Washington State Catholic Conference Newsletter
June 9, 2016  
 Inside this issue
  Resources for Marking Laudato Si' Anniversary  
 

June 18 will mark the first anniversary of the release of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si'. The following are some of the resources available to further the task of faith formation in Catholic teaching.
 
Laudato Si' Week, June 12-19 - Facilitated by the Global Catholic Climate Movement, a special website has been set up that includes links to webinars on chapters in Laudato Si', links to the encyclical, and an online course.
 
Catholic Climate Covenant - Among the resources on the encyclical is a piece by Fr. James Martin, SJ: "Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Pope Francis' Laudato Si'." The Covenant also offers planning resources for October's Feast of St. Francis.
 
Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center - IPJC has a 4-session study guide, "Climate Change: Our Call to Conversion." IPJC also offers a Laudato Si' Reflection Guide, which is a supplement to the Climate Change booklet and includes a summary of the encyclical.

 

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  Christian Leaders Applaud Ryan's Focus on Fighting Poverty  
  On June 7, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan released a plan to fight poverty. With every policy proposal there are positive and negative aspects, depending on one's perspective and experience. While some might be tempted to cynically dismiss Speaker Ryan's plan, there are encouraging signs of dialogue about how best to address the problem of poverty.
 
Formed in 2010, the Circle of Protection is a coalition of sixty leaders of Christian denominations and organizations, including USCCB and Catholic Charities USA. Last month, the steering committee of the Circle of Protection sent a letter to several U.S. committee chairs which reads in part, "We applaud Speaker Ryan's focus on addressing poverty. The House of Representatives' Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, and Upward Mobility provides an opportunity to advance an anti‐poverty agenda in a way we haven't seen in decades. We believe it is possible to end hunger and extreme poverty in our country and around the world if our leaders make it a top priority."
 
The letter includes a core set of policy principles:
 
  1. We see a distinction between core benefits and other services.
  2. Work and human dignity are intertwined.
  3. Funding focused on reducing poverty should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.
  4. We have deep concerns about proposals that would block grant, merge funding for, or fundamentally restructure major low‐income entitlement programs, particularly SNAP and Medicaid, whether on a national basis or in various states.
  5. A number of strong bipartisan proposals already exist in several areas.
  6. There is a strong connection between poverty and discrimination.
 
To read the complete text of the Circle of Protection letter, click here.  Among Catholic leaders signing the letter are Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, President and CEO, Catholic Charities USA, and Jonathan Reyes, Executive Director, Justice, Peace and Human Development, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
 
It is expected that Speaker Ryan will release other policy proposals in the coming weeks, including ones on national security and the economy. While the details of the policy proposal will be scrutinized by experts, advocates are hopeful the proposal will result in programs that better serve people in poverty.
 

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  Congress Resumes Its Work  
  Congress is back in session this week following the Memorial Day recess. There are less than five weeks remaining before another break for the national party conventions and the August recess. In this short period, Congress will be working on the annual appropriations bills, national defense reauthorization, and addressing the ongoing financial and humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.  

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  Assisted Suicide Now Legal in California  
 

On June 9, California became the fourth state in the country to allow people to obtain a lethal prescription from a doctor to commit assisted suicide. The other states are Washington, Oregon and Vermont. According to news reports, with the California law now in effect, 16 percent of the U.S. population can legally commit assisted suicide, up from 4 percent. Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles said, "We are crossing a line - from being a society that cares for those who are aging and sick to a society that kills those whose suffering we can no longer tolerate. ... True compassion means walking with those who are suffering, sharing their pain, helping them bear their burdens. Loving your neighbor as yourself is not a duty we fulfill by giving our neighbor a lethal dose of pills. Assisted suicide represents a failure of solidarity and will only increase the sense of isolation and loneliness that many people already feel in our society." For the complete text of Archbishop Gomez's statement, click here. The California Catholic Conference also issued a statement.

 

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  Widow of Cesar Chavez Dies  
 

Helen Fabela Chavez, 88, passed away of natural causes on Monday, June 6. She played a vital role in helping her husband, Cesar, give birth to what became the first enduring farm workers union in U.S. history. Helen Chavez nurtured her husband's dream of organizing farm workers and sustained him during the 31 years he led the United Farm Workers of America. She and their eight small children gave up a middle class lifestyle in 1962, embracing a life of voluntary poverty to support her husband's labors. During the earliest years when he would sometimes return home to Delano, Calif. after days on the road feeling alone and demoralized, not having recruited anyone into his new union, she would encourage him, saying, "Cesar, you have to have faith in God that what you're doing is right."
 
 
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The Washington State Catholic Conference (WSCC) is the public policy voice of the Catholic Bishops of Washington State.

 

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