This week in Washington, lawmakers continue to tackle appropriations with only a few weeks left before funding authorization expires.
The persistent hurdle facing lawmakers has been to arrive at a consensus in the Senate on appropriations. When lawmakers returned to Washington in September, the Senate had yet to pass a single appropriations bill. On Thursday, the Senate had a breakthrough and passed four appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD. While the progress is promising, it will only become harder for the Senate from this point forward.
It was Senate leadership's intention to hold a procedural vote on a second package of appropriations bills on Thursday, but that vote was held up over disagreements around certain funding levels and funding for the border wall. If the Senate is able to pass the remaining appropriation bills, they will still need to reach an agreement with the House, and President Trump will need to sign the final package into law. Major differences between the House and Senate remain regarding topline funding levels and border wall funding.
The lack of progress has led to discussions around passing another continuing resolution that would bump the deadline to the end of the year or into early next year.
Faith and the Common Good
Angela Espada of the Indiana Catholic Conference was the first to identify Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education as the Supreme Court decision that ordered immediate desegregation of public schools. Fifty years ago, this case was decided on October 29, 1969.
Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ordered school districts across the country to desegregate "with all deliberate speed." However, nearly fifteen years after this order, many school districts, including schools in Holmes County, Mississippi, were either still segregated or saddled with laws making it very difficult for full integration to take place. In the summer of 1969, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, entered an order allowing the schools in Mississippi to continue using "freedom of choice" laws, which allowed parents to choose which school their children attended. In Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that it was the obligation of every school district to immediately terminate any and all segregated school systems and to only operate integrated schools.
Feasts of All Saints and All Souls
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints, and on Saturday she celebrates All Souls. The Feast of All Saints is a celebration of the communion of saints and provides an opportunity to give thanks for the lives and stories of the saints. The lives of the saints provide inspiration to the contemporary church and provide examples of individuals whose lives reflect their faith. Today, Pope Francis reminds us of their reliance on God: "...they are people who have lived with their feet on the ground. They have experienced the daily toil of existence with its successes and failures, finding in the Lord the strength to always get up and continue the journey."
"On Saturday, the Church commemorates all of the faithfully departed. On the Feast of All Souls the faithful remember deceased relatives and friends and often visit cemeteries. The Feast of All Souls also includes a call to follow God's path in order to live eternally with him. In his message last year, for the Feast of All Souls, Pope Francis said, "That path is outlined in the Beatitudes in St. Matthew's Gospel. These beatitudes - meekness, poverty in spirit, justice, mercy, pureness of heart - are lights that accompany us so that we do not take the wrong path.
A Catholic Prayer in Praise of the Saints
How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord
which you give us for our eternal well-being
Your glory shines radiantly in your saints, O God
In the honor and noble victory of the martyrs.
The white-robed company follow you,
bright with their abundant faith;
They scorned the wicked words of those with this world's power.
For you they sustained fierce beatings, chains, and torments,
they were drained by cruel punishments.
They bore their holy witness to you
who were grounded deep within their hearts;
they were sustained by patience and constancy.
Endowed with your everlasting grace,
may we rejoice forever
with he martyrs in our bright fatherland.
O Christ, in your goodness,
grant to us the gracious heavenly realms of eternal life.
Unknown author, 10th century
Trivia
When did Veterans day become a national holiday?
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