Prayer
God, who is more than we can ever comprehend, help us to seek you, and you alone. Help us to stand before all that we could do, and seek what You would do, and do that. Lift from us our need to achieve all that we can be, and instead, surrender to what You can be in us. Give us ways to refrain from the busyness that will put us on edge and off center. Give us today your peace. - Author Unknown
Advocacy and Action Tuesday’s Sisters Speak Out (SSO) event was covered by The Global Sisters Report, Catholic News Agency, and The Catholic Standard, among others. The Independent Catholic News, an organization in the UK invited Catholics there to pray in solidarity as well. This was an international event! Our own Sister Patty Chappell, SNDdeN, was one of the speakers. You can see photos at this NETWORK site.
There is still no Senate vote on the legislation SSO demonstrated against and about which we have been signing postcards and making calls. This is actually good news. If they thought they had the votes to pass, it would be a done deal. It means our pressure is being felt. We must keep it up, so the news cycle does not move to the next thing and the Senate passes it in the dead of night. Keep calling and when you do, ask if your senator has decided on how s/he is going to vote. They won’t tell you, but your call lets them know we are watching, and we will not forget about this in the light of all the other news.
You can add to your conversation with your Senator the latest proposal to the bill. It was recently added into one of the revisions. If accepted, this proposal would put over 250 million acres of public land, across 11 states, up for sale -- mandating the sale of millions of those acres. They want to open federal land for fossil fuel and mineral exploration, extraction, and foreign interests. This would represent the largest sale of national public
lands in modern history and would directly benefit fossil fuel and mining corporations, and land developers. The money from the sales would fund massive tax handouts to corporations.
It is clear that this is so much more than a budget reconciliation bill. It is all of the current administration’s legislative dreams rolled into one massive bill.
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Education and Information
NETWORK Catholic Lobby’s summer podcast series Just Politics, is back for its fifth season! This summer, a new episode will drop every Tuesday to keep you in the know about all things faith and politics. You can check it out on your favorite podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, NETWORK’s website, and now YouTube.
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Don’t forget: Mark your calendar for July 10 from 6-7 PM ET for this online public dialogue from Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life titled Pope Leo XIV: What Happened, Why, and What It Means for Catholic Social Thought and U.S. Public Life. Information and RSVP can be found here.
If you missed the June 10th offering What Happened to America’s Racial Reckoning? Faith, Justice, and Catholic Social Teaching Five Years after the Killing of George Floyd, you can see a recording here.
Democracy Watch
I was hoping to only need this section of the Weekly Update during the election cycle, but sadly I think it will be needed for a while. The uncertainty around the globe means our opposition must be often and loud. We can support candidates that believe in the system of checks and balances in our government. We can support independent journalism. We can be “a gnat in the ear of our politicians.” What have your daily calls been about this past week?
Resources:
NETWORK Executive Order tracker
USCCB Dept of Migration Immigration Actions document