Pumpkin Spice, Saints, & CCHD

After an unseasonably warm couple of weeks, fall - in all of it's glory - is here. The apple and pumpkin spice is everywhere (even in my girls' goldfish!), the leaves are beautiful, the weather has chilled, and football is all around us. 

With November comes many celebrations: we have All Saints and All Souls, it's Black Catholic History Month and American Indian Heritage Month, the Feasts of St. Martin de Porres and several of our parish namesakes, Election Day (thank God this election season is almost over (and make sure you vote!!)), and  of course Thanksgiving. 

The first phase of the Bishop's Synod is over; you can read about the final synthesis report here.  Beacons of Light phase 2 is in full swing, the U.S. Church is prepping for the Eucharistic Congress next summer, and the Ohio Catholic Church is fighting to defeat Issue 1 next week (more information on Issue 1 can be found here). 

This month is our annual CCHD collection. As usual, the Appeal weekend is the second weekend of November, and the Collection weekend is the weekend before Thanksgiving. Please make sure that your parish (and family of parishes) is ready. If you need any help with that, please contact Glen. 

Just one event to mention:
- our annual Fair Trade sale (in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages) is happening on Sat. 11/18 at Curran Place (UD). See below for more details. 

We've got one more important CSA update to share. Tammie Mers, our amazing Administrative Assistant, on Nov. 11 is celebrating 20 years of working for the archdiocese. Her dedication and hard work are truly awe-inspiring, and we are so blessed to have her on our team. Please send her an email and congratulate her for her long and faithful service. 

We humbly ask that you continue to pray for us. There's a lot going on this year, and while we're excited to keep things moving, your prayers - and engagement! - will make our success all the more likely. God help us!

If there's anything that we can do to support the work happening in your community, please let us know. We're trying to be more present to families of parishes, especially during the Beacons of Light process, and we'd love to (re)connect with you and work to build up God's kingdom of peace, justice, and kinship in your corner of the kingdom.

We will continue to send out Regional Updates with time-sensitive reminders and Action Alerts encouraging everyone to bring their voice and power to bear on important issues. 

We wish you a wonderful November, and - as always - we look forward to seeing you soon as we continue to stand up for justice, solidarity, and equity. 

Peace and all good,

Tammie, Sr. Christine, Jill, Glen, & Andrew

Fair Trade Sale

Saturday, November 18
9:00am - 3:00pm

Curran Place (UD)

Come join us for our annual Fair Trade sale. There will be music, food, local vendors, and our main partner organization, Ten Thousand Villages. 

It's a great opportunity to get an early jump on your holiday shopping AND do it in a way that demonstrates your commitment to the dignity of work and workers, global solidarity, and justice. 

Contact Jill Foster with questions or to join as a participant organization.

Flyer

2023 Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Collection

Appeal Weekend - Nov. 11-12

Annual Collection - Nov. 18-19

As always, the annual CCHD Collection will take place the weekend before Thanksgiving - Nov. 18/19. Information and promotional materials have been sent out parishes, and we hope your family of parishes is ready for the collection.

We invite parishes to host a speaker from one of our local grantees (listed below) to share about the impact CCHD has had on their work. If your parish would be interested in hosting a speaker, we'd love to work with you on making it happen. Please contact Glen gglenn@catholicaoc.org for more information or to schedule someone. 

For more information about CCHD, you can visit our webpage. 

2023-24 Local Grantees

• Churches Active in Northside (CAIN) (CINCINNATI) https://cainministry.org/ Guest Led Anti-Poverty Initiative

• Communities United for Action (CUFA) (CINCINNATI) 
  https://www.cufacincy.org/ United for Better Stormwater Management

• Community Matters (CINCINNATI) 
  https://cmcincy.org/ Justice League 

• Drive to Thrive (CINCINNATI) 
  https://www.drivetothrivecincy.org/ Transportation Independence

• El Puente Educational Center (DAYTON) http://elpuentedayton.org/ Latino Community Services Project

• Mission of Mary Cooperative (DAYTON) 
  https://www.missionofmary.org/ Neighborhood Food Council-Empowering Neighbors and Growing Together

• Oasis House (DAYTON) 
  http://oasisforwomen.org/home/ Women of the Roundtable Project and Beyond

• Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SPRINGFIELD) 
  https://www.svdpspfld.org/Bilingual Community Navigator

As we look toward celebrating National Black Catholic History in the month of November, we remind ourselves and the whole Catholic Church in the United States of America, the gifts of blackness which enriches the entire Church. We take seriously our responsibility to never forget the sacrifice of our ancestors who handed down to us our rich heritage and faith in the One, who is the Savior of world, Jesus, the Christ.

On July 24, 1990, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States designated November as Black Catholic History Month to celebrate the long history and proud heritage of Black Catholics. Two commemorative dates fall within this month, Saint Augustine’s Birthday (November 13) and Saint Martin de Porres’ Feast Day (November 3). More importantly, November not only marks a time when we pray for all saints and souls in loving remembrance, but also a time to recall the saints and souls of Africa and the African Diaspora.

Today, we stand on the shoulders of those who tirelessly kept their eyes on Jesus with the hope of receiving the glorious crown of salvation; we are now holders of the faith! It is a time when we remember that the faith we profess is rooted in the apostolic tradition, thus it is infused with the faith of Africans.

In our remembering, let us not forget that this faith we now profess is marked with the Blood of Jesus and all those who died as martyrs for the faith. May we never forget that our faith in the One who has risen from the dead makes us brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Despite the evil of racism, ignorance, and indifference, we honor the six candidates in the Cause of Canonization who are credible witnesses of what it means to be authentically Black and Catholic: Fr. Augustus Tolton, Sr. Thea Bowman, Pierre Toussaint, Mother Mary Lange, Mother Henriette DeLille, and Julia Greeley.

Advocacy Opportunities

Afghan Adjustment Act

Stand in Solidarity with Our Afghan Neighbors

Help answer Pope Francis’ call for us to “welcome, protect, promote, and integrate” these newcomers by completing this action alert in support of the Afghan Adjustment Act. 

Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act

Urge Congress to Safeguard Children in Need and Ensure Communities Have Access to Religious Workers

Help ensure vulnerable youth receive the protections they deserve and American communities can benefit from the contributions of religious workers by completing this action alert in support of the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act.

Help Communities Affected by Climate Change

Urge Congress to support the Green Climate Fund and Development Assistance.

Urge Congress to address the impact of climate change by providing robust funding for poverty-reducing international assistance programs in the fiscal year 2024 budget, especially for the Green Climate Fund and Development Assistance. 

Pass Funding Measures to Support the Common Good

Ask Congress to Pass Funding Measures that Further the Common Good.

Join the U.S. bishops in calling for bipartisan cooperation in Congress to avoid a government shutdown and enact a just budget that reduces future unsustainable deficits, protects poor and vulnerable people, advances the common good, and promotes human life and dignity—without sacrificing vital humanitarian protections.

Support Women and Families in Need

Tell Congress to Fund WIC for All Families in Need.

Tell Congress to continue its long history of bipartisan support for WIC by providing the program with adequate resources to serve all eligible participants with food that meets their nutrition needs, including the current benefit for fruits and vegetables. Supporting WIC is one way we can help build a society that welcomes new life and is oriented toward helping children and their parents, especially those who are most vulnerable.

Food for EVERYONE

Support the RESTORE Act! End the SNAP benefit ban for people with drug-related felony convictions.

This ban does nothing to advance public safety and is counterproductive,  preventing returning citizens from fully reintegrating into society. Instead of continuing to punish persons who have paid their debt to society and their families, we should offer the necessary tools – including food – to help them lead a more productive life. Ask Congress to end this inhumane ban.

From the Respect Life Office

The Miscarriage/Ectopic Pregnancy/Life of Mother Arguments

Bob Wurzelbacher, Director of Respect Life Ministries

If the vitriol I have experienced on the internet  is any indication, we are still failing to educate people on how Issue 1 is not needed to care for women in medical emergencies. We have one week left to help people understand that abortion restrictions do not threaten women’s health. Here are some resources to help you.

Miscarriage and Ectopic Pregnancy 

The Ohio Revised Code (2919.11) defines abortion as “the purposeful termination of a human pregnancy...with an intention other than to produce a life birth or to remove a dead fetus or embryo.” Miscarriage is removing a dead fetus and clearly falls outside of any abortion restrictions. As to ectopic pregnancy, even Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill (not currently in effect), specifically defines an ectopic pregnancy exception in ORC 2919.191 saying that the law’s restrictions “apply only to intrauterine pregnancies, i.e., only when implantation is in the uterus, not in the fallopian tubes, as occurs in an ectopic or tubal pregnancy.” Any stories about doctors afraid to care for women in these cases are either lies or cases of malpractice. No doctor would truly be confused about that language.

What if the mother’s life is at stake?

First of all, when pregnancy threatens the mother’s life, the safest thing to do for the mother’s health is always to deliver the baby alive and do what it necessary to save the life of the child, or provide comfort care if the baby is too premature. It is never safer for the mother to dismember the child first and then forcibly remove it. Nonetheless, as far as the law is concerned, all abortion-restricting laws in Ohio have an exception both “to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to avoid a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” (ORC 2919.16).   For more information on the life of the mother argument, please watch this video.  On the terminal diagnosis argument, see this video. Another similar argument on the fallacy of Rape Exceptions can be found here. The Truth About Abortion and Women’s Health is a one-page resource that dispels the myths which claim that restriction to abortion will limit a women’s access to life-saving healthcare. available in English and Spanish.

The other thing I sometimes hear related to abortion up to birth is that this makes up less than 1% of all abortions. First of all, I don’t understand why that is at all relevant. If chain saw murders make up less than 1% of all murders, does that mean we should make it legal? Nonetheless, the overall low US late-term abortion statistic does not account for the fact that they are illegal in most states. If we look at the states where it is legal, the stats tells a much different story. Look at the following chart taken from these 2019 CDC stats:

Make it legal, and stats go up. Again, utilize the information available at Catholicaoc.org/VoteNo.  We have to do our duty as faithful followers of Christ and let people know the truth. Lives are at stake. 

From the Office for Persons with Disabilities

In Memory of Colin McClure 2000-2023

Lisa Averion, Associate Director of Office for Persons with Disabilities

On August 28, 2022, my first official assignment as the Associate Director for the Office for Persons with Disabilities was to attend Colin McClure’s First Holy Communion and Confirmation Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows, Monroe.  Witnessing Colin receive the sacraments along with another young man confirmed my decision to pursue a career in advocacy.  Colin was 22 years old and had never received Jesus in the Eucharist.  It was all because one person noticed he did not join the communion line weekly but venerated the cross on Good Friday 2022.  Christine Baumgardner was the Director of Religious Education at Our Lady of Sorrows and approached Colin’s parents after Mass and asked if he would like to receive the sacraments.  Colin had cerebral palsy, was confined to a wheelchair, and had limited words however, through Loyola Press Adaptive Sacrament preparation he was able to prepare to receive the sacraments.

Colin passed away unexpectedly on October 18, 2023.  It is a gift to know that he was able to be in full communion with the church through the sacraments.

Colin is survived by his parents Chuck and Susan McClure, half-brother Allen McClure and Grandmother Patricia McClure.

Who We Are

Andrew Musgrave
Cincinnati | Director

csa@catholicaoc.org | 513-263-6690
https://resources.catholicaoc.org/offices/catholic-social-action

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