March 3, 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, in addition to visits with new members of Congress and their staff, has been preparing for the upcoming Catholic Charities Diocesan Directors Spring Gathering, an opportunity for directors to meet with each other and with their representatives in the federal government. You can also access CCUSA’s legislative priorities for the 118th Congress below.

Congress: Read CCUSA's legislative priorities for the 118th Congress, which touch on the following issues: poverty and racial justice; housing and homelessness; education and employment; food and nutrition; climate change; disaster relief; economic security; support for children, youth, and seniors; immigration and refugee policy; and religious liberty.

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Charitable Act: CCUSA joined with other nonprofit member organizations of Leadership 18 in a letter to leaders of Congress urging them to pass the Charitable Act, which would restore and extend the universal charitable deduction.

Economy: In the week ending February 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial [unemployment] claims was 190,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 192,000. The 4-week moving average was 193,000, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 191,250. 

Reentry and Prison Reform:  Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) introduced H.R. 981 to authorize implementation grants to community-based nonprofits to operate one-stop reentry centers and H.R. 982 to address the health needs of incarcerated women related to pregnancy and childbirth. Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) introduced S. 516 to require coverage of incarcerated workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a federal law that set standards for minimum wage and maximum work hours and other protections for workers. 
 
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  Faith and the Common Good  
 
A Christian, because he or she lives in this world, is subject to the vicissitudes of life. Rain and thunderclaps one day; sunshine and roses the next. But there is a fundamental difference in the life of a follower of Jesus when it comes to moments that lift us out of the ordinary.

On the one hand, a person can seek transcendence as an escape from the day-to-day. In fact, one can attempt to manufacture such moments in order to “recreate” the bliss. The dominant attitude is acquisitiveness (or consumerism), which can lead to a poverty of spirit that believes there is nothing else. 

On the other hand, the Christian – by faith – knows there is something else: God “saved us and called us to a holy life… [according to] the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus… who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:9-10).

The Transfiguration offers significant lessons to us not simply in obedience but in self-denial -- all of which are part and parcel of Lent, the season in which we are called to "transfigure," or transform, ourselves into new creations of God. (CNS photo/Greg Tarczynski)

The grace of Christ and faith in him do not make Christians indifferent to the vicissitudes of life, nor do grace and faith erase their humanity. Followers of Jesus have good days and bad days. But for the believer, “life” is not simply equivalent to this world, or this time and place. “Life” includes this world, but the fullness of life is in Christ.

What the believer “grabs hold of” is not a passing experience of joy (as good as this truly is), but the word of God. This does not come naturally. Peter, James, and John – when they were privileged to witness the Transfiguration, a transcendent moment like no other – wanted to remain in the moment.

But the Transfiguration was not the end for which Jesus came; it was an anticipation and a reminder of the fullness of life to come. The fullness of life comes with the completion of God’s will, with the cross and the resurrection. Jesus understood this, which is why his love for the world was not an attachment to its experiences but a calling forth of its deepest reality and potential by coming to know and to yield to God.

Thus, God tells the disciples, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” The moment of the Transfiguration has passed, but the word of Christ remains and the Word who is Christ remains. If we are graced with happy moments, let us praise the Lord. But if we desire life in its fullness, we must listen to and follow Jesus through death.
 
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  Trivia  
 
Q. What providential event in Helen Keller’s life happened on March 3, 1887?

Please send your answers to [email protected]. 

Last week's question and answer:

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

A. Many thanks to Bill Rosanelli for being first with the answer: “…abstaining [from meat] is a discipline to remember the day on which Jesus died.”
 
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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: @EndPoverty.   

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