Just Politics

“Well, what a summer it's been!” says Joan Neal at the start of this week’s episode. And August only just began!  

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind in U.S. politics. A shooting targeting former president Trump left many injured and two people, including the shooter, dead. Coming off a debate performance that raised concerns about his age, President Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman in U.S. history to be the presumptive nominee of a major party. And just this past week, Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate—with only 85 days left until the 2024 election.  

To make sense of all this, Laura Peralta-Schulte joins Just Politics this week. Peralta-Schulte is the senior director of public policy and government relations at NETWORK. 

“While the media likes to focus on the horse races ... what we're really talking about is who is going to represent us that will pass paid leave, make sure kids are not hungry, make sure that everybody has access to affordable healthcare,” Peralta-Schulte says.

Sometimes, hearing from policy wonks can leave us feeling like things are actually worse than we thought. But Peralta-Schulte offers a hopeful read of this election season, pointing to the many people already engaging with energy, inspiration, and solidarity. “It's not Pentecost,” she says, “but it seems like it sometimes when you have folks going to their parishes and doing voter education and voter registration in places like Cleveland.” 

Peralta-Schulte points to NETWORK’s online resources and tools that anyone can use to get informed on the issues, find voter registration and polling place information, and take action. And she offers an invitation to NETWORK’s Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour, hitting the road this fall.  

Learn more about what’s going on, what you can do, and why we remain hopeful and engaged on this week’s episode of the Just Politics podcast.  

NETWORK Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the principles of Catholic social justice and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party in the upcoming election.

Additional Resources:  

NETWORK’s 2024 Election Resource Page  http://networkadvocates.org/be-a-voter 

NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Checklist  https://networkadvocates.org/equally-sacred-multi-issue-voter-checklist/ 

Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote Our Future” Tour  http://nunsonthebus.org/ 

In 2023, after receiving a transformational gift from the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice was finally able to begin working on an issue they’d been feeling called to for a long time: climate justice.

That gift came to fruition a few months ago with the hiring of a full-time climate lobbyist: Drake Starling, a Cuban-American Miami native with a background in international environmental law. Having worked in a global context, Starling is clear on the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels. “If your bathtub is overflowing, you're not going to get a mop,” he says. “Transitioning away from fossil fuels is turning off the bathroom spigot.”

Drake joins his colleagues on this episode of Just Politics to share more about his own story and Catholic social justice commitments, the biggest challenges and possibilities he sees in climate advocacy, and what gives him hope in the work to save the planet.

For starters, he says, we should “try to start making everyone aware that climate change legislation equals good jobs.”

NETWORK Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the principles of Catholic social justice and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party in the upcoming election.

Learn more on this week’s episode of Just Politics.

Additional resources:

NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Issues: Freedom to Live on a Healthy Planet https://www.nunsonthebus.org/equally-sacred/freedom-to-live-on-a-healthy-planet/ 

Learn more about the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate provisions https://www.epa.gov/inflation-reduction-act 

Read about FSPA’s gift to NETWORK for Climate Justice Work https://networklobby.org/news/fspa-climate-gift/ 

Learn more about “Cancer Alley” https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse 

When it comes to people organizing to stop gun violence, you probably first think of moms (see Moms Demand Action). But there is another growing unified voice against gun violence and the policies that enable it—that of Catholic nuns.  

Last year, communities of Catholic sisters and their partners formed Nuns Against Gun Violence to educate about, pray for, and advocate for policies that free us from the threat of gun violence—and to accompany communities ravaged by it.  

In this episode, two members of Nuns Against Gun Violence join us on Just Politics. Lisa Cathelyn is the justice and peace coordinator for the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and Sister of St. Joseph Annette McDermott is the justice, peace, and integrity of creation coordinator for her community and a member of the Nuns Against Gun Violence steering committee. 

“There was a real concern that the issue of gun violence was escalating,” McDermott says. “And I'd have to say, honestly, there was a part where I don't think one of us could hear once again, ‘We're sending you our thoughts and prayers.’ What could we do?” 

Since its formation, Nuns Against Gun Violence has led educational webinars, candlelight vigils, billboard ads, legislative advocacy efforts, and more.  

“We must care for communities to prevent harm, we must hold people accountable for their actions, and we must also work and have public policy that promotes the common good,” Cathelyn says.  

Many people across the country feel like they hear of a new mass shooting each time they turn on the news. “Gun violence is a public health crisis. No one is unaffected by it,” Cathelyn says. But, she says, Nuns Against Gun Violence seeks to offer hope and action for a better reality. “We reject the toxic idols of violence, of weapons, and we announce something different,” she says. 

Learn more about protecting our freedom to live in safe communities on this week’s episode of the Just Politics podcast. 

Note: NETWORK Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the principles of Catholic social justice and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party in the upcoming election.

Additional resources:  

Nuns Against Gun Violence  https://nunsagainstgunviolence.org/ 

Gun Violence Archive  https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ 

NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Resources – Freedom from Harm  https://www.nunsonthebus.org/equally-sacred/freedom-from-harm/ 

Moms Demand Action  https://momsdemandaction.org/ 

The freedom to be healthy means being able to access the care and medications we need without worrying or sacrificing other parts of our lives. For people with diabetes, who need insulin to make it through the day alive, that freedom is a daily struggle. Though insulin costs just a few dollars to make, it has been sold for more than $300 per vial.  

Kristen Whitney Daniels, who serves as the associate director of the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, New York, is also a Type 1 diabetic and a leader with T1 International's federal working group, advocating for affordable and equitable access to insulin. She knows firsthand what it’s like to have to ration insulin—and how just health care policies can transform people’s everyday lives.  

“The American public in general is facing these high costs that are forcing them to make decisions between food, going to college, getting a car, what jobs to work…” Daniels says. “I'm really passionate about making sure that people have the freedom to be healthy.” 

Health care advocates like Daniels know that movements are sustained by celebrating successes like the Affordable Care Act, which NETWORK helped to pass, and the recent cap on insulin costs for seniors instituted by the Inflation Reduction Act, led by the Biden administration. But Daniels explains that successes aren’t just winning on policy—they also include bringing new people to the table and spreading the message in new ways. 

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about advocating for our freedom to be healthy. 

Also: The nuns—and friends—are going back on the bus this year! Daniels will be joining NETWORK as a rider on the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends Vote Our Future tour this fall. Learn more here at nunsonthebus.org.  

Additional Resources: 

The Inflation Reduction Act’s insulin cost caps  https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2022/medicare-budget-proposal.html 

Kristen Whitney Daniels  https://cssjfed.org/about-us/staff-and-leadership/ 

T1 International Federal Working Group  https://www.t1international.com/FWG/ 

Nuns On the Bus & Friends http://nunsonthebus.org/  

Just Politics will be taking a brief summer break this week. In the meantime, please be sure to catch up on all the episodes from the first half of season four:

1: Let us count the freedoms (with Katherine Stewart and Mary J. Novak) https://uscatholic.org/articles/202406/just-politics-let-us-count-the-freedoms/

2: We can demand something better (with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman) https://uscatholic.org/articles/202406/just-politics-we-can-demand-something-better/ 

3: The harm of a false witness (with Jim Wallis) https://uscatholic.org/articles/202406/just-politics-the-harm-of-a-false-witness/

4: Hey Y.A.L.L., let's save democracy (with Chelsea Puckett and Baylee Fingerhut) https://uscatholic.org/articles/202407/just-politics-hey-y-a-l-l-lets-save-democracy/

5: Why harming the border harms us all (with Jesús de la Torre) https://uscatholic.org/articles/202407/just-politics-why-harming-the-border-harms-us-all/ 

When people in the United States think about immigration, many immediately think about the U.S.-Mexico border, cruel border policies, and desperate families fleeing violence. But as Jesús de la Torre of Hope Border Institute shares in this episode, immigration is about so much more—including freedom, good food, global solidarity, and especially dreams. What if our immigration system wasn’t just built around human rights and human dignity, but also human dreams?  

“All of us, we have desires. We aspire to be. We want to study. We want to work. We want to learn. We want to discover,” de la Torre says. “We need to design a system that is focused on people's dreams and aspirations ... that then that will benefit everyone.”

De la Torre draws on Catholic social teaching—and the words of Pope Francis—to help us understand that making our country more welcoming for immigrants makes the country more welcoming for everyone. “If we encounter people [at the border] with mercy and we allow each other to share that vulnerability, those fears, those hopes, I think will become much more humane and much more human,” he says.  

Join us as we learn more about de la Torre’s experiences at the border, his policy ideas, and how Catholics can help build vibrant, culturally-rich communities of welcome.

NETWORK Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the principles of Catholic social justice and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party in the upcoming election. 

Additional resources 

UPDATE: After recording his interview with Just Politics, Jesús was named assistant director for global migration at Hope Border Institute: https://twitter.com/JesussdelaTorre/status/1808139940183552488 

Hope Border Institute https://www.hopeborder.org/  

An article by Jesús de la Torre https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/moment-renewal-churchs-accompaniment-migrants  

From a recent issue of NETWORK’s Connection magazine, on the DACA program: https://networklobby.org/connection-dreams-of-inclusion-061124/  

The U.S. bishops’ 2003 pastoral letter on immigration, “Strangers No Longer”: https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/immigration/strangers-no-longer-together-on-the-journey-of-hope 

College students today have grown up through a recession, a pandemic, and an unprecedented era of digitalization and political upheaval. They are also now part of the largest voting bloc in the country, composed of Millennial and Gen Z voters.  

Young people have tremendous electoral power, but are often unequipped to engage in our democratic processes. In an era awash in information (and disinformation), how can young people channel their energy around justice into actionable change?  

That’s where NETWORK’s new Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.) comes in.  

This week on the Just Politics podcast, our hosts are joined by Chelsea Puckett, NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Outreach and Education Specialist. Chelsea is leading the inaugural year of Y.A.L.L., working to equip college students with the tools they need to be multi-issue voters, to energize and register their classmates to vote, and to speak about the issues they care about.   

One of those students in the inaugural cohort, Baylee Fingerhut, joins us this week as well. A student at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Fingerhut became committed to advocating for a more equitable health care system after her father’s cancer diagnosis and will vote in a presidential election for the first time this year. About young voters like herself, she says, “I think we're all we're sparked up, we're fired up... we finally want to use our voices and use our ability to vote to uphold the things that we see are important.”  

Check out episode four of Just Politics to learn more about what college students are doing to build momentum for multi-issue voting ahead of the 2024 election (spoiler alert: it involves goats).  

Additional resources:  

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.): https://networkadvocates.org/yall/   

NETWORK’s statement on the first presidential debate: https://networklobby.org/news/62824-debate/ 

Tufts report on voting rates among Gen Z: https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/gen-z-voted-higher-rate-2022-previous-generations-their-first-midterm-election 

In 2024, white Christian nationalism continues to threaten our democracy and our freedoms—including our freedoms to vote, to practice our diverse religions, to live in safety, to protect and care for our families, and to live in a welcoming country.  

There is no one more critical for the struggle against white Christian nationalism than Christians committed to democracy, justice, and human dignity—Christians such as Reverend Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, founding director of the Georgetown Center for Faith and Justice, and author of a new book: The False White Gospel (St. Martin’s). 

Join us this week on the Just Politics podcast as Wallis takes us through how white Christian nationalism is entirely un-Christian—and how the notion of neighbor, as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, is not limited to a certain race, religion, or country of origin (neither white, nor Christian, nor nationalist!) Rather, the question of “Who is my neighbor?”  is best answered by looking at who among us is most marginalized, other-ed, and in need.  

Luckily, everyone in this country—not only people of faith—has the power to spark conversations in their communities about our core values and how they can be distorted and weaponized by powerful interests who try (and fail) to use religion to divide us.

Additional Resources 

More on Jim Wallis https://sojo.net/biography/jim-wallis  

NETWORK’s White Supremacy and American Christianity series https://networklobby.org/actions-to-take-to-after-watching-white-supremacy-in-christianity/  

Sojourners, A Call to Civic Discipleship https://sojo.net/civicdiscipleship  

The False White Gospel https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250291899/thefalsewhitegospel 

What if every family in the United States had enough resources to afford secure housing, eat nourishing food, pay medical bills and childcare expenses, and spend quality time with their loved ones without the constant worry of financial stress?  

This is exactly what U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey wants to make a reality with the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act. The concept of guaranteed income is a simple one: giving families income that they can use to meet their needs. Watson Coleman points to other universal basic income pilot programs that have worked across the country—and even how the federal government offered no-strings-attached supplemental income during the COVID-19 pandemic that lifted millions of individuals, families, and children out of poverty.   

As Watson Coleman puts it in this week’s episode of Just Politics, “I don’t think that’s too much to ask for in the richest country in the world.”  

Being able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones is foundational to what it means to live in a democracy where everyone can participate and live dignified lives. Join us this week to hear more from Watson Coleman about realizing our freedom to care for ourselves and our families and the importance of electing officials who will ensure that we share our abundant resources justly—so that everyone has what they need to thrive, no exceptions.  

Additional Resources: 

Read Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in Connection magazine: https://networklobby.org/connection-rep-coleman-112823/  

Learn more about the Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act: https://watsoncoleman.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watson-coleman-leads-introduction-of-guaranteed-income-pilot-program  

NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Checklist: https://networkadvocates.org/equally-sacred-multi-issue-voter-checklist/  

Freedom doesn’t simply mean freedom from things that restrict our lives. It also means the freedom to flourish and live with dignity. It means the freedom to care for ourselves and others, to participate in a vibrant democracy, to be healthy and safe from harm, and to live on a healthy planet and in a welcoming country.  

Season four of the Just Politics podcast continues last season’s focus on protecting and expanding democracy in the United States but dives into the particular context of the 2024 election—and the freedoms at stake.  

For the season four kickoff episode, podcast hosts (and NETWORK staff members) Joan Neal, Colin Martinez Longmore, and Sister Eilis McCulloh, H.M. are joined by Katherine Stewart—an investigative journalist whose work focuses on religious nationalism and the separation of church and state, and the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bloomsbury). Stewart lays out for listeners some of the freedoms on the line in this election, the dangers of Christian nationalism and right-wing extremism, and some concrete ways in which we all can pitch in to save democracy this election year.  

NETWORK Executive Director Mary Novak then joins our hosts to unpack Stewart’s interview and explore how some coalitions of people of faith are working together to reject the rise of Christian nationalism and insist on the kind of faith-in-politics that actually serves the common good.  

Join Just Politics this season as we explore how we can expand our freedoms and vote for a future where everyone thrives—no exceptions—in this election and beyond.

As you listen, please be aware that NETWORK Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the principles of Catholic social justice and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party in the upcoming election.

Additional Resources:  

Katherine Stewart : https://katherinestewart.me/ 

Faiths United to Save Democracy: https://www.turnoutsunday.com/  

Sojourners, A Call to Civic Discipleship : https://sojo.net/civicdiscipleship  

NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Checklist (in English and Spanish): https://networkadvocates.org/equally-sacred-multi-issue-voter-checklist/  

Project 2025 https://time.com/6986995/what-is-project-2025/