Prayer
O God, the King of righteousness, lead us in the ways of justice and peace, inspire us to break down all tyranny and oppression, to gain for every person what is due to them. May each live for all and all care for each.
~William Temple (1881–1944), adapted
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Advocacy and Action
Congress is back in session. Are you ready to advocate? I’ve heard many descriptions of what advocacy looks like when we don’t feel like it’s very effective. Be a gnat in their ear. Be like water dripping on a rock. I say let’s be St. Julie in her struggles to establish the congregation. We just keep at it, because the alternative is quiet acceptance. You might find this article from the Horizon Project interesting. It speaks to the need for interconnectedness among us.
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You may have heard the news that the internment camp in Florida known as Alligator Alcatraz has been shut down, thanks to the efforts of the Miccosukee Nation. But this facility was not the only facility being turned into camps. The majority of the immigrants being sent to these internment camps have no criminal record, and some are even children. They have no access to an attorney or due process in a court of law. This alone is a violation of the US Constitution. This is in one area we as constituents may hold sway. Can you contact your elected federal officials and ask them where they stand on these camps. Give them your opinion on the constitutionality of this practice. Remind them that history does not look kindly on the Japanese-American and German-American internment camps during WW2.
Last week Representative Summer Lee attempted to enter an ICE detention center and was refused entry. These privately owned prisons are taking millions of taxpayer dollars with zero public oversight. How are we going to respond?
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Help fight for clean water. HR 3898, the “PERMIT Act,” is a dangerous bill that would gut the Clean Water Act, giving polluters a free pass to dump into critical waterways and destroy wetlands, threatening our health and the environment. Add this to your calls to your Congressional Reps. If we can stop this in the House, we won’t even need to worry about the Senate.
Education and Information
The St. Charles Center in Carthagena is hosting the exhibit, The Randolph Freedpeople: from Slavery to Settlement. This exhibit tells the story of the formerly enslaved people who were given land by their enslaver upon his death. When they arrived on the land near what is now Carthagena OH, the local white people drove them from it. The exhibit can be viewed through October 8, 2025 at St. Charles Center.
On September 13 from 2 – 5, the Archdiocesan Anti-Racism Task Force and partners are hosting a Pilgrimage of Racial Justice to view the exhibit, as well visiting the Black cemetery at neighboring St. Aloysius Parish and celebrating mass. Anyone middle school and above is encouraged to attend. There will be light refreshments following mass where folks can continue the conversation.
Preserving Democracy
This fall, Ohio will be redrawing their congressional representation maps. This was a planned project due to the fact that the last congressional maps did not have bi-partisan approval and could only be used for two election cycles. Now, however, many believe there will be even more pressure on Ohio to draw maps that favor GOP candidates. On Wednesday, September 17, from 10:30am-12:30pm Ohioans from each of the 15 congressional districts will surround the Ohio Statehouse for Fair Maps Day. They will take this message: no more cheating Ohioans out of fair representation! If you would like to travel to Columbus, see the link above. For the rest of us, please make a note, and say a prayer or two on the morning of September 17 – so that our government officials will stay true to the US Constitution and not be a part of the attempts to rig future elections.
You might also find interesting the website set up for citizens to share their ideas for fair congressional maps.