February 23, 2023

Inside this issue

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

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
 
Overview: The CCUSA Social Policy team continued its visits to new members of Congress and staff this week. The team also continues to review policies and proposals from the Biden administration that may impact the work of Catholic Charities across the country (See the “Food and nutrition” and “Immigration” paragraphs below).

Economy: In the week ending February 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment  claims was 192,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 194,000 to 195,000. The 4-week moving average was 191,250, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 189,500 to 189,750.  

Folders with nutrition information are seen in the stock room at the Geisinger Food Farmacy - Shamokina in Coal Township, Pa., May 14, 2021. (CNS photo/Hannah Beier, Reuters)

Food and nutrition: CCUSA submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service's notice of proposed rulemaking on revising the Supplemental Women, Infant, and Children Program's (WIC) food packages in order to align them with current dietary guidelines on nutritious choices  and recommendations made by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in its 2017 report. Read CCUSA's comments here.

Immigration: The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice issued a proposed rule on Thursday, Feb. 23, to limit access to asylum for people who enter the U.S. without authorization through the southwest border if they did not seek asylum in a third country before arriving in the U.S. The CCUSA Social Policy team is reviewing the 153-page rule. The agencies offer a 30-day public comment period, starting Feb. 23, 2023.

EQUAL Act: Senators Booker (D-NJ) and Durbin (D-Ill) have introduced the EQUAL Act (S. 524) to eliminate sentencing disparities for drug-related offenses, and it has bipartisan support. CCUSA joined in a faith letter to the Senate leadership last week urging the passage of the bill. 
 
Top

  Faith and the Common Good  
 
Lent began a couple of days ago, on Ash Wednesday. It ends right before the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday (April 6, 2023).  We call the period “Lent” because that is the Old English word for “spring,” the time of the  year when we celebrate the Lenten season.  Many other languages refer to the period as Quadragesima, or some derivative of this Latin word, which means “forty days.”

Readers will no doubt notice that our period of Lent is, in fact, not forty days.  What’s up?  Well, forty days is a traditional number used in the past.  The numbering emphasizes two important intentions.  The first was emphasized by the ancients as well:  to celebrate all Sundays—the day of the Lord’s resurrection—as feast days, even during the penitential season of Lent.  For this reason, fasting and penance may be suspended on Sundays, if the person chooses.  The second intention is to signify the time between Palm Sunday and the Sacred Triduum as a distinct, more intense, period of preparation for Easter (April 9, 2023).

Father John Dakes, pastor of Jesus the Divine Word Church in Huntingtown, Md., places ashes on a girl’s forehead during Ash Wednesday Mass, Feb. 22, 2023. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)

The phrase “forty days of Lent” also has great spiritual significance.  In the Bible, forty days signifies a period of penance, worship, and preparation to receive God’s blessing.  Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and received the ten commandments (Ex 34:27-28).  Elijah walked forty days to Mount Horeb where he experienced God’s presence in the susurration of the wind (1 Kgs 19:12).  There are many other examples, but the exemplar par excellence is Jesus’ forty days in the desert, praying and fasting before starting his public ministry in service to his brothers and sisters, culminating in his death and resurrection.  Simply put, we want to imitate Jesus, so we spend “forty days” of prayer and fasting and other spiritual exercises in preparation for Easter (April 9, 2023).

To help us follow after Jesus, the church requires all members to practice – in addition to regular prayer – similar spiritual exercises, such as days of fasting and abstaining from eating meat on Fridays during Lent.  Most parishes also provide electives like communal penance services and stations of the cross.  However, we are by no means limited to what the church prescribes or what a particular parish might offer.  We can add a personal exercise, as many people do when they deprive themselves of some favorite activity (watching TV) or food (peanut butter cups). Others, instead of not doing something, choose an extra activity to include in their routines: attending Mass on a weekday or volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Most important is to draw closer to Jesus, listening for his voice in our Lenten activities and imitating his constant concern for others. Our prayer and penance should lead us to love God and neighbor and look forward to sharing in Jesus’ resurrection. This Lent let us take another step toward Jesus, to encounter him who stretched out his arms on the cross to save us and who still waits for us with open arms.
 
Top

  Trivia  
 
Q. Why do Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent?

Please send your answers to [email protected]. 

Last week's question and answer:

Q. In light of Presidents’ Day next Monday, can you name which U.S. presidents have received the Nobel Peace Prize?

A. Many thanks to Anne Dryden, retired archivist for CCUSA, for being first with the right answer: Theodore Roosevelt, 1906; Woodrow Wilson, 1920; Jimmy Carter, 2002; Barack Obama, 2009.
 
Top

  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!

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: @EndPoverty.   

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

You are currently subscribed to a mailing list of Catholic Charities USA. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here.