Welcome to Monday. The religious left is again redefining the narrative around faith and politics in Washington as scholars and activists express growing optimism. A year after the United Nations held a series of landmark meetings on homelessness, sisters continue to serve those seeking permanent affordable housing. And what happened at the Capitol on January 6 was not civil disobedience, writes NCR columnist Fr. Peter Daly.
Contributor John Gehring writes that even as the Republican Party and a beleaguered Christian right struggle to find a path forward after Trump's defeat, religious progressives are already redefining the narrative around faith and politics in Washington.
In addition to publicly Catholic President Joe Biden, members of Congress now include the first Black senator from Georgia, Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church; Georgia’s first Jewish senator, Jon Ossoff and Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis, an ordained minister and Black Lives Matter organizer.
And yet, if media and faith-based activists have been touting the existence of an emboldened religious left for at least 15 years, what is different today? Will the religious left — more a diffuse, diverse constellation of leaders and organizations than a distinct voting block — move beyond making headlines to having political juice in Washington's corridors of power?
Observers and writers who chronicle progressive religion say that if the religious left is going to remain a potent force, “a major chasm must be filled” in terms of fundraising and policymaking.
Read the full article here.
Catholic sisters have been taking steps for decades to address homelessness and affordable housing issues around the world — and getting others to join them.
As their grassroots efforts provide some temporary and long-range solutions, sisters who work at the United Nations vow to keep attention on the issues a year after a series of landmark meetings on homelessness at the U.N.'s headquarters in New York.
Global Sisters Report’s Chris Herlinger writes about the innovative solutions that sisters are developing, including converting congregational property into low-income housing near Buffalo, New York and donating to a national emergency fund to help families facing evictions.
"Temporary housing is not the solution," said Sr. Francesca Buczkowski, president of the board at St. Felix Centre, a Felician-run center in Toronto. "It's not solving the problem."
Read the full story here.
More background:
- As part of a 2020 reporting series on sisters’ ministries that address homelessness and affordable housing, the staff at Global Sisters Report built an interactive map that shows more than 80 examples of sisters’ efforts to reach out to those who are homeless with food and services.
- The aforementioned series, A Place to Call Home, includes reporting from seven countries over a 10-month span, demonstrating how sisters are working to end homelessness in the communities where they live and serve.
More headlines
- Michael Sean Winters writes: We may not know the "how" that motivated Donald Trump when he called his followers to march on the Capitol, but we know the "what": He wanted to overturn the results of the election.
- What happened at the Capitol on January 6 was not civil disobedience, says NCR columnist Fr. Peter Daly, who was arrested at the Capitol 50 years ago while peacefully protesting the Vietnam War.
- For Global Sisters Report, Katie Gordon, a national organizer with Nuns and Nones, reflects on the new documentary “Rebel Hearts” and how the radical re-envisioning of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the 1960s in a way mirrors her experience with the intergenerational Nuns and Nones movement.
Final thoughts
We’re launching a new live event series on Ash Wednesday, February 17. Join us for Soul Seeing for Lent, a biweekly series hosted by Soul Seeing editor Michael Leach. This week, he’ll be joined by NCR columnist Dan Horan. The event will be streaming live on Facebook and YouTube at 2:30 Eastern/1:30 Central. Visit us on Facebook to learn more.
Until tomorrow,
Brittany Wilmes
Engagement Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @bwilmes
