Welcome to Thursday. Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister says she has learned a lot of lessons from President Donald Trump. An NCR commentator writes about ways that progressive pro-lifers can reengage with Democratic leaders. A Catholic Worker writes about how we can live in a nation that legally sanctions nuclear weapons.
Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister writes that her mother always told her that every loss and every gain teaches a lesson.
"It's a tiring exercise if you're a child," she writes. "It's an everlasting path to wisdom when you get to be an adult who knows without doubt that just because you want something — a particular position, a given candidate, encouragement for a plan that failed — there is, lurking within it, a lesson."
Chittister says that she has learned a lot of lessons over the past four years from someone who she didn't want to necessarily learn from — President Donald Trump.
She goes on to thank Trump for several things, including exposing us to how dangerously fragile our democracy is, showing us how baseless democracy is if it is not understood and protected, and how little the word "party" means.
You can read more of Chittister's column here.
The mainstream pro-life movement has stuck with President Donald Trump, despite his policies about immigration or health care. Trump has been touted as the most pro-life president in American history and many Catholic pro-lifers support him.
But to those who believe that "pro-life" should refer to all life, as NCR commentator Rebecca Bratten Weiss writes, "Trump's policies are a grotesque parody."
"So Trump's loss looks like a blow to the pro-life movement, thanks to pro-lifers who have made the Trump brand indistinguishable from the pro-life brand," she writes. "And for consistent life advocates who were critical of Trump, Biden's win must seem a hollow victory. The Democratic Party did not, after all, need to woo pro-life voters by changing its platform. So where are progressive pro-lifers to go?"
You can read more of the commentary here.
More headlines
- The U.S. and the world's eight other nuclear-armed countries boycotted the Treatay on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons negotiations and have shown no inclination to accept it. Living as we are in a nation that legally sanctions nuclear weapons, what would Jesus have us do, asks Art Laflin, a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.
- At Global Sisters Report, read about the six houses of Sanjoepuram Children's Village in Chandpur, India, where 17 nuns from four congregations serve 64 girls and women with disabilities, one of the few institutions that offer inclusive education.
- When the government imposed national lockdown in March to contain COVID-19, millions of Indian migrants struggled to return home. Sr. Sophia M. Arockia Mary, of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, joined with others to help migrants survive and reach home.
Final thoughts
Don't forget to join us today at 2 p.m. Central time for a discussion with three Black Catholic leaders on how their ministries help them continue the long journey of other Black Catholic in the U.S. Catholic Church. This is a special members-only event, so become a member today.
Until Friday,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY
