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

Overview: Before recessing for the midterm elections, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will run until December 16, 2022. On their return, they will work to pass an omnibus appropriations package which would fund the government for FY23 until September 30, 2023. If they fail to reach an agreement by December 31, 2022, then they will be forced to pass another continuing resolution which would push into the new 118th, 1st Session of Congress that will convene on January 3, 2023.

Hurricane donations. CCUSA is accepting donations to help Catholic Charities agencies in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Florida to respond with needed disaster supplies now, as well as long-term responses.

DACA: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday, Oct. 5, that the lower court judge who found that the decade-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful needed to consider a new rule issued by the Biden administration. The 5th Circuit's ruling allows the program to go forward, but only for current DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, not new applicants. The ruling is deeply disappointing and leaves our DACA-recipient sisters and brothers in a continued state of uncertainty and anxiety about their futures. Catholic Charities stands with them and will continue to call on Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution so that Dreamers may continue their lives with dignity. 

Demonstrators attend a rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington Sept. 26, 2017, calling for passage of the DREAM Act, which would have created a path to citizenship for "Dreamers," the beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. A federal appeals court ruled Oct. 5, 2022, that DACA is unlawful but it agreed to preserve the program for existing recipients. President Barack Obama created the program in 2012 by executive action. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

CCUSA announces $2.5M Innovation Challenge: Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of CCUSA,  announced a new CCUSA Innovation Challenge during the Annual Gathering in Baltimore (Sept. 27-29). With a total award of $2.5 million to nine agencies, the latest challenge seeks to inspire member agencies within the Catholic Charities network to propose a fresh workforce development-specific solution toward alleviating or reducing poverty. Innovation Challenge submissions must recommend new and innovative approaches rather than expand on current programs. To learn more about the CCUSA Innovation Challenge please visit CCUSAInnovates.org.

Annual Gathering: More than 500 attendees from across the country convened in Baltimore last week for CCUSA's Annual Gathering. Featuring an address from Sister Donna, an interactive plenary session with Pulitzer Prize winning author Dr. Matthew Desmond, Ph.D., and a plenary session with artist and sculptor Timothy Schmalz, the Annual Gathering was a time of networking, learning and celebration of our shared mission. Thank you to our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, attendees and our local host, Catholic Charities of Baltimore. Mark your calendar and join us next year in Cleveland for the 2023 Annual Gathering, October 3 - 6.

Economy: In the week ending October 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial [unemployment] claims was 219,000, an increase of 29,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 3,000 from 193,000 to 190,000. The 4-week moving average was 206,500, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 750 from 207,000 to 206,250.

Good Jobs: This week, Sister Donna, on behalf of CCUSA, signed a statement with the Aspen Institute and dozens of thought leaders representing  labor, workforce development, business and public policy in support of the creation of good jobs. The statement urges that "Good jobs are essential to a healthy economy, successful businesses, strong communities, thriving families, and a well-functioning democracy" and that a lack of good jobs and just wages disproportionately impacts women, people of color, and immigrants and that "millions more lack adequate benefits, face discrimination and harassment, and cope with other daily challenges that are the consequence of low-quality jobs." For more information and to read the statement click here. 

Top

The Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated every year on Oct. 7, has been linked to the victory of the navies of the Papal States over the Ottoman navy on the Gulf of Corinth near Lepanto on Oct. 7, 1571. 

The same year, Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory (See the reason for the name change below) in thanksgiving for the win, which he attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The pope and many others, including people today, considered the victory at Lepanto as a protection of not only Europe but also Christianity. The Ottoman forces at the time were moving toward Italy, and who knows where their advances would have stopped if the outcome at Lepanto had been different.

A statue of Our Lady of Victory, currently on display in Our Lady of Victory Church, 4835 MacArthur Blvd., NW, Washington DC, 20007.

Still, the immediate outcome of the battle - the deaths and wounding of so many people on both sides - should not be forgotten: more than 40,000 combatants died, including Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, and many others were wounded. Considered from this perspective, how can anyone claim victory? 

Pope Francis wrote in Fratelli tutti that "the first victim of every war is 'the human family's innate vocation to fraternity'" (No. 26). And he continued, writing that war can never be considered a solution to the conflicts and disagreements that challenge human beings in their relationships, individually or corporately (No. 258).

It's worth quoting Fratelli tutti at length concerning the serious effort we need to make to avoid war, for it is one of the more passionate sections of the encyclical:

"War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. Let us not remain mired in theoretical discussions, but touch the wounded flesh of the victims. Let us look once more at all those civilians whose killing was considered 'collateral damage.' Let us ask the victims themselves. Let us think of the refugees and displaced, those who suffered the effects of atomic radiation or chemical attacks, the mothers who lost their children, and the boys and girls maimed or deprived of their childhood. Let us hear the true stories of these victims of violence, look at reality through their eyes, and listen with an open heart to the stories they tell. In this way, we will be able to grasp the abyss of evil at the heart of war. Nor will it trouble us to be deemed naive for choosing peace." (No. 261)

Clearly, we should avoid war, and we can extend that prohibition to any act of violence contemplated on others. Yet, Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti also recognizes that our fallen world means having, at times, to defend ourselves:

"We are called to love everyone, without exception; at the same time, loving an oppressor does not mean allowing him to keep oppressing us, or letting him think that what he does is acceptable. On the contrary, true love for an oppressor means seeking ways to make him cease his oppression; it means stripping him of a power that he does not know how to use, and that diminishes his own humanity and that of others. Forgiveness does not entail allowing oppressors to keep trampling on their own dignity and that of others, or letting criminals continue their wrongdoing. Those who suffer injustice have to defend strenuously their own rights and those of their family, precisely because they must preserve the dignity they have received as a loving gift from God. If a criminal has harmed me or a loved one, no one can forbid me from demanding justice and ensuring that this person - or anyone else - will not harm me, or others, again. This is entirely just; forgiveness does not forbid it but actually demands it." (No. 241)

Our efforts, therefore, should be aimed at contributing to a world that grounds relations among people (and nations) in mutual respect and understanding, and above all, in justice, which is ordered toward the common good so everyone may be free to live a virtuous life and receive salvation from Jesus. Indeed, this is the way to answer the call to love everyone.

Keeping the call to love and salvation in mind, one may not be surprised to learn that, just two years after Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory, Pope Gregory XIII, in 1573, changed the name of the feast to Our Lady of the Rosary. Perhaps Pope Gregory wanted to change the focus from the victory at Lepanto to Christ's victory on the cross, which is featured among the mysteries of Jesus' life that we contemplate when we pray the rosary. Jesus won victory by selfless love. May we follow his example, trusting that our efforts will be joined to his for the salvation of the world.

Top

Q. What epic poem describes the naval battle connected to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary?

Please send your answers to [email protected]. 

Last week's question and answer:

Q. What is the origin of St. Therese's nickname, the Little Flower?

A. St. Therese's father, Louis Martin, plucked a white flower from the family's garden and said that God had taken great care to bring it into being and sustain it. Therese understood it as a comment about herself: "While I listened I believed I was hearing my own story, so great was the resemblance between what Jesus had done for the little flower and little Therese."

Top

Please share the weekly with your friends, family and networks so that we can build a movement of solidarity for those most in need!

Be sure to text "CCUSA" to #50457 to receive our action alerts! 

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.

Top