August 26, 2022

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly
• Faith and the Common Good
• Trivia
• Connections

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
 
Overview: This week, CCUSA submitted a letter to Congress, urging the leadership to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. Much of the media focus this week centered on President Biden's decision to offer one-time, limited student loan forgiveness. DACA recipients also received some good news regarding their eligibility to remain in the U.S. under certain conditions. For more information on each of these items, read the paragraphs below.

United We Stand Summit: On September 15, President Biden will host the United We Stand Summit at the White House to counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence in our country and to honor "Uniters" from across the U.S. Learn more about the United We Stand Summit. By September 1st, 2022, people are invited to nominate an extraordinary Uniter in their community to be recognized by the White House.

Commenting on the summit, Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of CCUSA, said, "It is crucial that we hear the voices of those with whom we disagree without engaging in violence, personal attacks and vitriolic interchanges that serve only to divide us further and shred the beautiful tapestry of our national identity."

Economy: In the week ending August 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial [unemployment] claims was 243,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 5,000 from 250,000 to 245,000. The 4-week moving average was 247,000, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 1,250 from 246,750 to 245,500.

Afghan Adjustment Act: CCUSA submitted a letter to congressional leadership asking that the Afghan Adjustment Act (S. 4787/H.R. 8685) be adopted as soon as possible in order to protect Afghan allies in the U.S. and set them on a path to full integration into the communities where they live. Read the full letter here.

Upon their arrival, Afghan refugees board a bus at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., Sept. 1, 2021, taking them to a processing center. (CNS photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters)

DACA: The Department of Homeland Security announced the final rule codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA) into the federal regulations. This action by the agency protects DACA, making it more difficult for future administrations to end the program. Nearly 600,000 young immigrants will continue to receive work authorization and protections from deportation under these regulations, which will take effect on Oct. 31, 2022. While the new regulations still allow renewal of DACA applications, they stop short of allowing new applications. DACA recipients are people who were brought to the U.S. as children from other nations. Eligibility for DACA requires the person to prove three conditions: He or she arrived in the U.S. by age 16 before June 2007, studied in a U.S. school or served in the military, and lacks any serious criminal record.

Anthony Granado, vice president of government relations at CCUSA, was interviewed by CRUX magazine about DACA. Granado said that DACA is one piece of a larger immigration question the nation's leaders need to address. "We need to start having a serious, realistic, conversation in this country about immigration and what is going to be best for our country, and for people who are arriving," he said.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF): On Wednesday, the Biden-Harris administration announced a loan forgiveness program. Over 175,000 borrowers have been approved for loan forgiveness through the limited PSLF waiver. Borrowers, with an annual income during the COVID-19 pandemic of under $125,000 (for individuals) or under $250,000 (for married couples or heads of households) who received a Pell Grant in college, will be eligible for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. Borrowers who met those income standards but did not receive a Pell Grant will be eligible for up to $10,000 in relief. More information on this waiver, including how to qualify and apply, can be found here. Be sure to submit your PSLF form and/or consolidate your loans by October 31, 2022, to get the benefit.

EFSP: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) introduced an emergency appropriations bill (H.R. 8725) to provide $50 million in supplemental funds for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) to provide humanitarian relief for migrants, including migrants being bused into the District of Columbia from Texas and Arizona.
 
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  Faith and the Common Good  
 
Next Monday, Aug. 29, the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist. The gospel passage for the memorial comes from Mark (6:17-29), and it relates the infamous scene of John's beheading at the request of Herodias' daughter (Salome). The scene has been portrayed by many artists down the years.

This is a summary of the scene: The girl "performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests." In response, Herod said he would grant her whatever she wished for. Herodias, who held a grudge against John the Baptist because he had said her marriage to Herod was unlawful, goaded the girl into asking for John's head on a platter. Herod "was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word." He had John beheaded.

Swedish artist Oscar Gustave Rejlander's 1855 "Study of the Head of John the Baptist in a Charger" depicts the martyrdom of the saint who famously baptized Jesus. (CNS photo/courtesy The J. Paul Getty Museum)

The gospel provides three very clear models of how to deal with the truth. Herod recognizes the truth, but because he does not want to lose face in the eyes of others, he allows an innocent man to be murdered. The opinions of others carry more weight than his own conscience, which clearly moves him to reject the girl's wish.

Herodias hears the truth proclaimed to her, but because it challenges a decision she has already made and desires to continue, she lashes out at the truth-teller. She even harbors a grudge so deeply that, given the opportunity, she finds a way to kill the truth and its messenger. She sets herself as the arbiter of truth and will not yield to God or his prophet.

Finally, there is John, who spends his life prayerfully seeking the truth and sharing it with others. Even Herod "liked to listen to him," so authentic was his witness. John seeks to embrace the truth and remain faithful to it, no matter how difficult it may be to hear or to understand at first. Indeed, he is willing to die in this life rather than betray the truth.

The scene ends with John's disciples coming to retrieve his body, and they "laid it in a tomb." With these words, Mark is drawing a connection to Jesus, who also gave his life for the truth. But he was raised by God. We should never fear seeking, embracing, and speaking the truth of Jesus Christ. The effort demands prayer and discernment, no doubt, but it leads to life, even if we lose face or friends or family, or even if we must pass through death.
 
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  Trivia  
 
Q. There have been 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Which one was adopted (not ratified) on this date (Aug. 26) in 1920?

Please send your answers to [email protected]. 

Last week's question and answer:

Q. What American mathematician on Aug. 19, 1791, wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson criticizing Jefferson's stance on slavery?

A. Many thanks to Clayton Sinyai, executive director of the Catholic Labor Network, for being first to send in the right answer: On August 19, 1791, the accomplished American mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker pens a letter to then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson corresponds prolifically with luminaries from around the world, but Banneker is unique among them: the son of a free Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea, Banneker criticizes Jefferson's hypocritical stance on slavery in respectful but unambiguous terms, using Jefferson's own words to make his case for the abolition of slavery.
 
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  Connections  
 
Please share the weekly with your friends, family and networks so that we can build a movement of solidarity for those most in need!

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You can also access advocacy opportunities through our advocacy and policy page.

Stay connected with our work to end poverty: Follow us on Twitter: @CCharitiesUSA.   

If you would like to help further Catholic Charities' commitment to alleviating, reducing, and preventing poverty, you can contribute here.
 
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