Welcome to Tuesday. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez credits her Catholic faith for her political ideology. Elders join their children and grandchildren to fight against climate change. In a time of racial reckoning, Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory being named a cardinal is an important moment for the U.S. Catholic Church.

AOC credits her Catholic faith for positions on health care, environment

Her favorite biblical story is that of Jesus casting out the moneychangers from the temple.

Often cast as a socialist firebrand, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative elected in 2018 as the youngest member of Congress, said she receives inspiration on issues such as health care and climate change from her Catholic faith as well as political ideology.

Ocasio-Cortez is considered a shoo-in running in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, yet her contest has generated the second-largest amount of contributions for this year's congressional races on both sides, largely because her presence both galvanizes supporters and opponents. She is perhaps the most prominent metaphorical lightning rod in Congress.

You can read the rest of the interview here. 

More background:

• The battle for New York's 14th District offers a study of contrasts between two Catholics: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and John Cummings, a former police officer and a teacher for 22 years.

Elders fight for children's, grandchildren's future climate

Lynne Iser's daughter was 16 years old when she told her mother she wished she'd grown up in the 1950s and 60s, as her mother had, free from existential dread about climate change.

That conversation, a decade ago, changed Iser's life.

Hearing her daughter's pessimism and fear for the future of the planet hit Iser "in the gut" and propelled her to action, she said.

Today, as president of the national nonprofit Elders Action Network, Iser leads a growing movement of older adults who are addressing social and environmental crises through education efforts, advocacy and activism.

Read more about the Elders Action Network here.

More headlines

• ICYMI: Pope Francis' announcement to make Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington a cardinal is being hailed as an important moment for the U.S. Catholic Church, and especially for Black Catholics at a time of racial reckoning in the country.
   
• A large majority of Catholic voters believe climate change is a serious or somewhat serious concern and that governments at all levels as well as corporations and individuals must take stronger action to address it, according to results of a new poll.
   
• At Global Sisters Report, a Q&A with Mercy Sr. Patricia McCann, who in 1965, did not hesitate the day she saw a letter from John Lewis and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, requesting that college students come to Alabama to march.

Final thoughts

In a commentary for NCR, Yunuen Trujillo, a lay minister and immigration attorney, lays out some reasons why Latino Catholics support President Donald Trump even though Trump runs on an anti-immigrant platform and has insulted Latinos over and over again. Trujillo will join NCR national correspondent Christopher White and Network executive director Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell to talk about the Catholic and Latino vote in a Facebook Live event Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Central. 
 

Until Wednesday,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY

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