CARTHAGE – With approximately 80 families affect in the parish of St. Anne, the community and those touched by the plight around the country are coming together to face coming challenges brouch on by the ICE raids on Wednesday, Aug. 7. St. Anne Carthage has been collecting food and supplies to distribute to families directly impacted by the raids until the community stabilizes. When visiting for assistance, those affect have been able to meet with attorneys to help guide them through the legal process. Father Odel Medina is worried about how the families will survive and belies it could take up to six months before affected families find work again.
By Catholic News Service JACKSON – Mississippi’s Catholic bishops joined with the state’s Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran bishops in condemning the Trump administration’s Aug. 7 raid on seven food processing plants in the state to round up workers in the country illegally. Such raids “only serve to … cause the unacceptable suffering of thousands of children and their parents, and create widespread panic in our communities,” the religious leaders said in an Aug. 9 statement quoting Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, from a July letter he sent to President Donald Trump. “We, the undersigned, condemn such an approach, which, as he (Cardinal DiNardo) rightly states, ‘has created a climate of fear in our parishes and communities across the United States,’” they said. Signing the statement were Catholic Bishops Joseph R. Kopacz of Jackson and Louis F. Kihneman III of Biloxi; Episcopal Bishop Brian R. Seage of Mississippi; Bishop James E. Swanson Sr. of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church; and Bishop H. Julian Gordy, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s Southeastern Synod. In what is the biggest sweep in a decade, ICE arrested and detained nearly 680 people. About 300 were released that evening; another 380 people remained in custody. “These are not new laws, nor is the enforcement of them new,” ICE’s acting director, Matt Albence, said in a statement Aug. 7. “The arrests today were the result of a yearlong criminal investigation. And the arrests and warrants that were executed today are just another step in that investigation.” He said the employers could be charged with knowingly hiring workers who are in the county illegally and will be probed for tax, document and wage fraud, Albence said. Investigators told The New York Post daily newspaper that six of the seven processing plants were “willfully and unlawfully employing illegal aliens;” many of the workers used false names and had fake Social Security numbers, according to the newspaper. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Aug. 11, Albence acknowledged the timing of the sweep “was unfortunate,” coming just days after the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where the alleged shooter said he was targeting Hispanics. In their joint statement, the Mississippi bishops wrote: “To say that immigration reform is a contentious and complex topic would be an understatement.” “As Christians, within any disagreement we should all be held together by our baptismal promises. Our baptism, regardless of denomination calls us to unity in Jesus Christ,” they said. “We are his body and, therefore, called to act in love as a unified community for our churches and for the common good of our local communities and nation.” They also said their churches stand ready to assist immigrants with their immediate needs following the ICE raid. “We can stand in solidarity to provide solace, material assistance, and strength for the separated and traumatized children, parents and families,” the bishops said. “Of course, we are committed to a just and compassionate reform to our nation’s immigration system, but there is an urgent and critical need at this time to avoid a worsening crisis.” Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Jackson was directly assisting families and also was accepting donations for its outreach at https://catholiccharitiesjackson.org. In other reaction to the ICE sweep in Mississippi, Lawrence E. Couch, director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, called the enforcement actions “outrageous” and “out of order in this land of freedom and welcome.” He called on the Trump administration to release all the workers. “The United States government is becoming increasingly heavy-handed in its tactics and is becoming increasingly less recognizable to its citizens and all peoples around the world,” Couch said. “Why has the current administration declared war on our neighbors who are helping to put food on our tables?” He called the ICE raid “part of a malicious campaign to paint immigrants as criminals and rapists who have ‘invaded’ our country.” The workers who were arrest “had no criminal record,” he said. “Many have lived and worked in the United States for several years. This action has created a catastrophe for the families and is spreading fear throughout the immigrant community. Children were left homeless and traumatized by having their parents torn from them. It is unknown if some children remain alone.” Instead of arresting “these hardworking people (who) have lived and worked in our country for many years, raised their families, and contributed their talents and resources to our communities,” Couch added, they should be given a path to citizenship. Other Catholic agencies offering help to the families in need in Mississippi after the arrest of their breadwinner include Chicago-based Catholic Extension, which announced Aug. 8 it would send help immediately but also would begin fundraising through its “Holy Family Fund,” https://bit.ly/2ZEO7mK. Catholic Extension is the leading national supporter of missionary work in poor and remote parts of the United States. The Jackson Diocese, one of the poorest in the country, has long been supported by the organization, including some of it parishes in towns where the raids took place.
To read Joint Statement of Bishop Kopacz, Kihneman, Seage, Swanson and Gordyclick here
By Joanna Puddister King FOREST – Religious, labor, immigrant rights leaders and supporters joined together for a solidarity prayer vigil to support the workers and local rural immigrant communities on Saturday, Aug. 17 at St. Michael parish. Founding member of Priests for Justice for Immigrants and advisor at Dominican University in Chicago, Father Brendan Curran presided over the event, offering words of love and encouragement, as well as translating immigrant’s stories. On behalf of Sacred Heart Canton, Director of Hispanic Ministry, Blanca Rosa Peralta thanked those present for their support of all the affected parishes. In her native tongue, she told the crowd about a trip to the ICE facility in Louisiana to pick up a detained mother, who had been separated from her children. Quickly, the thought of celebrating her release was dashed, as the mother’s “heart was destroyed” by the thought of all the other mothers still separated from their children. There was “too much of a depth of sorrow,” translated Father Curran. But Peralta insisted that the Catholic “faith community is great” and applauded efforts of those who are working so tirelessly to serve those in need.
Several of those present at the prayer vigil got up and courageously shared their stories of being detained in the ICE raids that struck the community. One young mother, with an ankle bracelet monitoring her location, spoke of both her and her husband being detained and expressed that she “didn’t think going to work was criminal.” One gentleman shared that while he was not affected by the raids, he felt that the immigrant community was torn apart by racism. Out of work since last month after being beat severely and injured to the point he could no longer work; his family has been struggling. Another shared that the raids affected not just those detained, but even those who were in the country legally, as many were laid off by the companies, so that they would not have to deal with the challenges of employing immigrants. Rodger Doolittle and Milton Thompson with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1529 offered their support to those affected by the ICE raids. Doolittle said that he has “never seen a raid this bad. It’s an injury to everyone.” “The Local 1529 stands behind every worker in this community,” stated Doolittle, as he then pledged $45,000 worth of donated food and supplies, such as diapers, bottles and school supplies to aid in all affected communities. Daisey Martínez, parishioner at St. Martin Hazlehurst, shared that the raids brought back so many feelings for her, as her mother had been detained many years ago. Martínez offered her support to those affected and urged others that if you “know people who need help. Do it and give freely.” “God lets light shine and shows us something positive,” said Martínez. “Help is coming from all over the country.”
By Sister Beth Murphy, OP SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Springfield Dominican Sister Kelly Moline renewed her profession of vows during Solemn Evening Prayer at Sacred Heart Convent yesterday, August 5, 2019. Surrounded by her Springfield Dominican Sisters, she pronounced, for the second time, the ancient formula of Dominican profession that every member of the Order of Preachers makes. Born in Minneapolis, Sister Kelly and her brother Jay were raised there by their parents, Kevin and Cindy Moline, who now live in Glendale, Arizona. Sister Kelly is a chaplain at St. Dominic’s Hospital, Jackson, Miss., and an active member of the young adult group at St. Richard Parish there. She also participates in Giving Voice, a peer-led organization for the small but increasing number of women who are choosing religious life. Before joining the Dominicans, Sister Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in gerontology from Missouri State University, Springfield, Mo. She worked in continuing care retirement communities in St. Louis and Southbury, Conn., before taking a job in Springfield that synced her coordinates with several Springfield Dominican Sisters and led to her decision to pursue consecrated religious life as her vocation. The private ceremony was a next step in Sister Kelly’s ongoing discernment of a life-long commitment to consecrated life as a Dominican Sister of Springfield. “We are blessed to call Sister Kelly our sister and look forward to her continued ministry among us as she grows toward her decision about perpetual profession in the Order of Preachers,” said Sister Barbara Blesse, OP, the director of sisters in temporary vows for the Springfield Dominicans. “This next two-year period of profession allows Sister Kelly and our sisters to continue mutual discernment of her readiness and desire for perpetual profession of vows.” This period of initial formation, Sister Kelly says, fits with her desire for deep discernment about the way God is calling her. “Formation is structured to help me continue my spiritual and professional growth in an atmosphere of freedom and encouragement,” Sister Kelly said. “I look forward to the adventures that await me as I continue my discernment and my ministry at St. Dominic’s.” Unique among religious orders, Dominicans pronounce only one vow—obedience—which is inclusive of the other two evangelical counsels: poverty, and celibacy. Below is a recent reflection by Sister Kelly on what it means to be grounded in these vows. It is also available online at www.springfieldop.org. Catholic women interested in discerning God’s call in their own lives are welcome to contact Sister Denise Glazik, OP, director of vocation ministry for the Springfield Dominican Sisters, or visit www.springfieldop.org/join-us for background information about what it takes to become a Dominican sister. Sister Denise may be reached through the website or at 217-787-0481.
Call for compassion, understanding and end to practices that create fear
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – “In recognition of the rights and dignity of children and families frightened and separated during the ICE raids on Aug. 7,” the leadership of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, “cry out” in solidarity compassion, and support. The sisters offer their solidarity to all those affected by the raids and “those who are living in fear,” the statement says. “We hope that you and your families can feel the support of our prayers. Springfield Dominican Sisters have ministered in Mississippi for more than 70 years. Their ministry, St. Dominic Health Services, was recently transferred July 1, 2019, to the sponsorship of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Eight Dominican sisters continue to live and serve in Jackson.
The statement, issued from the congregation’s Illinois-based leadership, asks that “all people of good will in Mississippi” acknowledge that the trauma created by a broken immigration system “unravels the bond of our common humanity and weakens the foundation of trust” essential to every Mississippian’s well-being and safety. “At the foundation of our desire for a more just immigration policy is gospel-based Catholic Social Teaching,” said Sister Rebecca Ann Gemma, prioress general of the Springfield Dominican Sisters. “The United States Catholic Bishops have very clear guidelines on this.” For access to resources from the bishops and other helpful materials for those accompanying immigrants anywhere in the U.S., visit springfieldop.org/immigration-resources. The sisters encourage donations of time, expertise and financial assistance to one of two Mississippi-based organizations. Donations may be made through Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Jackson or through a coalition of Mississippi organizations responding to the needs of immigrant families, which includes the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), and the MacArthur Center for Justice at the University of Mississippi. The coalition includes the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), and the MacArthur Center for Justice at the University of Mississippi. For more than 800 years, Dominicans have preached the Gospel in word and deed. The Dominican Sisters of Springfield, established in 1873, are part of a worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers. Today, thousands of Dominican sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world. To learn more about the Dominican Sisters of Springfield visit springfieldop.org.
By Elizabeth Bachmann
WASHINGTON (CNS) – This fall, five graduate students will embark on a unique, one-year journey back to the origins of thought on human nature.
They will study natural law and natural rights, anthropology, international law, religious liberty, global politics and papal encyclicals, emerging from the program with a fully formed, Catholic understanding of human rights and a zeal to defend and explain these rights.
The Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America is offering this master of arts degree in human rights for the first time in the fall of 2019. The program, headed and organized by William Saunders, lawyer and longtime human rights scholar and activist, is interdisciplinary, drawing classes from five of Catholic University’s schools.
“Now is the time for this, because we need people who can help us think clearly about human rights to be part of this conversation,” Saunders told Catholic News Service. “Any ordinary person on the street would be in favor of human rights, but if you ask, ‘What are human rights?’ they don’t know.”
According to Saunders, the master’s program will provide students with a holistic understanding of the underlying philosophy that governing the accepted lists of human rights, and explaining their purpose.
For Saunders, documents such as the 1948 U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other assertions of rights are mere laundry lists without the Catholic understanding. Without a unifying understanding, Saunders says that it becomes easy to tack “rights” on like a wish list, without any consideration of whether they fit the definition of a true human right.
“What’s missing is a coherent philosophical understanding of why these rights are recognized. Catholic tradition supplies that, and helps you to think about it in a way that will be congruent to Catholicism,” Saunders said. “Because the Catholic perspective is not just a theological thing. It is a hard tradition of reason as well.”
The program will prepare students for any number of careers, from nonprofit relief organizations, to nongovernmental organizations, to Capitol Hill committees, to the private sector, according to Saunders.
“So far as we know, there is no other university offering (a masters of arts in human rights) from the uniquely Catholic perspective,” Saunders said. “Things like natural law, papal encyclicals, human anthropology, and theological anthropology are a part of it. There are a number of masters of arts in human rights, but not from this perspective, and certainly not in the nation’s capital, where you can so easily get involved.”
Some of the central courses include philosophy of natural right and natural law, Christian anthropology, public international law, international human rights and religious liberty.
Saunders emphasized that the program is neither exclusively for Catholics, nor any kind of Catholic conversion machine. He cited St. John Paul II’s encyclicals, in which he often engaged with people of goodwill who were not Catholic, but desired to understand the rich Catholic teaching on human rights issues.
“Natural rights are not disguised Catholic theology,” Saunders said. “They are just based on the idea that we share some things as human beings, and if we find those things out, we can figure out an answer to Aristotle’s question: How can we order our lives?”
Bradley Lewis, associate professor of philosophy at Catholic University, will teach two of the foundational classes for the program: “The Philosophy of Natural Rights and Natural Law” and “Morality and Law.”
He explained that Catholic thought is historically enmeshed in human rights decisions.
“If you go to the beginning of modern human rights projects, a lot of people involved in promoting human rights in the late 1940s and 1950s were Christians and, in many cases, Catholic,” Lewis said. “This approach is something that we have had within the Catholic world, and, at a certain point, it was lost and fell out of discussion. We want to put it back in.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— On July 18, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) issued a press release after Fr. Columba’s nomination saying “Father Columba Stewart, OSB, Benedictine monk, scholar of early religions and executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, will deliver the 2019 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.” The NEH has this lecture as the “highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. The NEH, a federal agency created in 1965, selects the lecturer through a formal review process that includes nominations from the general public. Stewart will deliver the lecture, titled “Cultural Heritage Present and Future: A Benedictine Monk’s Long View,” on Monday, October 7, at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public and will stream online at neh.gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Father Columba Stewart. (Photo courtesy Hill Museum and Manuscript Library)
‘‘A ‘Monument Man’ of our time, Father Columba Stewart has dauntlessly rescued centuries’ worth of irreplaceable cultural heritage under threat from around the world,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. Stating that he was ‘deeply humbled” by his selection, Stewart replied, “It is an extraordinary moment in our nation’s intellectual life and one in which a keener sense of the wisdom and experience of the past, critically interpreted, has much to offer.’ Dubbed ‘the monk who saves manuscripts from ISIS,’ by Atlantic magazine, Stewart has spent 15 years working with international religious leaders, government authorities and archivists to photograph and digitize ancient to early-modern religious manuscripts, especially those at risk due to war, strife or economic uncertainty. Stewart has traveled to the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and South Asia to partner with local communities to photograph historic handwritten books and documents in their original context. His work has taken him to some of the world’s most volatile regions. Since becoming executive director of HMML in 2003, Stewart has striven to make these documents available to a wide public, aided in part by grants from the NEH. In 2015 HMML launched an online reading room to give visitors access to the library’s growing digitized collection of more than 250,000 handwritten books and 50 million handwritten pages, the world’s largest digital collection of ancient manuscripts. Stewart professed vows as a monk at Saint John’s Abbey in 1982 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1990. Much of his work in preserving ancient religious texts is informed by Benedictine tradition. A scholar of early Christian monasticism, Stewart holds a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard University, a master’s in religious studies from Yale University, and a D.Phil. in theology from Oxford University. Stewart has published extensively on ancient Christianity, monasticism, and manuscript culture, including Working the Earth of the Heart: the Messalian Controversy in History, Texts and Language to 431, Cassian the Monk, Prayer and Community: the Benedictine Tradition, a wide range of essays and articles and is working on his current book, Between Earth and Heaven. The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is the NEH agency’s signature annual public event. Past Jefferson Lecturers include Rita Charon, Martha C. Nussbaum, Ken Burns, Walter Isaacson, Wendell Berry, Drew Gilpin Faust, John Updike, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Toni Morrison, Barbara Tuchman, and Robert Penn Warren. The lectureship carries a $10,000 honorarium, set by statute.” You can find the complete text of the Press Release on NEH’s website and can follow it on social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @NEHgov | #jefflec19
Por Junno Arocho Esteves CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – Los cristianos están llamados a seguir el espíritu de las bienaventuranzas, a consolar a los pobres y oprimidos, especialmente a los migrantes y refugiados que son rechazados, explotados, dijo el papa Francisco. Los más pequeños, “personas descartadas, marginadas, oprimidas, discriminadas, abusadas, explotadas, abandonadas, pobres y sufrientes” claman a Dios, “pidiendo ser liberados de los males que los afligen”, dijo el papa en su homilía del 8 de julio, durante una Misa.. “¡Son personas, no se trata solo de cuestiones sociales o migratorias! No se trata solo de migrantes, en el doble sentido de que los migrantes son antes que nada seres humanos, y que hoy son el símbolo de todos los descartados de la sociedad globalizada”, dijo el papa. Según cifras citadas por el Vaticano, aproximadamente 250 migrantes, refugiados y voluntarios de rescate asistieron a la Misa, que se celebró en el altar de la cátedra en la Basílica de San Pedro.
A migrant and her daughter rest outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, July 14, 2019. As part of the legal proceedings under a new policy established by the U.S. government, they were returned to Mexico from the United States to await their court hearing for asylum. (CNS photo/Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters)
En su homilía, el papa reflexionó sobre la primera lectura del libro de Génesis en la que Jacob soñaba con una escalera que conducía al cielo “y los mensajeros de Dios subían y bajaban sobre ella”. A diferencia de la Torre de Babel, que fue el intento de la humanidad de alcanzar el cielo y convertirse en dioses, la escalera en el sueño de Jacob fue el medio por el cual el Señor desciende a la humanidad y “se revela a sí mismo; es Dios quien salva”, explicó el papa. “El Señor es un refugio para los fieles, que lo invocan en tiempos de tribulación”, dijo. “Porque es precisamente en esos momentos que nuestra oración se vuelve más pura, cuando nos damos cuenta que la seguridad que ofrece el mundo tiene poco valor y solo Dios permanece.. Solo Dios salva”. La lectura del Evangelio de San Mateo, que recuerda a Jesús curando a una mujer enferma y resucitando a una niña de entre los muertos, también revela “la necesidad de una opción preferencial para los más pequeños, aquellos a quienes se les debe dar la primera fila en el ejercicio de la caridad”. “Son los últimos, engañados y abandonados para morir en el desierto; son los últimos, torturados, maltratados y violados en los campos de detención; son los últimos, que desafían las olas de un mar despiadado; son los últimos dejados en campos de una acogida que es demasiado larga para ser llamada temporal,” dijo. El papa Francisco dijo que la imagen de la escalera de Jacob representa la conexión entre el cielo y la tierra que está “garantizada y accesible para todos”. Sin embargo, subir esos pasos requiere “compromiso, esfuerzo y gracia…Me gustaría pensar, entonces, que podríamos ser nosotros aquellos ángeles que suben y bajan, tomando bajo el brazo a …los últimos, que de otra manera se quedarían atrás y verían solo las miserias de la tierra, sin descubrir ya desde este momento algún resplandor del cielo,” dijo.
By Jo Ann Zuniga and James Ramos HOUSTON, TEXAS (CNS) – Upcoming space travel plans need to include living on the moon, similar to scientific habitats in the Arctic and Antarctica, said Gene Kranz, NASA’s former flight director. “I believe we need a habitat on the moon just like we have scientists living at the North and South Poles,” Kranz said, a parishioner at Shrine of the True Cross Catholic Church in Dickinson, Texas. “The challenge of a long-term facility and learning to use the resources of the moon is needed for scientific and economic objectives, not political reasons. It needs to be a world project.”
Gene Kranz is seen during a May 17, 2019, video shoot in his Dickinson, Texas, home. Kranz, flight director for Apollo 11, is a parishioner at Shrine of the True Cross Catholic Church in Dickinson, Texas, near Houston. (CNS photo/James Ramos, Texas Catholic Herald)
Still in the Houston-area, at age 85, Kranz remains a very busy man. During his 34 years with NASA, he directed the Gemini and Apollo programs, including the first lunar landing mission of Apollo 11. Now Kranz has been at the forefront of celebrating the 50th anniversary of man’s touchdown on the moon July 20, 1969. He has shared his experiences in making history and dreams for the future in speaking to multiple community and business groups and at NASA’s Johnson Space Center events. He is scheduled to address the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s upcoming Prayer Breakfast July 30 in Houston. Asked whether he ever wished that he’d flown into space himself, the aerospace engineer and retired fighter pilot said, “In the very early days of the Mercury program, astronauts would be limited to doing one or two missions. I’ve been involved, in various capacities, with 100” missions, up through the Shuttle missions. With each Apollo spacecraft’s successful splashdown, Kranz could breathe a sigh of relief and offer a prayer of thanksgiving. Following the fatal tragedy that claimed the lives of three NASA astronauts during a dress run of Apollo 1, Kranz told his team at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston: “From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘tough’ and ‘competent.’ ‘Tough’ means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do,” he said. “’Competent’ means we will never take anything for granted.” That commitment remained a hallmark of his storied career, especially highlighted in his efforts to safely bring the Apollo 13 crew back to Earth. Kranz was the lead flight director during the Apollo 13 mission. The hit film, Apollo 13, chronicled Kranz’s work to devise the plan at NASA’s Mission Control that would safely bring the ship and its crew of three astronauts, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, home after its oxygen system failed. Actor Ed Harris portrays Kranz in the award-winning film, which was directed by Ron Howard. Of the effort, Kranz said, “It wasn’t about me; it was about the teams and the people in Mission Control. We truly believed that, in our line of work, failure is never an option.” “It involves team-building and respect that goes both ways,” Kranz said. “Integrity is really the driver.” In discussing current plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024 and Mars in the 2030s, Kranz said, “We have a marvelous array of technology and a gifted group of young trained individuals. What we need is leadership and support from the top.” Kranz also helped spearhead a recent effort to restore NASA’s Apollo Mission Control Center, located at Johnson Space Center in Houston, to its exact appearance. Debuted in June ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the restored center features $5 million of full restoration. The restoration features original artifacts that were cleaned and restored, or items recreated based on original samples, according to a NASA news release, including paint colors, carpet, coffee mugs and even ashtrays, all placed just as they were 50 years ago. In a Space Foundation survey in 2010, Kranz was listed second among space heroes who inspired the public, only behind No. 1 pick astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the moon. Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1933, Kranz graduated from St. Agnes Elementary School and Central Catholic High School in Toledo. In 2007, NASA awarded Kranz the Ambassador of Exploration Award during a presentation ceremony at Central Catholic High School, where the award, a lunar moon rock sample collected by Apollo 16 astronauts, remains today. Central Catholic is the only high school in the world with a lunar rock, said Kranz. Taught and mentored by men and women religious throughout his education, Kranz is a 1951 graduate of Central Catholic. The award recognizes the sacrifices and dedication of the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury astronauts. The moon rock is encased in Lucite and mounted for public display at the school as inspiration to a new generation of explorers who will help return humans to the moon and eventually travel on to Mars and beyond. The rock is part of the 842 pounds of samples collected during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972, according to NASA records. An inscription describes the rock as “a symbol of the unity of human endeavor and mankind’s hope for a future of peace and harmony.” Kranz retired from NASA in 1994 after 37 years of federal service. He and his wife, Marta, are the parents of six children, and reside in Dickinson, where he is also a member of the Knights of Columbus Father Roach Council No. 3217. Kranz may be one of the few Catholics ever immortalized as a LEGO mini-figure. As part of a collector’s set featuring Apollo 13 astronauts, a two-inch representation of Kranz sports his trademark high and tight haircut and white vest. He’s depicted holding a tiny version of the Apollo 13 flight plan. A London-based company, MiniFigs.me, created the set, as well as the only other featured Catholic, a Pope Francis mini-figure.
(Zuniga and Ramos are on the staff of the Texas Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.)
By Cardinal Daniel N. Dinardo, Archbishop José H. Gomez and Bishop Joe S. Vásquez We mourn the deaths of 23-month-old Angie Valeria and her father, Oscar Martinez, who died last month while fleeing El Salvador in search of safety in the United States. This young family embarked on a journey of over 1,400 miles, through some of the most dangerous parts of the world, which ended with a father paying the ultimate price — his life — to keep his daughter from harm’s way. Angie was still scared after she was left safely on the river bank and she jumped back in the water to be with her dad, her security. Unfortunately, the deaths of Angie and her father are not the first we have seen during this ongoing humanitarian crisis. In December, we saw the face of Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year-old from Guatemala who died from sepsis while in custody of the Border Patrol. These are just two of the deaths that we know about. Countless others, all precious children of God, do not make it to the border, finding their final resting place somewhere along a journey that began with hope but quickly turned into despair.
A mourner holds an immigrants’ rights sign before a June 30, 2019, vigil honoring the lives of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23 month-old daughter, Valeria. They drowned June 24 in the Rio Grande while trying to reach the United States. (CNS photo/Loren Elliott, Reuters)
These deaths are occurring because the United States is closing off access to asylum protection through policies and enforcement that send the clear and strong signal that you are not welcome. As a nation, we must learn the harsh lessons from our past about closing doors to U.S. asylum. One of the more unfortunate chapters of our great nation’s history was our experience during World War II, when we turned away the S.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying nearly 1,000 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. In the aftermath of that experience and that war, the United States helped lead the world in establishing international protocols to ensure that refugees fleeing persecution in their country of nationality or habitual residence would receive protection when they present themselves at another country’s borders. The United States went on to enshrine those protocols into U.S. refugee and asylum law, creating a body of laws that has been embraced over the ensuing decades on a bipartisan basis by presidents and Congress alike. Sadly, the current administration recently announced that over the next week, it will conduct a series of broad enforcement actions to round up thousands of Angie’s and her father’s countrymen, as well as other Central American families, who managed to make it to safety inside the United States. The announced goal is to detain and then deport them, consigning them to a frightening and uncertain fate in the country from which they fled. The president has suggested that his administration will refrain from engaging in this unfortunate enforcement action only if Congress repeals the asylum protections that it helped lead the world to establish. We all know the dangers associated with migrating from the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The situation is so dire in these countries due to gang violence, corrupt governments and poverty that people are willing to risk their lives to walk through Central America and Mexico in the hope for asylum in the United States. The death of young Jakelin put a face on the crisis for a while, but unfortunately, for many it has faded and been forgotten. This new image of Angie and Mr. Martinez has been seared into our minds much like the photo of Alan Kurdi, the 2-year-old Syrian boy who died in 2015. The image of his lifeless body on the beach highlighted the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. For the second straight summer, asylum seekers, most of them children and families, are caught in the middle of a stalemated political battle as they endure the brunt of life-altering scenarios and poor conditions. Last year, as part of the zero-tolerance policy implemented to slow the migration of people to our country and deny them the right to seek the protection of asylum, we saw heartbreaking scenes of children being ripped away from their parents. This year, many are forced to remain in Mexico as they risk dangers on the border to await their uncertain future. Those who are able to cross the border are put in facilities with reported conditions that are substandard for a facility run by the United States Government. Congress has, for years, been unable to find the solution so that we can be a nation that welcomes and embraces the immigrant. It is imperative that the administration and Congress come up with a solution to these tragic realities and pass a comprehensive immigration reform plan that will include offer immediate humanitarian relief. We recognize the right of nations to control their borders and provide safety for citizens. We also believe that, in the best of our nation’s traditions, it is within our capability as a nation to honor the humanity and basic needs of migrants in a way that does not compromise our nation’s security. One of God’s greatest commandments is to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Following this commandment, we must remain a country that provides refuge for children and families fleeing violence and persecution or we have lost our core values as a nation. Perhaps the memory of our turning away of asylum seekers on the S.S. St. Louis and the image of Angie and Oscar’s lifeless bodies, face down on the river bank, will motivate Congress and the administration to work together to reach a rapid and just solution to this crisis that does not involve eviscerating U.S. refugee and asylum law.
(Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo is the archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop José H. Gomez is the archbishop of Los Angeles and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Joe S. Vásquez is the bishop of Austin and the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration. )
