Wisdom Wednesday | February 11th

Welcome to our first post-Super Bowl edition of Wisdom Wednesday. An NCR headline proclaims, “As Trump shared racist memes, NYC Archbishop Hicks preached Bad Bunny.” Meanwhile, two Catholic bishops are calling on the president to apologize for posting a racist meme. Archbishop John Wester corrects the Speaker of the House. A columnist insists that ICE must be met with non-violence: “What is at stake is the soul of our nation.”

Are we seeing new salt and light in faith leadership? Or is the winter weather of ICE just beginning to thaw?

We have strong opinions today; their leanings and their sources are identified. Along with factual reporting, strong views and insightful commentaries are drawn not from the AUSCP but from a variety of publications for AUSCP members and friends.

Bad Bunny: ‘The only thing more powerful than hate is love.’

As President Trump dealt with reaction to his posting of the Obamas as apes, New York’s brand new Archbishop Hicks preached Super Bowl star Bad Bunny. From National Catholic Reporter.

Two American Catholics Stole the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Christopher Hale, writing in his online publication, Letters from Leo, says “Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga turned the world’s biggest stage into a celebration of faith, family and the diversity of American Catholicism — outshining a feeble MAGA counter-program in the process.” This is a joyfully analytical article with stunning photos.

Call for presidential apology

Catholic bishops of Chicago and Detroit are calling on President Donald Trump to apologize for posting that racist meme on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. From National Catholic Reporter.

ICE out

Archbishop Wester Warns House Speaker Against Using Scripture to Undermine Human Dignity. From National Catholic Register. House Speaker Mike Johnson defended mass deportations in response to Pope Leo XIV’s opposition. Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe said the lawmaker’s response was “deeply concerning.”

VIEWPOINT Gospel nonviolence is a source of joy in dark times. From National Catholic Reporter. In cities across the country thousands of ordinary citizens are stepping up to support immigrant families and protest ICE raids.

Minneapolis Native communities fight fear of ICE with traditional ritual and prayer. From Religion News Service. In Minneapolis, many Native people say they are reluctant to leave their homes for fear of being detained by federal ICE agents.

‘It’s terrifying’: Dominicans in Minneapolis on the front lines of ICE surge. From NCR’s Global Sisters Report. Sinsinawa Dominican Sr. Margaret McGuirk and three associates are on the front lines “of bringing food to immigrant families . . . providing legal aid to immigrants . . . giving rides to Latino teachers . . . and helping pay the rent or utility bills for those unable to leave their homes for fear of arrest and deportation.”

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE. From Religion News Service. Over a year since Donald Trump and JD Vance spread falsehoods about migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Haitians’ temporary protected status was set to run out Feb. 3. A judge prevented the expiration, but fear of ICE remains.

Trump admin continues to lie about who’s being arrested by ICE. From Baptist News Global. Data from DHS show instead that less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in the past year had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses. Less than 2% of those arrested had homicide or sexual assault charges or convictions. Another 2% of those taken into ICE custody were accused of being gang members.

At Mamdani’s interfaith breakfast, NY clergy condemn Trump’s immigration crackdown. From Religion News Service. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted his first interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library’s midtown location on Friday morning (Feb. 6). For this year’s breakfast, local clergy joined the mayor in condemning the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

140 rabbis train in Washington on how to resist authoritarian governments, ICE. From Religion News Service. The plan is intended to train rabbis on practical tools for non-violent resistance — both to disrupt systems with tactics such as boycotts and strikes, and to create alternative processes to help vulnerable populations under threat.

PEW RESEARCH How Americans See Immigration Officers’ Behaviors and Civilian Actions. Most say it’s acceptable for people to record immigration arrests and warn others where enforcement efforts are happening. And by wide margins, the public says it’s not acceptable for federal immigration officers to wear face coverings.

COMMENTARY Trump is destroying America; he must be stopped. By Thomas Reese, at Religion News Service. The Jesuit columnist says, “At the ballot booth and in the streets, we must show that nonviolent collective action is still alive in America. What is at stake is the soul of our nation.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification moves ahead

After a 6-year pause that included bishops arguing over who has the claim on Sheen’s body, the sainthood cause is moving again. From National Catholic Reporter, followed by a report from the National Catholic Register, with “11 Surprising Facts About Fulton Sheen.”

International developments

Catholic Activist Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 Years in prison in Hong Kong. From National Catholic Register. “Though known for his decades of pro-democracy activism, Lai is also an outspoken Catholic whose faith has continued to sustain him during his imprisonment.”

ANALYSIS: Taiwan finds new hope for Vatican Support Under Pope Leo XIV. The National Catholic Register examines the Vatican’s complex relationship with the island democracy.

New controls in Occupied West Bank are “another nail in the coffin” for a Palestinian state, according to a report from Independent Catholic News.

As World Cancer Day was marked, thousands of patients in Gaza face worsening illness, untreated pain and closed crossings. Independent Catholic News reports some 4,000 patients who received medical referrals to hospitals outside the Strip have been waiting for more than two years to travel.

Cardinal Pizzaballa appeals for pilgrims to return to the Holy Land. In response to a question about Trump administration’s ‘Board of Peace’ project, the Patriarch expressed his concern about any initiative that appears to be primarily aimed at protecting the interests of the major powers, without real recognition of the Palestinian people and their rights. From Independent Catholic News.

Church leaders have warned that Cuba will suffer “social chaos and violence” if fuel blockades are introduced. The bishops say sanctions will hit the poorest and weakest “if fuel blockades are introduced.” From Independent Catholic News.

US Bishops call expiration of nuclear arms pact ‘unacceptable.’ Ahead of the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S Coakley, has urged policymakers to “courageously pursue diplomatic negotiations to maintain New START’s limits.” From Independent Catholic News.

On Social Justice, Non-Violence and human trafficking

“In Benedictine life, restraint of speech is not the same as avoidance. Benedictine silence is meant to purify speech.” From NCR’s Global Sisters Report. When Benedict refused to extend a visit with his twin, Sister Scholastica, she prayed and a storm rose suddenly, making it impossible for him to leave. Benedict asked, “Sister, what have you done?” She replied: “I asked, and God listened.”

Nonviolence is more effective than violence — particularly when facing the forces of empire. That’s why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, calls his followers to engage evil through creative acts of protest, says an article from Baptist News Global. When Jesus says, “Don’t resist,” he isn’t saying to give up but not to use the tactics of empire, not to respond in violence. What Jesus describes is not passivity, but a form of mass participation resistance that strips violence of its power.

An Interview with Katie Gaitan, a young Catholic, on human trafficking, from Baptist News Global. A question: why it was important to you because of your Christian beliefs to wrestle with trafficking, and second, if you could talk a little bit about where you’re seeing American Christianity fail on this issue and how it could do better. (Here is a link to the “Faith • Politics • Resistance” series.)

Progress in the world: Care for Creation

Energy Star, the federal energy efficiency program, has emerged stronger after Trump’s EPA tried to end it, according to a report from National Public Radio, one of two reports suggested by the Creation Care working committee. Bloomberg reports on “Progress Despite Fragmentation: The Energy Transition to 2030.” The second half of the decade will not be straightforward, “but count on more progress being made.” [Suggestions for topical items are always welcome at Wisdom Wednesday.]

Some provocative ideas, thoughtful essays

An unsettling thought: that the gospel might be heard in a church not from the pastor standing in the pulpit and preaching from the Bible, not in the regular administration of word and sacrament, but instead in the shouting of an angry crowd bringing a church service to a screeching halt. A column from the Christian Century delves into the January 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul.

EDITORIAL From National Catholic Register: The Catholic View of Death Is Anything but Dark. The Church has a lot to say about a subject that many of us may not want to think about. That’s the premise of the Register’s first-ever ‘Death Issue.’

A question for your reflection: “What ethical and moral principles guide your behaviour?” Attorney Leela Ramdeen is a Consultant at the Trinidad and Tobago Catholic Commission for Social Justice quotes Albert Camus: “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.” Independent Catholic News reports on Ramdeen’s reflection on her guiding ethical and moral principles.

Leo on ‘Language that touches human hearts.’ During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV warned against “fundamentalist or spiritualist readings” of Scripture, and spoke of the Church’s mission to proclaim the Word of God in language that touches human hearts. Scripture reveals God’s desire to be close to His people, Pope Leo said as he continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council.

Cardinal McElroy: Catholic colleges, universities must help restore ‘order of grace’ to nation, world. From National Catholic Reporter. “This mission of Catholic colleges and universities requires placing the order of grace at the heart of college life . . . . It means being unapologetic about Catholic social teaching. … Discussion and debate lie at the heart of college and university life, and to true moral and spiritual conversion.”

COLUMN by Jesuit Tom Reese. Today, the Eucharist, which is supposed to be the sacrament of unity, is too often a battlefield between Catholics who support the Traditional Latin Mass and those who want to see it disappear. Both sides need to ask themselves whether the fight is worth something more important than the unity of the church. From National Catholic Reporter.

Leo’s media presence. It makes sense for Leo to avoid reducing the papacy to punditry. But deep into the first year of his pontificate, the pope still appears to be working out in what way, and how often, he wants his voice to enter public debate.

Justice Bulletin Board

Barbara Molinari Quinby writes, I have always loved history and so I found the following information on the Study of African American Life and History (https://asalh.org) website very interesting. I hope that you will take a little time this month to learn a little more about God’s children that come from African descent. As MLK Jr. states, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

‘Inaccurate and false’

South African cardinal denies Trump-backed claims of White genocide. Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg condemned efforts by far-right South Africans and U.S. officials to misrepresent a complex political situation. The report from Black Catholic Messenger.

Worth repeating ‘Is this story true – or fake news?’

From Independent Catholic News, here again are some tips on how to discern what you are seeing.

Here are a few sites you may find useful: Reuters Fact Check – www.reuters.com/fact-check; Full Fact – https://fullfact.org/; Snopes – www.snopes.com/; BBC: How to tell these photos are fake: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65069316

Bruce Springsteen provides a soundtrack to the liturgy of the streets

The Greek translation of the word “liturgy” is “the work of the people.” Liturgy does not just take place on Sunday mornings in a church building; liturgy occurs in our homes, in doctor’s offices, libraries, schools, food lines — truly, anywhere. National Catholic Reporter concludes, “Right now, liturgy is found on the streets of Minneapolis.”

In “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen offers Americans a soundtrack to that liturgy with lines like “Citizens stood for justice/ Their voices ringing through the night/ And there were bloody footprints/ Where mercy should have stood.” Later he croons, “We’ll take our stand for this land/ And the stranger in our midst.” The single, released Jan. 28, was the highest-selling song in the United States last week, Billboard reported on Monday (Feb. 2).