“Fear not the those without papers, but those without conscience.” Wisdom Wednesday reads a new poem by Amanda Gorman about the ICE killing of a VA nurse. Items this week focus on thought and actions responding to ICE. We find aching moral questions in our church and state and we have reports on the annual Right to Life march, a question how to respond to poverty, an effort to “Make Heaven Crowded,” and in case you missed it: Pope Leo makes a fashion list in Vogue. But first, to Minneapolis with a variation of Micah 6:8. “Do justice. Love kindness. Abolish ICE.”
Minnesota ICE
A federal judge ordered a new briefing due today (January 28) on whether DHS is using armed raids to pressure Minnesota into abandoning its sanctuary policies, leaving ICE operations in place for now. WIRED Magazine says the judge is weighing whether Minnesota is being illegally punished.
Catholic leaders urge calm in Minneapolis, reflect on ‘well-ordered’ society. EWTN reports the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Minnesota Catholic Conference have issued statements amid violent immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
OPINION by Victoria Robb Powers, Baptist News Global. “Following Jesus never has meant certainty or comfort. Will we respond? Will we resist the temptation to numb ourselves? Will we refuse the lie that nothing we do can matter? Will we choose faithfulness over fear? Now, and not later?”
ANALYSIS by Mark Wingfield, Baptist News Global. “The president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination apparently had nothing to say about the murder of a 37-year-old ICU nurse in Minneapolis last Saturday. But Clint Pressley had quite a lot to say a week earlier when a group of protesters entered a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul to protest an elder in that church working for ICE.”
At Black Catholic Messenger, Tulio Huggins connects recent anti-immigration activities to the larger history of racist policing in America — “and to Catholics with cat-got tongues.” He writes, “The past few weeks have made me question if there is anything that can push conservative White Christians out of their complacency within the MAGA movement and with President Donald Trump.”
Hundreds of clergy have descended on Minneapolis and go on lookout for ICE. Religion News Service reports the faith leaders, who hail from across the country and represent a range of religious traditions, have deployed to neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations, where DHS agents have been most active.
“We wake with no words, just woe & wound.” Amanda Gorman’s new poem is published by Black Catholic Messenger. She laments the killing of an ICU nurse by the Border Patrol and says the death of Alex Pretti, 37, adds to national tensions as the White House pursues immigration raids that have led to constitutional violations.
Moral Questions, Moral Actions
How can Catholics prioritize concern for the poor in America today? Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life held an all-day convening on the theme “Promoting Pope Leo XIV’s Leadership: Placing the Poor at the Center of U.S. Catholic and Public Life.” Michael Sean Winters offers his thoughts, from National Catholic Reporter.
At Black Catholic Messenger, Malcolm K. Oliver reflects on “King, Gandhi, and Thurman: The necessary formation behind nonviolence and resistance.” Oliver explores the influences that made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. an apostle of nonviolence and “how we too can learn and be sent.”
Two Episcopal bishops say clergy may have to put “bodies on the line” to resist ICE. “I’ve asked (clergy) to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written,” said the Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. From Religion News Service.
US rabbis also went to Minneapolis to join protests to counter ICE raids. From Religion News Service, filed January 21 before the recent killing.
In the neighborhood where Renee Good was killed, a pastor keeps patrolling for ICE. As reported by Religion News Service, the Rev. Ashley Horan said, “There’s no option for me. . . . It is my responsibility to care for my neighbors in this way.”
Religion News Service offers a summary of events and opinions “Inside the effort to organize clergy nationwide to resist ICE.” Minnesota faith leaders studied how to protest against ICE enforcement. Then they took to the streets and helped block the city’s airport.
In tribute: John Allen
Vatican journalist and expert John L. Allen Jr. died at 61. Jesuit Thomas Reese reflects on his life and work. He says, from the end of the 20th century until his death, Allen was essential reading for anyone who cared about the inner workings of the Vatican. Reese’s column is published by Religion News Service.
Annual Life March
EWTN reports “Thousands attend Catholic March for Life vigil with goal ‘to make abortion unthinkable.’” More than 5,000 Catholics, most of whom were young people, attended the March for Life vigil at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
VP J.D. Vance calls anti-abortion movement a deterrent to paganism. Speaking at the Jan. 23 event on the National Mall, Vance linked opposition to abortion to conservatives’ disdain for DEI and “radical gender ideologies that prey on our children.” Report from Baptist News Global.
Tensions were showing at the annual march, over President Trump’s ‘flexibility’ on the Hyde Amendment. Religion News Service says the administration has faced a backlash from the anti-abortion movement, who also feel the administration has taken insufficient action to restrict access to mifepristone.
Regarding Greenland
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the most recent past president of the bishops’ conference and head of the Archdiocese for Military Services, said January 18 that any U.S. invasion of Greenland would likely be morally unjust. Broglio’s reasoning was reported earlier this month in an ANALYSIS report by Michael J. O’Loughlin at the National Catholic Reporter.
Tension in Springfield, Ohio
Over a year since Donald Trump and JD Vance spread falsehoods about the city’s migrants eating pets, Haitians’ temporary protected status is set to run out Feb. 3. As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE. From Religion News Service.
Bearing witness after the witnesses are gone
How to bring Holocaust education home for a new generation. Students respond to history that feels local and personal. There are ways to do that even as Holocaust survivors pass away, one professor writes. From Religion News Service.
Israel attacks UN aid facilities
Israeli forces on Tuesday [January 20] targeted at least two United Nations facilities, pushing forward with a crackdown against the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees tasked with delivering humanitarian services to millions of people across the region. Reported by the Associated Press, published at Religion News Service.
Seeking ‘Charlie Kirk courtyards’ at universities
A Tennessee state legislator proposes courtyards at least 40 feet by 40 feet and include display the Declaration of Rights in Article I of the Tennessee Constitution on the northern side of the courtyard, the Ten Commandments on the southern side, the U.S. Bill of Rights on the eastern side, and the U.S. Declaration of Independence on the western side.
‘Make Heaven Crowded’
Erika Kirk kicked off her “Make Heaven Crowded” tour Jan. 21 at Harvest Christian Fellowship in metro Los Angeles, where controversial pastor Greg Laurie was on the program. Laurie is senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and “has been named in a wave of lawsuits filed in U.S. federal court alleging child abuse and trafficking by former pastor Paul Havsgaard,” according to Yahoo! News and reported by Baptist News Global.
Archbishop profiles
How his Latin American experience shaped the new archbishop of New York. The time he spent as a volunteer and later as the director of “Our Little Brothers” home for disadvantaged children in Latin America profoundly marked the new archbishop of New York, Ronald A. Hicks. The report from EWTN.
San Antonio’s Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller spoke with EWTN News recently about a variety of topics: experiencing the persecution of the Church during his childhood in Mexico, his thoughts on recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) measures in his archdiocese and whether he will issue a Mass dispensation to those afraid of immigration enforcement.
The Bible is clear: Stay woke
The New Testament authors repeatedly tell their readers to be awake, says Jennifer Kaalund in her column at the Christian Century.
In Vogue
Pope Leo XIV named to Vogue’s 2025 “Best Dressed People” list. The 70-year-old pope is the first to be named to the prestigious fashion list, partly an ode to his return to certain papal vestment traditions. At Black Catholic Messenger, Editor Nate Tinner-Williams reported the story last December.
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