A federal judge has halted the Trump administration's plans to roll back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for now, but the president's position is unclear after yesterday's confusing meeting with lawmakers. Columnist Fr. Tom Reese reminds Christians that baby Jesus was a Dreamer in Egypt, while Pope Francis warned global leaders to stop stirring up fear when talking about immigrants and refugees.
Even before the Department of Homeland Security announced its decision to rescind temporary protected status for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans Monday, religious leaders were asking the U.S. to extend it. That, and more justice news in this week's Justice Action Bulletin.
Jack Jenkins, a new reporter at Religion News Service, takes an in-depth look at how U.S. evangelicals' support of Israel has affected Christians in the Middle East, and how Trump's move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has further complicated things.
Some orders of sisters have begun reckoning with their own institutional racism. It's a complex story, according to Global Sisters Report writer Dawn Araujo-Hawkins, because many nuns were also involved in civil rights activism. (You can hear Araujo-Hawkins talk about the story on a past episode of NCR in Conversation podcast, too.)
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered an appeals court to examine claims of racial bias in the case of a Georgia death-row inmate. In other legal news, a court has struck down North Carolina's Republican gerrymandered congressional map.
Especially during winter weather, parishes are upping their outreach to homeless people.
Today's best feel-good story: a nun with a baby cuddling ministry.
ICYMI: Some 8,000 students and alumni of the independent campus ministry FOCUS gathered in Chicago. The emphasis was on the "new evangelization" or, as they call it, "spiritual multiplication."
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Opinion:
A member of the canon law panel before the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse believes many recommendations from the commission's 17-volume final report, released last month, can be implemented by the church.
Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister urged oblates and monastic to "raise their voices together" at the Fourth International Oblate Congress this past fall. We have the transcript of her talk.
Michael Sean Winters is concerned that some Trump supporters will soon be calling him "dear leader," as they fall over themselves in praising the president. (But apparently Steve Bannon needs to do more of that.)
Our reviewer finds Confessions of a Funeral Director riveting and, ahem, life-giving.
Soul Seeing columnist Michael Leach breaks down what the Lord’s Prayer means to him. Spoiler: He disagrees with the pope on "lead us not into temptation."
Listen up!
I recently discovered a new podcast with two leaders of the New Pro-Life Movement (NPLM) called The Co-Op, through Breadbox Media, with hosts Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Matthew Tyson. There are 10 episodes so far, but the first one has a good description of the NPLM.
