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Welcome to Thursday. Chaplain priests are working on the front lines of the COVID-19
crisis in Mexico. NCR editorializes that America needs to heed Pope Francis' countercultural
message on the common good. Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister says some things are
worth weeping over.
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Mexican padre sees pandemic from all sides [[link removed]]
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Fr. Humberto Zúñiga Rodríguez ministers to the sick in the COVID-19 wards of this
Mexican border city. But rather than asking for prayers or blessings, people routinely
ask him for another kind of intervention.
"The first thing they tell you is: 'Padre, they're not treating me well.' 'Padre,
they don't want to give me this medication,' " Humberto said.
Priests like Zúñiga work on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis in Mexico, where
the pandemic has claimed more than 80,000 lives - fourth most of any country in
the world - though its impact has been receding slowly after peaking in August.
Dioceses around the world have appointed chaplains for COVID-19 wards - with priests
risking their lives to minister to the sick and provide the sacrament of absolution.
But Zúñiga brings a special insight to his work in the hospital: He contracted COVID-19
in June and recovered after spending 38 days in isolation.
"I think God prepared me for this," he told NCR. "When the bishop named me as a
COVID chaplain, I think the illness for me was preparation for this reality."
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More background:

* This story is part of a special NCR series called Saints Next Door [[link removed]].
On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis prayed for the dead as well as for the priests, doctors
and nurses who he said represented the "saints next door" during the coronavirus
pandemic. To submit names of people for consideration for this series, send a note
to [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]].
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Editorial: Americans need to heed pope's countercultural message on the common good
[[link removed]]
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Much of the coverage of Pope Francis' expansive encyclical Fratelli Tutti, focused
on its feel-good themes of unity, dialogue and peace. Who can argue against the
notion that we are "brothers and sisters all?"
But this document, the pope's third encyclical and clearly a summary of his papacy
so far, is no rote call for prayers and best wishes in the face of the pandemic.
It is, foundationally, a pointed critique of nationalistic populism, of economic
systems that exploit the poor, and indeed, of democracy itself, at least as it seems
to be evolving at the beginning of the 21st century.
We agree, and appreciate the pontiff's bold condemnations of neofascist ideas about
nation and race, trickle-down economics, unbridled free-market capitalism, income
and wealth inequality, and a libertarianism that merely dresses up selfishness for
more palatable consumption.
These - along with an excessive individualism and "feverish consumerism" - prevent
a "better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good," the pope
says.
There can be no mistaking the pope's words: The neoliberal establishment is not
compatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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More headlines

* "There are some things worth weeping about lest we lose our sense of self," writes
NCR columnist Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister [[link removed]].
"We must always cope with evil, of course, but we must never adjust to it. We must
stay eternally restless."
* At Global Sisters Report [[link removed]],
five women who live at the Dominicans of Peace house in New Haven explore facets
of religious life together.

* ICYMI: Few parishioners want to see their parishes turned into partisan battlefields,
but with the Catholic community almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats,
some parishes face this danger, writes Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese [[link removed]].

*
ICYMI: The German Catholic bishops' conference and the council of the Evangelical
Church in Germany plan to continue their discussions about shared Communion [[link removed]].
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Final thoughts
Last night, Vice President Mike Pence debated [[link removed]]
Sen. Kamala Harris at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. NCR political columnist
Michael Sean Winters [[link removed]]
was watching the exchange and we will post his thoughts this morning. You can sign
up to receive an email [[link removed]]
each time a new Winters column is posted.
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Until Friday,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Twitter: @ncrSLY [[link removed]]
P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If you received
this email from a friend, you can also receive this newsletter [[link removed]]
every weekday.
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