By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Cokie Roberts, a broadcast journalist and political commentator who spoke publicly about her Catholic faith and her admiration for the Sacred Heart sisters who taught her, died Sept. 17 due to complications from breast cancer. She was 75.
Roberts, who died at her home in Bethesda, Maryland, was an Emmy award-winning reporter, author and frequent keynote speaker at Catholic college graduations. She was described as “a true pioneer for women in journalism,” by James Goldston, president of ABC News, her longtime employer. He said her “kindness, generosity, sharp intellect and thoughtful take on the big issues of the day made ABC a better place and all of us better journalists.”
She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was listed one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting by the American Women in Radio and Television. She also was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress in 2008.
Roberts started her radio career at CBS and in 1978 began working for NPR covering Capitol Hill, where she continued to work as a political commentator until her death. Roberts joined ABC News in 1988 and during her three decades there, she was a political commentator, chief congressional analyst and co-anchor with Sam Donaldson of the news program “This Week” from 1996 to 2002.
She was born in New Orleans in 1943 with the full name Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs and was nicknamed “Cokie” by her brother.
Roberts attended Catholic schools in New Orleans and Bethesda, run by the sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart. During her career, she also wrote eight books, including a book with her husband, Steve Roberts, also a journalist, called “From This Day Forward” about their interfaith marriage. Steve is Jewish.

Cokie Roberts’ roots are both political and Catholic. She is the daughter of Hale Boggs, the former Democratic House majority leader and representative from New Orleans, who died in a plane crash in 1972. Her mother, Lindy, was elected to fill his seat and served nine terms. Lindy Boggs, who died in 2013, was appointed U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in 1997, a post she held until 2001.
Over the years, Roberts addressed big Catholic gatherings including those of the National Catholic Educational Association, Catholic Charities USA and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
In a 2014 interview with America magazine by Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, who died the following year, Roberts said: “There is no way to talk about my faith absent the Society of the Sacred Heart. The women who were my teachers and remain my dear friends mean the world to me. They took girls seriously in the 1950s – a radical notion, so there was never any ‘grown-up’ need to reject them, only to thank them – and they keep the faith.”
When asked about her family’s Catholic and Democratic background, Roberts said it’s “an interesting balancing act in all kinds of ways to try to convince people that I am a fair-minded journalistic observer while coming from a family that has been strongly identified for many decades both politically and religiously.”
She said she also had made clear her “continuing commitment to Catholicism – as opposed to many who say, ‘I was raised Catholic.'” She said she didn’t think she had been “discriminated against officially” as a Catholic woman, but she also answered the question about this with her own question: “Are there people in this society still who think that to be a believer is to be a little bit simpleminded? Sure. And to be a Catholic, still a little simpler still? Yes,” she said.
That didn’t stop her though from being public about the role of faith in her life and in others’ lives.
During a 2009 LCWR meeting in New Orleans, she told the sisters that their vitality extends beyond their numbers and can best be seen in the lasting effects they have had on students and others they are serving.
“You wonderful, holy, awe-inspiring women – you women of spirit – have taught us well. Your teaching will go on, constantly creating a better world for the people of God, corralling the chaos to create a better quality of life for others that you can be proud of.”
She also praised the church’s efforts to help the poor at a 2006 Catholic Charities USA convention in Minneapolis where she said: “It seems to me that your issues are actually the ones that Jesus talked about.” She also challenged the conference participants to educate parishioners about the “option for the poor,” a Catholic social teaching that puts the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.
A funeral Mass was held Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C.
Roberts is survived by her husband, her children, Lee and Rebecca, and her six grandchildren.
A statement released by her family said she will be missed “beyond measure, both for her contributions and for her love and kindness.”

(Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.)

Pro-lifers will join peacefully in prayer in the name of the unborn as part of 40 Days for Life, a national campaign, Sept. 25-Nov. 3 in dioceses and archdiocese across the nation. The national campaign is held during the fall and at Lent to encourage people to pray and fast for the end of abortion and to take a stand for life.
Pro-Life Mississippi will hold a prayer gathering at the public right-of-way near Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a state-licensed abortion facility, located at 2903 N. State St., Jackson. Prayerful plan to gather on the sidewalks at the spot from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
For information, contact Barbara Beavers or Tammy Tillman 601-956-8636 or 601-940-5701 or plm@prolifemississippi.org. For more information, visit Jackson 40 Days for Life on Facebook.

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.”