CATHOLIC NEWS
U.S. Bishops’ President Reflects on the 75th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki July 30, 2020 WASHINGTON – Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement on the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “This week we are observing the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945. “My brother bishops and I mourn with the Japanese people for the innocent lives that were taken and the generations that have continued to suffer the public health and environmental consequences of these tragic attacks. “On this solemn occasion, we join our voice with Pope Francis and call on our national and world leaders to persevere in their efforts to abolish these weapons of mass destruction, which threaten the existence of the human race and our planet. “We ask our Blessed Mother Mary, the Queen of Peace, to pray for the human family, and for each one of us. Remembering the violence and injustice of the past, may we commit ourselves to being peacemakers as Jesus Christ calls us to be. Let us always seek the path of peace and seek alternatives to the use of war as a way to settle differences between nations and peoples.” The USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace has produced resources for study, prayer, and action that the faithful 20 THE CATHOLIC CONNECTION
may use in observing the August 6 and 9 anniversary, which may be found at: http://www.usccb.org/nuclear.
Weakened Fair Housing Rule Fails to Promote Dignity of Human Person July 28, 2020 WASHINGTON –Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it would terminate the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation (AFFH) issued in 2015 and replace it with a new rule on fair housing titled Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Charities USA filed comments in March 2020 on HUD’s proposed changes to the AFFH rule. The comments urged HUD to withdraw the proposed rule because it weakens the definition of AFFH, fails to address barriers to fair housing, reduces community engagement, and diminishes the role of Public Housing Authorities. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of HoumaThibodaux, chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, and Sister Donna Markham OP, PhD, president & CEO of Catholic Charities USA, issued a statement in response to HUD’s announcement: “HUD’s replacement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule undermines efforts to promote fair housing and human dignity. Discriminatory practices such as redlining, disinvestment from communities, discriminatory practices
in selling or renting homes, and racial and economic segregation have undermined fair housing for generations and continue to harm communities of color today. HUD’s new rule minimizes the affirmative responsibility to promote fair housing by removing clear guidance and effective accountability. “Fair housing regulations remain one of the key tools for addressing long standing inequities and historical disadvantages and must be strengthened, not weakened. As the U.S. bishops wrote 45 years ago in The Right to a Decent Home, ‘an absence of racial discrimination is no longer enough. We must insist upon effective programs to remedy past injustice.’ Let us renew this call to action to ensure all people have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.”
U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee On The Catholic Campaign For Human Development Approves $500,000 Strategic National Grant to put Laudato Si’ in Action July 22, 2020 WASHINGTON—The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has approved a strategic national grant totaling $500,000 to the Direct Action & Research Training Center (DART) to empower poor and lowincome persons in the southeastern U.S. to overcome the impacts and address the root causes of climate change over the next five years. The bishops of the CCHD subcommittee approved the grant during their virtual meeting on June 9.
