Month: March 2019

Denver, Colo., Mar 7, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- As a measure to repeal Colorado’s death penalty passed a Senate committee this week, the Colorado Catholic Conference has expressed support for the bill.

The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee 3-2 along party lines March 6. Before the bill is sent to the Senate for a full debate, the Colorado Catholic Conference encouraged the people to call or email their elected officials.

“We have always been staunch supporters of repealing the death penalty here in Colorado, and all of the bishops have spoken very publicly about the need to repeal and abolish the death penalty,” Jenny Kraska, executive director for the Colorado Catholic Conference, told CNA.

The bill’s sponsors are Sen. Angela Williams, Sen. Julie Gonzales, Rep. Jeni Arndt, and Rep. Adrienne Benavidez.

According to 9 News, Williams said the death penalty is inefficient and that the fact that each of the three people on death row in the state are African American is evidence of racial inequalities.

“It’s a barbaric practice. It’s time to remove it from the books in Colorado,” she said.

CPR reported that testimonies were also given in opposition to the repeal. Rep. Tom Sullivan had pushed for the execution of James Holmes after the 2012 Aurora Theater Shooting left dead the politician’s son, along with 12 other people.

“We have a mechanism if those people don’t want to be a part of our society, we should have the ability to take those people out of our society,” he said.

The last execution carried out in the state was in 1997.

The inmates now on death row are Nathan Dunlap, who murdered four people at a kids’ restaurant, and Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, who both had been involved with the death of a young couple.

In 2013, then-governor John Hickenlooper temporarily suspended the death penalty of Dunlap. Before the execution was suspended, Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver was featured in a Denver Post guest column, where he expressed the importance of human dignity.

“My faith tells me that Dunlap’s crimes were sinful because murder ignores the human dignity which comes from being created in God’s image. But I believe that justice must also respect human dignity. My faith holds out hope for the possibility that some good can come from every single human life.”

Kraska said mercy, redemption, and healing should be made available to both victims and criminals. She said prisoners should not only have the chance to change and seek repentance, but the families of victims should be able to have interactions of forgiveness with the perpetrator. If people are put to death, these opportunities are lost, she said.

“For the Catholic Church, obviously, it’s about a consistent ethic of life, and we believe that all life has intrinsic value and whether that is life in the womb, life at the end of life, or life of somebody who has committed an atrocious crime,” she told CNA.

“We don’t think it is the right of the state or anyone to kill somebody. Perpetuating violence with violence is never the answer,” she added.

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Washington D.C., Mar 7, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- An Irish nun who has been working to educate girls in South Sudan for the past eleven years is among the recipients of this year’s U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage awards… […]

Austin, Texas, Mar 7, 2019 / 04:52 pm (CNA).- The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist had a problem.

They were running out of room at their convent in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they had been based since 1997.

It was a good problem to have, the result of a boom in young vocations. But it meant that the community of 140 sisters needed to expand.

With property in both California and Texas, the sisters prayerfully considered both options, ultimately deciding that God was calling them to open a new convent in the Georgetown, Texas.

Twenty-five miles north of Austin, Georgetown is in the Hill Country of the Lone Star State.

The sisters’ presence in Texas reaches back to 2009, when eight sisters came to teach in the Diocese of Austin, invited by then-Bishop of Austin Gregory Aymond. Members of the community currently teach in four Catholic schools in Texas.

“As our presence has steadily grown, our apostolate has flourished, enabling us to expand the work to which God has called us – to praise, to bless, and to preach through catechesis, evangelization, and witness,” the sisters said in a statement.

“Through it all, our hearts have been captured by the love of so many who have made all this possible through their sacrificial goodness.”

In 2012, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist began a $30 million capital campaign to fund the first phase of a new Religious House.

That phase was recently completed and is comprised of living space for 56 sisters, along with dining space, a gymnasium and library, and areas for education and community. Twelve sisters have moved in so far, the Dallas News reports.

The building was blessed in a Feb. 16 ceremony.

Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, head of the diocese where the sisters are from, presided over the ceremony. He was joined by bishops from around the state of Texas: Bishops Joe Vasquez of Austin, Michael Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Brendan Cahill of Victoria, and Stephen Lopes of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The new home is named “Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent.”

“As patroness of the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe holds a special place in the heart of our own community as well,” the sisters explained in their statement.

“We seek her motherly protection and guidance as our Sisters take up residence, begin their studies, and continue to nurture and teach those entrusted to their care.”

The Texas convent marks the community’s first expansion beyond the Motherhouse since 1997, with more expansion projects planned.

“Never in our wildest imagination, did we ever think about being in Texas when we first started,” said Mother Assumpta Long in an interview in the Dallas News.

“I tell people that it’s such an adventure to be religious because when you worship, you never know what he has in mind… All you do is trust and you follow him, but he had it all planned. We didn’t have a clue.”

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Washington D.C., Mar 7, 2019 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- A bipartisan group of senators have written to the Government Accountability Office asking it to examine the use of non-compete agreements by employers when dealing with low-wage workers.

In a letter sent March 7,  Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Todd Young (R-IN) asked GAO comptroller general Gene Dodaro to review the practice non-compete agreements, and the effect these agreements have on the economy.

A non-compete agreement prevents or delays an employee from taking a new job either with certain competitors or in the same industry after his employment has ended. They are common in some fields as a measure to protect trade secrets and to lower turnover among employees, but the letter claims that the practice has expanded in recent years.

“We are requesting that GAO review the available research on the use of [non-compete] agreements and the impact of non-compete contracts on the nation’s workforce,” the senators wrote.

Specifically, the senators want the GAO to look at how prevalent non-compete agreements have become in lower-wage positions, and how these agreements impact the workforce and the economy as a whole.

The letter claims that 12 percent of workers earning less than $20,000 and 15 percent of workers earning between $20,000 and $40,000, have signed non-compete agreements. These employees may not know they will be subject to a non-compete agreement until after they have received a job offer, the letter explains.

Senator Rubio said on Thursday that the practice was in urgent need of review.

“It is unacceptable that non-compete agreements are being used to unnecessarily restrict entry-level workers from pursuing better employment opportunities,” Rubio said.

The senators also asked for a study of state-level measures taken steps to limit non-compete agreements, and how these have impacted local economies.

“The use of non-competes has spread from highly technical fields into less technical and lower wage work, where they might reduce wage and benefit competition among employers and restrict employee’s upward mobility–for no good reason,” said the letter.

The head of the Catholic Social Workers’ National Association said the practice of forcing employees, especially lower-wage employees, to sign non-compete agreements is contrary to America’s founding ideals and violates the rights of workers.

“According to Catholic Social Teachings, our economy must serve the people,” Kathleen Neher, co-founder and president of the CSWNA, told CNA.

“Work provides more than money, it provides a sense of community, dignity and participation in God’s creation.The basic rights of workers must be respected, which includes helping them grow and achieve their dreams,” she said.

Non-compete agreements, she said, only increase the pressures faced by lower-wage workers who, Neher said, often are people students or people with fewer academic qualifications.

“We live in America, the land of opportunity,” Neher said. “We should never place limits on possibilities for growth.”

She warned that restrictions on workers like non-compete agreements would have negative impacts on their mental health, and the economy as a whole. Workers, she explained, achieve more when given the chance to do so.

“Lower-level employment is there to teach and guide employees so they can move up the ladder of success,” she said, which would result in higher tax revenue and more money being spent in the community.

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