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Voting laws present a challenge to Hispanic citizens

30 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The law of the Lord is perfect” and “the decree of the Lord is trustworthy,” the psalmist assures us this Sunday. New voting laws in 23 states, however, raise questions of fairness and have researchers wondering whether more than 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens will be disenfranchised this election year.The new laws include purges of people suspected of not being citizens in 16 states that unfairly target Latinos, the civil rights group Advancement Project said in a study released this week. The Latino community accounts for more than 10 percent of eligible voters nationally, but the share in some states is high enough that keeping Hispanic voters away from the polls could change the outcome of the election.Laws in effect in one state and pending in two others require proof of citizenship for voter registration. That requires onerous and sometimes expensive documentation requirements of voters, especially naturalized American citizens, many of whom are Latino, Advancement Project said. Nine states have passed restrictive photo identification laws that impose costs in time and money for millions of Latinos who are citizens but do not yet have the required identification, it said.Republican-led state legislatures have passed most of the new laws since the party won sweeping victories in state and local elections in 2010. They say the laws are meant to prevent voter fraud; critics say they are designed to reduce turnout among groups that typically back Democrats.Decades of study have found virtually no use of false identification in U.S. elections or voting by noncitizens. Activists say the bigger problem in the United States, where most elections see turnouts of well under 60 percent, is that eligible Americans do not bother to vote.Homily hint: How many eligible voters in your faith community plan to vote this November? This Sunday might be a good moment to invite them to commit in their hearts to exercise their civic duty by casting their vote. The nation's Roman Catholic bishops offer a voter guide for the 2012 election, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. Catholics make up about one-quarter of the electorate nationwide. Sources: Articles by Patricia Zengerle for Reuters and Rachel Zoll for the Associated Press

latinos hispanics voting republicans voting laws advancement project proof of citizenship voter ids photo identification laws

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Voting laws present a challenge to Hispanic citizens

30 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The law of the Lord is perfect” and “the decree of the Lord is trustworthy,” the psalmist assures us this Sunday. New voting laws in 23 states, however, raise questions of fairness and have researchers wondering whether more than 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens will be disenfranchised this election year.The new laws include purges of people suspected of not being citizens in 16 states that unfairly target Latinos, the civil rights group Advancement Project said in a study released this week. The Latino community accounts for more than 10 percent of eligible voters nationally, but the share in some states is high enough that keeping Hispanic voters away from the polls could change the outcome of the election.Laws in effect in one state and pending in two others require proof of citizenship for voter registration. That requires onerous and sometimes expensive documentation requirements of voters, especially naturalized American citizens, many of whom are Latino, Advancement Project said. Nine states have passed restrictive photo identification laws that impose costs in time and money for millions of Latinos who are citizens but do not yet have the required identification, it said.Republican-led state legislatures have passed most of the new laws since the party won sweeping victories in state and local elections in 2010. They say the laws are meant to prevent voter fraud; critics say they are designed to reduce turnout among groups that typically back Democrats.Decades of study have found virtually no use of false identification in U.S. elections or voting by noncitizens. Activists say the bigger problem in the United States, where most elections see turnouts of well under 60 percent, is that eligible Americans do not bother to vote.Homily hint: How many eligible voters in your faith community plan to vote this November? This Sunday might be a good moment to invite them to commit in their hearts to exercise their civic duty by casting their vote. The nation's Roman Catholic bishops offer a voter guide for the 2012 election, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. Catholics make up about one-quarter of the electorate nationwide. Sources: Articles by Patricia Zengerle for Reuters and Rachel Zoll for the Associated Press

latinos hispanics voting republicans voting laws advancement project proof of citizenship voter ids photo identification laws

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Photo of dying veteran casting vote touches hearts

28 Oct 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s first reading and psalm make clear that while exile left its mark on God’s people, divine restoration had an even greater effect. The story of a Japanese-American man, exiled to an internment camp during World War II and restored to freedom by volunteering to join the U.S. Army from behind barbed wire, captured hearts on the internet when a photo was published of the veteran, now 93 and terminally ill, casting likely his last vote from a hospice bed.The photo shows Frank Tanabe lying in a hospital bed at home as his daughter Barbara Tanabe helps him fill out his absentee ballot. Doctors diagnosed Tanabe with an inoperable cancer tumor in his liver two months ago. He's been in hospice care for the past three weeks at his daughter's home, where his condition has been deteriorating, and he's been speaking little lately.He's been determined to vote regardless, eagerly asking when the ballot would be arriving in the mail, his daughter said. She kept telling him, "Don't worry, it's coming." He filled it out immediately when it landed in the mailbox last Wednesday. His daughter read aloud the names of the candidates to her dad. He either nodded "yes" to the names or shook his head "no."Tanabe volunteered to join the Army at the Tule Lake internment camp in California. He was pulled out of college at the University of Washington and taken to the camp when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered 110,000 Japanese-Americans detained and isolated after the start of the war with Japan.The Army assigned Tanabe to the Military Intelligence Service, a classified unit whose members were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last year along with soldiers who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team—highly decorated segregated units of mostly Japanese-Americans."I'd like to accept on behalf of all hyphenated Americans, including American-Americans," Tanabe told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser at the time. "We all served together in defense of our country."Postscript: After we went to press, news came in that Tanabe passed away peacefully Wednesday, a week after voting, at the Honolulu home of his daughter, Barbara. She put the American flag up outside the home to mark the day for him and their family. "He really liked it when I put out the flag," she said.Homily hint: Stories such as this one can be used to remind us all to be vigilant so that basic human rights are not sacrificed for the purposes of national security, which is intended to defend them. Source: An article by the Associated Press

voting japanese-americans internment frank tanabe world war ii

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The dream turns 50

01 Sep 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The just rejoice and exult before God” and “are glad and rejoice” as they praise God’s name, the psalmist says this Sunday. The nation this week praises and remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stirring “I have a dream” speech, a call for racial justice issued 50 years ago at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Speaking on Wednesday in front of the Lincoln Memorial where King and others addressed the crowds, President Barack Obama said the entire world drew strength from the March on Washington 50 years ago and that advances in securing voting rights, civil rights, and the eradication of legalized discrimination of African Americans show that part of Dr. King's goals were achieved, but continued economic inequality and stagnant wages show that only part of King.'s dreams have been fulfilled.God prepares a home for the poor, says the psalmist. The nation, however, has a ways to go when it comes to poverty rates, said the president, citing income inequality and disparities in the unemployment rate between blacks and whites as examples. Tying the 1963 demonstration to concerns about economic inequality today, Obama reminded people that jobs were a central goal of those marching years ago.Obama was among a host of people who honored King and those who assembled 50 years ago. African American luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey and civil-rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis also hailed King's message. Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton spoke as well, along with members of King´s family.The 1963 march is seen as a masterpiece of nonviolent protest, a day of speeches, prayer, and song that included gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and folk singers Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Participants then were advocating for basic freedoms later enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most sweeping civil-rights legislation since Reconstruction, which outlawed discrimination against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities and women and banned discriminatory voting-registration practices.Homily hint: In 1979 the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops issued Brothers and Sisters to Us, which begins with this strong statement: “Racism is an evil which endures in our society and in our church.” The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is a teachable moment when faith communities can use the bishops’ document to look both at progress made and promises yet to keep. Sources: Articles by Jared A. Favole and Elizabeth Williamson for the Wall StreetJournal and Peter Baker and Sheryl Gay Stolberg for the New York Times

poverty march for jobs and freedom economic inequality voting rights jobs anniversaries martin luther king jr barack obama discrimination Civil rights march on washington

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Exploring the word

06 Nov 2016 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

How close to the Apocalypse are we this week? Considering that our national presidential election is mere days away, it may feel like we’re poised on the brink of a volcano. Whatever happens on Tuesday, two things remain the same. One is that every citizen of voting age has a moral obligation to vote thoughtfully and prayerfully. The other thing is that whoever our next president may be, we remain “one nation, under God, indivisible.” Our unity is our sacred trust as citizens of these United States. Another idea that helps us to back away from the apocalyptic edge is that National Vocation Awareness Week starts today. The American bishops initiated this week in 1976, but it was only shifted to the first week of November in 2014. It’s a fateful shift: As we consider who our future leaders should be in government, so too we encourage future leaders for our church. Pope Francis uses the term “special consecration” to describe the service of Christ that draws men and women to embrace the roles of priest, deacon, and religious. A consecrated life is the precise opposite of an inconsequential life. For those who feel their lives may be meandering without purpose or focus, a summons to deeply intentional living can be personally apocalyptic—but in a good way. The “rule of three” seems to apply when encouraging vocations: When someone hears from three sources that he or she seems right for such special consecration, this sounds the interior bell that invites further exploration. So don’t be shy about being one of those three voices for those who may be awaiting affirmation. Apocalyptic doings are on the menu as we creep closer to the end of the church year. We hear the brutal story of seven tortured sons and their equally valiant mother. Its symbolic meaning is more vital than its historical reliability: Seven sons represent the full complement of the future, all lost in a single day along with their mother. To sacrifice the whole family is to risk the earthly future. Only confidence in the God who transcends history is worth the risk. By contrast, the story posed to Jesus is nonsense. Seven dead husbands and a childless wife all die. The Sadducees focus on an absurdity: Whose wife is she in the afterlife? That Sadducees don’t believe in afterlife increases the superficiality of their inquiry. Jesus refocuses the matter to what’s consequential: When seven fruitless husbands and a childless woman die, hope remains because our God is a living God. Even when all hope seems lost, the future remains because the God of the living rescues us even beyond death. With God, we can weather anything, even the apocalyptic. Related scripture links Faith, hope, and love: 1 Cor. 13:13 Fruits of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-23 Corporal and spiritual works: Isa. 58:6-7; Matt. 25:31-46; Luke 3:11; 11:41; Heb. 13:3; James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17 Catechism links Marriage: CCC 1601-1658 Things that last: CCC 736; 1812-1832; 2447

Authors Alice Camille

apocalypse vote voting national vocation awareness week Consecrated life vocations

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Featured Exploring the Word

03 Nov 2024 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

The old parlor game asks: If you knew you were going to die tonight, what would you do today? Variations abound. If you found out you had an incurable disease, which decisions would you make now that you’ve been putting off? If you had one last chance to say or do something for the people you care about, what would it be? If the world were going to end next week, how would you fill (or empty) this week’s calendar? We can add: If you had the chance to shape the future of the world this week, for whom or what would you cast your ballot? Yes, it’s another Election Day on Tuesday, and as always there’s a lot for thoughtful people to consider. The main question is this: What criteria do we Christians use in discerning and shaping our future? How do faithful people choose? Your answer to all these questions of ultimate concern should be the same: Love. That’s not a hippie reply, though even some churchgoers may be tempted to bat it away with impatience as such. Love sounds vague and mushy but only because we live in an age when love stories have been reduced to rushed escapades of sexual attraction and indulgence. Real love stories take more time and require more investment and not a little sacrifice. It’s not a matter of boy-meets-girl but human-need-meets-divinely-ordained-response. When an educated man came to Jesus with a question of ultimate concern such as those listed above—if you had to govern your life according to one Commandment, which would it be?—Jesus did not hesitate to respond with love. He certainly didn’t mean romance, and he intended nothing vague or mushy at all. Jesus spelled out in great detail what he meant by love in his ministry and teachings. Care for the stranger, widow, child, and the poor. Heal human misery, rid society of its demons. Feed the hungry, give your clothes to the naked. Welcome the outsider, forgive the sinner. Befriend your enemy. Refuse to participate in the ways of violence. Stay close to God, the source of love, in prayer and obedient listening. Do you have any doubt as to how to do that? If you’re clear that your primary allegiance is to God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, you’ll know how to live, choose, value, and vote. Some religious groups will pass out preselected voting cards, but for those who attend to the gospel, that is unnecessary. Your process is: pray, listen, love, choose—it’s the same procedure you’re obliged to follow in every hour of your life and in every interaction. If you would shape the future as God would have it, the only method is love. Related scripture links Gospel parallel: Matt. 22:34-40 Love your neighbor: Lev. 19:18; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8 Other words on love: John 3:16; 13:34-35; Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 13:1-13 Catechism links Shema teachings: CCC 200-202; 228; 368; 459; 575; 2055; 2083; 2093-2094; 2196 Adapted from a previously published Exploring the word.

Authors Alice Camille

Love voting election day

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