November 22, 2019

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
  This week in Washington saw the passage of stopgap funding to avert a federal government shutdown. The government was scheduled to experience a lapse in funding unless they could pass another continuing resolution before the Nov. 20th midnight deadline. 

As is tradition, the House started the process by passing a continuing resolution (CR) through chamber on Tuesday.  On Thursday, the Senate passed the measure through their chamber, voting 74-20 in favor. President Trump signed the continuing resolution, extending federal funding to December 20th.  The spending bill also provides additional funding for the 2020 U.S. Census, a military pay increase of 3.1%, and extends some surveillance programs through March.

The new CR gives lawmakers additional time to finalize FY20 spending levels and work through divides over policy riders. The House and Senate Appropriations Chairs have signaled confidence that they are capable of finalizing FY20 appropriations by December 20th.

Faith and the Common Good Marlene Lao-Collins, executive director of Catholic Charities, Trenton, was the first to correctly identify that the first time that the U.S. Congress held their first meeting in Washington, D.C., was November 17, 1800, in the partially-completed Capitol building. 
 
The U.S. Congress met in New York from 1789 to 1790, when it moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, because the members wanted a smaller city they could have control over. The Senate and House moved into Philadelphia's newly-named Congress Hall in December 1790 and remained there until the end of a congressional session in May 1800. The Residence Act of 1790 specified that the capital district be located along the Potomac River between the Anacostia River and the Connogochegue, now present-day Washington, D.C.   This was part of the plan by the federal government to appease the pro-slavery regions. These states feared that a northern capital city would mean that the federal government was sympathetic to the slavery abolitionists. 
 
On September 18, 1793, George Washington laid the U.S. Capitol cornerstone at the southeast corner of its foundation.  This occasion signifies the importance of this special place and what it represents to the American people then and now - that citizens can build a government driven not by the whim of a dictator, king or tyrant, but based on the consent of the governed.
 
The Solemnity of Christ the King
As we conclude the present liturgical year this Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King.  We know that the kingdom requires discipleship, and when we acknowledge the kingship of Christ, we dedicate ourselves to prayer, we build strong families and parish communities, and we heal a broken world.
 
Prayer to Chris the King
O Jesus Christ, I acknowledge you as universal King. All that has been made has been created for You. Exercise all Your rights over me. I renew my Baptismal Vows. I renounce Satan, his pomps and his works; I promise to live as a good Christian. And, in particular, do I pledge myself to labor, to the best of my ability, for the triumph of the rights of God and of Your Church. Divine Heart of Jesus, to You do I offer my poor services, laboring that all hearts may acknowledge Your sacred kingship, and that thus the reign of Your peace be established throughout the whole universe. Amen. 
 
Trivia Which saint's name means "victor of people"?

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