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Catholic voice in Democratic Party; Democratic voice in the Catholic community. Promoting Catholic Social Justice Tradition in Democratic party & public square

Joined February 2009
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With deep sorrow and abiding gratitude we mourn the passing of Pope Francis, who returned to the Father’s embrace this morning. A Suffering Servant for our time, a pastor of mercy and hope whose courage opened our eyes to the virtue of building bridges, a prophet of justice, and a voice for — and sojourner to — the poor and forgotten, he reminded the Church and the world — through his actions — that “realities are greater than ideas,” and that love without borders is the heart of the Gospel. His prophetic witness to humility, compassion, and mercy, and to the integral ecology and morality inherent to God’s Creation, shaped a generation — and lifted all our eyes and hearts to heaven. His call to be “the saint next door” provides a light for us in the darkness through which we now must find our way. Pope Francis always asked for our prayers. Today, please join us in offering prayers in gratitude and love — for our beloved Papa Francisco, for all our sisters and brothers who mourn his passing, for our Church in this time of transition and hope, and for the global community that was the beneficiary of his love, hope, and wisdom. As he just wrote for his Easter homily, delivered by Cardinal Angelo Comastri: “The Jubilee invites us to renew the gift of hope within us, to surrender our sufferings and our concerns to hope, to share it with those whom we meet along our journey and to entrust to hope the future of our lives and the destiny of the human family.” @pontifex #PopeFrancis #PapaFrancisco
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CONGRATULATIONS TO DEMOCRATS & PREPARING FOR THE WORK AHEAD Catholic Democrats congratulates the Democratic Party on its historic victory in the #2026midterms. The campaign is over, but the work is just beginning. The biggest challenge facing both political parties may well lie within themselves. Even as voters handed Democrats control of Congress, a majority view both parties unfavorably: 53% for the #DemocraticParty, 59% for the #RepublicanParty, according to the @FoxNews Voter Poll. Our country is hurting. A Democratic victory alone cannot remedy what afflicts us – a depletion of virtue in our society. Our Founders warned of the need for virtue in our new republic, including John Adams. In 1776 he wrote, "Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private [virtue], and public virtue is the only foundation of republics." Let us pray for virtue in our republic. 🙏 Let us pray that our newly elected Democratic congressional leaders take their oaths with humble, merciful, and loving hearts – and carry that spirit into governing. Let us pray that Republican congressional leaders embrace the same call. 🙏 As we ask more of our democracy, we must also ask more of ourselves. The change we seek must begin within each of us. Let us pray. 🙏 Lord, form in us the private virtue on which our public life depends. Grant our leaders humble hearts and the courage to serve the common good. And begin the healing of our nation within each of us. Amen. #MidtermElection #2026MidtermElection #PublicVirtue #PrivateVirtue #Humility #Mercy #Love #CommonGood @DCCC @DSCC @DNC @RNC @GOP
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ELECTION DAY VOTING & THANKSGIVING REMINDER 🙏 If you haven’t voted yet, please do before the polls close today. Please join us – and Pope Leo – in casting your vote and giving thanks for this day. 🙏 It’s our right and obligation (CCC 2240). Let us pray, vote, and give thanks! 🙏 #ElectionDay #Vote #CivicVirtue #Holiness #RightAndObligation
Pope Leo XIV has voted in the midterm elections of the United States, expressing his “belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.” The Holy See Press Office announced on Friday that Pope Leo XIV, an American citizen, "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so." The Press Office confirmed that, “in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago.” “The Holy Father has also confirmed that, during his years of residence in Peru he exercised his right to vote whenever he was eligible to do so,” noted the statement.
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ELECTION DAY BLESSINGS – LET US GIVE THANKS AND VOTE 🙏 Yes, voting is both our right and our civic duty. We are obligated to vote. Let us embrace our shared obligation in thanksgiving. 🙏 Here is a brief, fraternal, and most valuable reflection by Bishop Daniel Flores, Bishop of Brownsville (@CatholicRGV) and vice president of the @USCCB, that describes why and how we are called to put faith before politics: Excerpt from “Faith Before Politics” Reel: “You can be a Republican. You can be a Democrat. You can be an Independent. But I think as a Catholic, you have to be willing to go into your party and tell them when, from a Catholic point of view, they are wrong. And I think one of the leavens of Catholicism in the world is that you can be a member of a party but you would then also have the courage to disagree when the party proposes something, which on Catholic teaching principles, you cannot accept. That’s part of what it means to be loyal to the truth.” May the blessings of Election Day be with us today, and help us advance the common good and the virtue the Founders believed our nation needs to survive, in service to all Americans and our one connected human family. #ElectionDay #FaithBeforePolitics #CommonGood #Virtue #Vote Faith Before Politics | Bishop Flores youtube.com/shorts/2_yUm21ew… via @YouTube
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ALL SOULS’ DAY - PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYER FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED 🙏 Please join us in praying for the faithful departed, especially our parents and grandparents, or a child we may have lost. Our faith teaches us that our prayer helps prepare them for eternal rest in heaven. These prayers, like all prayer, bring us closer to God and by virtue of Divine Geometry closer to one another as well (cf. Dorotheos of Gaza). Let us pray. May the souls of all the faithful departed, including [insert your personal intentions], through the mercy of God, rest in peace. 🙏 #AllSoulsDay #CommemorationOfAllTheFaithfulDeparted #Holiness #Pray #RestInPeace
The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed: Holy Mother Church, which has just celebrated with due praise all her children who are rejoicing in heaven, hastens to intercede with God for the souls of all who have gone before us with the sign of faith, and have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection. She intercedes also on behalf of all those from the foundation of the world whose faith is known to the Lord alone, that purged from the taint of sin, and having entered the company of the citizens of heaven, they may be found worthy to rejoice in the vision of eternal beatitude. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
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TO BUILD A “CIVILIZATION OF LOVE,” REQUIRES DAILY TRAINING IN LOVE. 🙏 “NO ONE IS BORN A CHAMPION, JUST AS NO ONE IS BORN A SAINT. RATHER, HOLINESS REQUIRES A DAILY TRAINING IN LOVE.” 🙏 For the first time, NCAA college basketball season opened in Rome on Sunday in a game between Villanova and Notre Dame. Pope Leo provided some entertaining remarks for his guests from the United States over the weekend: “Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, we often heard, ‘Go Irish!’” [laughter] He then added, “But as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova!” [laughter] “So the pope doesn’t take sides…. Prevost has another opinion but we won’t do that now.” [laughter] See, "Pope Leo tells Villanova and Notre Dame basketball teams he is neutral. Prevost has other ideas" by @AndrewDampf and @nwinfield, apnews.com/article/vatican-p… Looking ahead to All Saints’ Day, he returned to the connection between sports and holiness. We see this message as a practical expression of his call in Magnifica Humanitas to build a ‘civilization of love.’” “… On All Saints’ Day, we remember that God calls everyone to be a saint. Indeed, Saint Peter emphasizes that since the Lord himself is holy, we ourselves are to be holy in all of our conduct (cf. 1 Pet 1:15). We are invited, therefore, to ensure that every aspect of our lives, including our athletic endeavors, will help us to love God and our neighbor. For a number of saints, including Pier Giorgio Frassati, a patron saint of athletes, sport was an important component of their lives. His life, as well as that of many holy men and women, reminds us that no one is born a champion, just as no one is born a saint. Rather, holiness requires a daily training in love (cf. Homily for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Jubilee of Sport, July 15, 2025). 🙏 In this regard, Christians are called to run in the race of life with the objective of winning an imperishable crown of glory (cf. 1 Cor9:24-25). I pray that the activities which comprise your pilgrimage, especially your visits to the tombs of the Apostles, who gave their lives in defense of the faith, will serve as a reminder that our true goal, beyond emerging victorious in any one event, is to win the prize of everlasting life.” 🙏 See "Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to a Pilgrimage from Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame" at Vatican-dor-org. Please join us in making a commitment to “daily training in love” through prayer and living the Gospel. 🙏 #EternalCityTipOff #CivilizationOfLove #Virtue #Holiness #PrayLikeAChampion #DaiyTrainingInLove
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BLESSINGS ON THIS SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS “THE LITURGY INVITES US TO SHARE IN THE HEAVENLY JUBILATION OF THE SAINTS, TO TASTE THEIR JOY” — POPE BENEDICT XVI, NOV. 1, 2006 God gave us the capacity for joy – and the saints are no exception. How could they not know joy, living in the fullness of life with God? The Christian life is not free from suffering, but the joy of life with God helps us bear hardship as we grow in holiness – something we can all do! Please join us in asking the saints we love to intercede for our growth in virtue and holiness, and for the repose of the souls of our loved ones. Let us also pray. 🙏 Almighty God, you call your saints to share in your life and glory. Through their prayers, help us grow in holiness and persevere in faith. Welcome our departed loved ones into the joy of your kingdom, and bring us all to the fullness of life with you. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 🙏 #AllSaintsDay #SolemnityOfAllSaints #CalledToHoliness #CommunionOfSaints #Holiness #JoyInHoliness #PrayForUs
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PRAY BEFORE YOU VOTE 🙏 Reminder: it is our moral obligation to vote – even if it is challenging. Before you do, please join us in praying our Novena for a Faithful Catholic Conscience Before Voting. 🙏 drive.google.com/file/d/1i-_… It’s not too late to pray the whole novena if you double up on a couple of days – It will be worth it even if you use it selectively! 🙏 Let us pray. 🙏 #Novena #PrayAndVote #PrayBeforeYouVote #Vote #CivicObligation
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PLEASE JOIN YOUR PRAYERS TO THOSE OF OUR CHURCH FOR POPE LEO’S RECOVERY AND FUTURE GOOD HEALTH 🙏 Pope Leo XIV underwent successful surgery today to remove a small, localized nodule from his lung. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, expressed confidence that the condition could be “resolved” because it was discovered early. Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of Rome, led the faithful in praying the Rosary for Pope Leo in the St. John Paul II Chapel at Gemelli Hospital in Rome. 🙏 Let us unite our prayers with theirs for Pope Leo's speedy recovery and for the blessing of good health for many years to come. If you can, pray the Rosary, or offer a heartfelt prayer for his healing, renewed strength, and continued good health. 🙏 In today’s troubled world - and too often divided Church - Pope Leo’s gentle, recurring and artful calls for unity and love are being heard. Now is a good time to make praying for Pope Leo integral to your daily prayer. 🙏 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our beloved pontiff, Pope Leo XIV. 🙏 @pontifex @VaticanNews #PopeLeoXIV #PrayForPopeLeo #PrayForThePope #CatholicChurch
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PRAYING THE ROSARY FOR DISCERNMENT BEFORE THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS 🙏 We have moved from the Season of Creation into Respect Life Month. As Catholics – who are called to make informed voting decisions based on our prudential judgment guided by a well-formed conscience – October could also be thought of as “Voting Decision Preparation Month.” Such a name puts before us the final work of researching the issues and candidates, and praying for the wisdom and moral clarity to make voting decisions that serve the common good. Yesterday, October 7, was the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Church traditionally invites us on this day to meditate on the mysteries of Christ under the guidance of Mary, who shared in a singular way in his Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection. (#USCCB) But the Rosary also invites us to bring the concerns of our world before Christ. The teachings of Pope Leo XIII and St. John Paul II remind us that the Rosary can also embrace the concerns of society. In that spirit, we can bring the midterm elections into our prayerful contemplation – the people affected, the responsibilities of public office, the candidates’ records and proposals, and the likely consequences of their election. 🙏 Praying the Rosary can help quiet our partisan reflexes and self-interest, make us more attentive to the dignity of those who we may overlook, and strengthen our commitment to peace, justice, and the common good. 🙏 The formation of conscience is a lifelong endeavor. But as we approach these elections, we urge Catholics to pray the Rosary, asking for Mary's intercession that we might better discern the contours of the issues before us – both their immediate consequences and their long-term implications. May our prayer help us develop the moral clarity, wisdom, and prudence to exercise our responsibility as voters, making prudential judgments guided by well-formed consciences, grounded in the Gospel and the social teachings of the Church. Sisters and brothers, let us pray. 🙏 #OurLadyOfTheRosary #FaithfulCitizenship #ConscienceFormation #PrudentialJudgment #RespectLifeMonth #MidtermElections
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OCTOBER 7TH - PLEASE JOIN US IN STANDING IN LOVING SOLIDARITY WITH OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS OF THE JEWISH FAITH AND IN OPPOSING HATRED IN ALL ITS FORMS 🙏 This reflection on the third anniversary of October 7th, by Fr. Piotr Zelazko, Vicar for Hebrew-Speaking Catholics in Israel, moved us, particularly these words: *** “The real question is not simply what happened to us, but who we have decided to become.” *** “In a land wounded by conflict, every gesture of friendship, every act of solidarity, and every refusal to surrender to hatred becomes a sign of hope. Our vocation is not only to pray for peace, but also to become artisans of peace, one encounter at a time.” ++++++++++++ Fr. Piotr Zelazko’s Reflection "Reconciliation is not forgetting the wounds. It is refusing to let those wounds define the future." This time of year is always difficult. The pain returns as I remember the terrible events of that day. The faces of those who were killed and the suffering of their families are very present in the media these days. My thoughts go back to the many funerals in which I participated. I still hear the voices of the victims and the cries of their loved ones. My prayer is often interrupted by the question: Why is there so much pain and hatred? 🙏 If it is true that time is a healer, then we still need time. Yet suffering can either harden us or deepen us. Three years after October 7, the real question is not simply what happened to us, but who we have decided to become. Will we be able to build a society free from hatred? Will we be able to show that reconciliation is not forgetting the wounds, but refusing to let those wounds define the future? We cannot choose our history, but together we can choose what history produces within us. The smallest communities often carry the greatest hope. They prove that people can belong to one another without belonging against one another. The Vicariate of St. James has a unique opportunity to bear witness to a Christian truth: peace begins the moment pain stops having the final word. I believe in our capacity to speak the language of encounter and peace, even when there is so much pain and fear within us. In a land wounded by conflict, every gesture of friendship, every act of solidarity, and every refusal to surrender to hatred becomes a sign of hope. Our vocation is not only to pray for peace, but also to become artisans of peace, one encounter at a time. 🙏 catholic.co.il/?cat=news&vie… #EndHatred #LoveConquersHate #Peace #ArtisansOfPeace #StopAntisemitism #Antisemitism #InterfaithSolidarity #Reconciliation
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LET US PRAY FOR AND ACCOMPANY OUR JEWISH SISTERS AND BROTHERS 🙏 As Yom Kippur begins, let us pray with Bishop Bambera and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with Catholics and people of goodwill everywhere, in extending our prayers and warmest wishes to our Jewish friends and neighbors as they observe this holiest day. 🙏 As our Jewish sisters and brothers enter this sacred day of repentance and atonement, may we also heed the call of St. John Paul II to “purify our hearts” through repentance and to examine our own consciences—including the sins of antisemitism, contempt, persecution, and indifference committed against the Jewish people by too many Christians across the centuries and still present in our world today. In 1998, St. John Paul II called the Church to this examination of conscience in his letter accompanying We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, issued by the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. May this Day of Atonement be a time of meaningful reflection, reconciliation, and renewal, and may the year ahead bring greater understanding, friendship, and peace among our communities. G’mar Chatimah Tovah – May you be sealed for a good year. #YomKippur #StopAntisemitism #Antisemitism #LoveConquersHate ++++++++++++ SOCIAL MEDIA POST MADE BY THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS As our Jewish friends and neighbors observe Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, I want to extend my warmest wishes for a meaningful and a peaceful day. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year for Jewish communities around the world. It is marked by fasting, prayer, and repentance and by seeking reconciliation with God and with one another. Following on the joy of renewal of Rosh Hashanah just a few days before, Yom Kippur invites a searching examination of the year that has passed and a commitment to the year ahead. At the heart of this observance is the recognition that our relationships with God and with one another call us continually to reflection, repentance, and renewal to consider how we can live more faithfully and more generously. These themes also resonate deeply with us as Catholics and our relationship with the Jewish people is not simply a matter of dialogue between two religious communities. It is rooted in the deep spiritual bonds that unite us, including our shared patrimony and the scriptural heritage from which both our traditions draw. That is why building genuine friendship and understanding between Jews and Catholics matters so deeply. It is also why we must reject anti-semitism in all its forms and work together to ensure that the Jewish people can live and worship free from hatred and fear. As Catholics, we are called not only to oppose anti-semitism when it appears, but also to deepen our understanding of Judaism and of the Jewish people. The relationships that have grown between our communities, particularly through the promulgation of Nostra Aetate, remind us that dialogue is not merely an exchange of ideas. At its best, it creates friendships, builds trust, and helps us recognize our responsibilities toward one another. On this Yom Kippur, may the year ahead bring greater understanding, friendship, and peace among our communities. G’mar Chatimah Tovah See the @USCCB video here: youtu.be/b69-l6fhJz0?si=I0yg…
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PLEASE JOIN US IN WISHING THE #HOLYFATHER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND IN PRAYING FOR HIM 🙏 Prayer for the Pope V. Let us pray for Leo XIV, our Pope. R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. Our Father. 🙏 Hail Mary. 🙏 O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful, look favorably on your servant Leo XIV, whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd; grant, we pray, that by word and example he may be of service to those over whom he presides so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care, he may come to everlasting life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. 🙏 #PopeLeoXIV #HappyBirthdayPopeLeo #PrayForThePope #VicarOfChrist #Catholic
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ROSH HASHANAH - THE SHOFAR'S SPIRITUAL SUMMONS TO AWAKEN AND RETURN TO GOD 🙏 As sisters and brothers in Abraham, we stand with our Jewish sisters and brothers - here in the United States and around the world - during their holy days at this time of year, beginning with Rosh Hashanah. We believe we are called to solidarity with them at a time of profound uncertainty in our world and division within our own society. As our nation marks its 250th anniversary, may this also be a time to celebrate and recommit ourselves to a pluralistic democracy in which our Jewish neighbors, and people of every faith, can live in security and dignity. And may we seek virtue within ourselves, not only for ourselves but for the good of our global community. And let us join in the prayer #PopeLeo sent to Rome’s Chief Rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni: “May the arrival of Rosh Hashanah bring with it the promise of peaceful renewal and the sweetness of a propitious beginning; may the sacred silence of Yom Kippur be an occasion for peace and inner light; may the festival of Sukkot be filled with joy, gratitude and fellowship.” 🙏 And may we, in Pope Leo’s words, “grow in mutual friendship” - here in the United States and throughout the world. 🙏 #RoshHashanah #GodOfAbraham #Virtue #Solidarity
Each year, our Jewish brothers and sisters mark Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year and the start of a sacred period leading to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These High Holy Days are a time for prayer, self-examination, seeking forgiveness, and returning to God, as Jewish communities look toward the year ahead with hope. In this time, we are reminded of the rich tradition of Jewish and Christian engagement with the Scriptures we share. For generations, Jewish and Christian scholars have learned from one another through the study of the Bible, deepening our understanding not only of Scripture, but also of the traditions and communities that have received it. This kind of fruitful collaboration is one of the many ways that the vision of Nostra Aetate continues to take shape: through friendship, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to seeking greater understanding. As we enter the Jewish New Year, we wish our Jewish friends a year of peace, blessing, and renewed hope. Shana Tova!
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WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER AND PRAY AND ACT 🙏 On September 11, 2001, we stood in solidarity in grief, shock and sorrow with love and compassion for the victims and their families – solidarity in grief – and with love and awe and grief for the first responders – solidarity in love – and love and mercy for one another as we all understood that we felt one another’s vulnerability and pain – solidarity in pain and vulnerability – that we had never known before and could not have imagined. Since then, we have wandered seeking direction and purpose. What do we do today? First, we remember. Then we pray. 🙏 We pray for the repose of the souls of those whose lives were lost, for their families and loved ones, for the first responders who survived the horror, and for the lost spirit of national unity we once felt so deeply—and have since learned is so fragile. Then we act. We act with humility and mercy and love to begin the building of a civilization of love – called for by Pope Leo in his encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas" – to heal the divisions in our nation and between nations throughout the world and then to build societies rooted in love in which we serve the common good and, in doing so, one another. Remember. Pray. Act. Repeat. Today, let us pray. 🙏 Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Peace and the Universe, pray for us. #911Remembrance #911Anniversary #AlwaysRemember #NeverForget #PowerOfPrayer #PrayAndAct
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