ([link removed]) that the pro-life movement, especially those aligning with Donald Trump, is the worst thing to happen to the pro-life cause.

* The movement within the Catholic Church to reclaim Gospel nonviolence received a jolt of energy recently in the form of a Retreat on Gospel Nonviolence, with more than 600 participants across 10 time zones, writes Terrence Rynne in a commentary for NCR ([link removed]) .

* Did you miss our livestream conversation with NCR opinion editor Olga Segura; Dwayne David Paul, director of the Collaborative Center for Justice; and Michael Vazquez, religion and faith director at the Human Rights Campaign? You can watch it here ([link removed]) .

* In this week's letters to the editor ([link removed]) , readers respond to a recent opinion piece ([link removed]) that analyzes former President Donald Trump and his Catholic supporters.

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** Final thoughts
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Every Friday, Global Sisters Report publishes Horizons ([link removed]) , a column written by a younger sister reflecting on her religious life and ministry. This week's column ([link removed]) , written by Sr. Mumbi Kigutha, a member of the Sisters of the Precious Blood - Ohio, talks about what it means to be Black in America. "The demands for unity we keep hearing, especially from the perpetrators of violence, fall short for me," she writes. "I have struggled with imagining reconciliation, a value and a practice that I espouse in most of my other work." You can sign up to receive an email each time a new Horizons column is posted ([link removed]) .

Until Monday,

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

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