Welcome to Monday. Black and Latinx Catholics are asserting their political voice as the election nears. SNAP calls for the removal of the New Orleans archbishop and a Vatican investigation. Pope Francis' response to the recent Vatican financial scandal could impact his legacy, writes an NCR columnist.

As election nears, Black and Latinx Catholics work for political inclusion

As the presidential election heads into a final sprint, Catholic voters remain at the top of the news cycle.

While the media and pundit class are most focused on white Catholics in battleground states - where President Donald Trump eked out narrow 2016 victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - Black and Latinx Catholics are asserting their own political voice at a time of national protests for racial justice, police accountability, and a pandemic that impacts Black and brown communities disproportionately hard.

Alejandra Alarcon, 28, a research communications coordinator at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, is the daughter of immigrants from Nicaragua. She now straddles the cultures of academia and activism, a worldview shaped by a sometimes incongruous mix of spreadsheet data, protest movements in the streets and the centuries-old social justice teachings of her Catholic faith. The looming presidential election is a constant preoccupation.

"I'm scared about the possibility of Trump winning again because I've seen the direct impact he's had on my community," Alarcon said. "I have friends who I went to college with who have had their families separated. As a woman of color, it's also not lost of me how the pandemic has impacted my community more than others. I don't think Joe Biden is perfect. I'm not looking for perfect right now. I'm looking for better."

Read more on this story here.

More background:

A new presidential poll issued last week by the Pew Research Center shows Catholic former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, maintains strong support among Hispanic Catholics and is gaining ground against President Donald Trump with white Catholics.
Keep up with all of NCR's Election 2020 coverage here.

Survivor group demands Vatican investigation of New Orleans archdiocese

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, has written a letter to Pope Francis calling for the removal of New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

The letter comes in response to several snowballing events within the last two weeks.

A priest at a Catholic high school was removed from ministry after confessing he had abused a child in 2013. Another priest was arrested after allegedly engaging in sexual acts with two women on the altar of his small-town church. And seven new names were added to the list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

The letter, which SNAP also sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., said Aymond has refused to be honest with parishioners, has not pursued accountability for abuse and has "lost control of his priests."

More background:

In response to the news that a priest had engaged in sexual acts with two women on the altar of his church, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond reconsecrated the church, installed a new altar and called the priest's acts "demonic."

More headlines

NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters lines out the recent Vatican financial scandal, writing that Pope Francis' reputation as a reformer will depend in large part on his ability to confront this head on.
President Donald Trump has assaulted workers' rights to life, limb and livelihood throughout his presidency, says Gerald J. Beyer, who holds a doctorate in theological ethics from Boston College.
In Fratelli Tutti, writes Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, Pope Francis makes a plea for human solidarity and fraternity. But how does he tell the world what it needs to do when he spearheads an institution grounded in patriarchy, hierarchy and ontological differences?

Final thoughts

Catholicism is seen as a foreign religion in Vietnam, with 52,000 followers among the total population of 1.3 million, according to church statistics. Three sisters who have their origins in other religions recently talked with Global Sisters Report about their admiration for what sisters have done for them and others. You can sign up to receive news like this and more from Global Sisters Report in your inbox here.

Until Tuesday,

Stephanie Yeagle

NCR Production/Online Editor

[email protected]

Twitter: @ncrSLY

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