Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2024 / 11:21 am (CNA).
In his prayer of invocation at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich lamented the “ongoing injustices in our national life” while calling for national unity.
Speaking before a packed house at the United Center in Chicago on Monday night, Cupich said Americans are regularly called to “reweave the fabric of America,” arguing that the country is “a nation composed of every people and culture, united not by ties of blood but by profound aspirations of life, freedom, justice, and unbound hope.”
“In every generation, we are called to renew these aspirations,” the prelate said. “We do so when we live out the virtues that dwell in our hearts, but also when we confront our failures to root out ongoing injustices in our national life, especially those created by moral blindness and fear of the other.”
The archbishop asked God to “quicken in us a resolve to protect your handiwork.”
“May our nation become more fully a builder of peace in our wounded world with the courage to imagine and pursue a loving future together,” the archbishop prayed. “And may we as individual Americans become more fully the instruments of God’s peace.”
Cupich also called for world peace, especially “for the people suffering the senselessness of war,” and evoked Pope Francis by encouraging the audience to “dream dreams and see visions of what by [God’s] grace the world can become.”
Cupich’s remarks come after Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki gave the invocation at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month.
“We pray that you assist our elected officials and candidates always to protect our freedoms, to preserve our democracy, and to govern fairly,” Listecki said last month.
“Grant them the wisdom every day to place the good of our nation above personal interest and to cherish our union. Teach us all to respect justice and our equality before the law,” the archbishop said.
Here is the full text of Cupich’s invocation:
We praise you, O God of all creation. Quicken in us a resolve to protect your handiwork. You are the source of every blessing that graces our lives and our nation.
We pray that you help us to truly understand and answer the sacred call of citizenship. We are a nation composed of every people and culture, united not by ties of blood but by the profound aspirations of life, freedom, justice, and unbound hope. These aspirations are why our forebears saw America as a beacon of hope. And, with your steady guidance, Lord, may we remain so today.
In every generation, we are called to renew these aspirations, to reweave the fabric of America. We do so when we live out the virtues that dwell in our hearts but also when we confront our failures to root out ongoing injustices in our national life, especially those created by moral blindness and fear of the other.
We pray for peace, especially for people suffering the senselessness of war. But as we pray, we must also act, for building up the common good takes work. It takes love.
And so we pray: May our nation become more fully a builder of peace in our wounded world with the courage to imagine and pursue a loving future together. And may we as individual Americans become more fully the instruments of God’s peace.
Guide us, Lord, in taking up our responsibility to forge this new chapter of our nation’s history. Let it be rooted in the recognition that for us, as for every generation, unity triumphing over division is what advances human dignity and liberty.
Let it be propelled by the women and men elected to serve in public life, who know that service is the mark of true leadership.
And let this new chapter of our nation’s history be filled with overwhelming hope, a hope that refuses to narrow our national vision, but rather, as Pope Francis has said, “to dream dreams and see visions” of what by your grace our world can become.
We ask all of this, trusting in your ever-provident care for us. Amen.
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Leon is a baby boy cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. / Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2022 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Amid a shortage of baby formula in the U.S., experts recommend parents scour smaller drug stores, check online, and join social media groups sharing information.
But here’s another, perhaps lesser-known, option they can also turn to for help: pregnancy resource centers.
Nearly 3,000 pro-life pregnancy centers serve millions of people each year in the United States. They offer women and parents in need everything from health care and material assistance to educational classes and job support — at little to no cost. Right now, for many of these centers, their work also includes connecting struggling families to baby formula.
One center in Michigan, an affiliate of Heartbeat International, a pro-life pregnancy resource center network, revealed to CNA that it has a surplus of formula.
“At this time, we haven’t heard of formula shortages at the pregnancy centers,” Andrea Trudden, vice president of communications and marketing at Heartbeat International, told CNA. “Quite the contrary, actually!”
Trudden recommended families turn to their local pregnancy help organizations for assistance and use OptionLine.org as a tool to find the center closest to them.
“Since pregnancy centers are equipped to help pregnant women and new families with practical resources such as diapers and formula,” Trudden said, “they have been able to step into that gap during this time.”
Some pro-life maternity homes in states such as Virginia and North Carolina said mothers are in desperate need and exploring all of their options, including feeding their babies with formula samples. But, these homes tell CNA, they are walking with mothers in their search, every step of the way.
What is this shortage about?
The nationwide baby formula shortage was caused, and then exacerbated, by a series of factors: supply-chain issues, recalls, the closure of a major production plant in February, and even U.S. trade policy. The result, data-firm company Datasembly found, is that more than 40 percent of baby formulas were out of stock in early May.
Babies with special needs and allergies rely on formula, along with babies in general. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63.3% of infants were exclusively breastfeeding seven days after birth in 2018. Three months after birth, only 46.3% of infants exclusively breastfed. Six months after birth, that percentage changed to 25.8%
The trouble with formula began partially with the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents stockpiled baby formula at the beginning, which increased production, only to later discover that they had a surplus to use up, which decreased production.
After consuming formula from an Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan, four babies became sick, including two who died, from bacterial infections. This led to a recall and the plant shutting down in February.
These incidents exposed the formula market as one not structurally prepared for emergencies, with just four companies largely in control of supply in the United States. U.S. and regulatory trade policy only added to the problem, restricting the exchange of formula internationally, The Atlantic reported.
Months into the shortage, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reached an agreement with Abbott, one of the largest U.S. baby formula manufacturers, to reopen its Sturgis plant in the coming weeks. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to prioritize the production of formula. And, in the meantime, the U.S. military has begun importing formula from Europe.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have called for action. Senate Democrats are pushing a bill that would send $28 million in emergency funding to the FDA. Congress passed, and Biden signed into law, a bill to expand access to formula for lower-income families during emergencies.
In the meantime, before the shelves are fully stocked once more, pregnancy centers and maternity homes around the country are helping parents in need.
“I have never seen this much formula. We have an overflow!” Lois Stoll, a volunteer who manages the formula supply at the center, said in a press release. The center, one of Heartbeat International’s 1,857 affiliate locations, accumulated its surplus over the last two years, during the pandemic.
“It really is the result of an unexpected set of circumstances,” Bryce Asberg, the executive director, added in the release. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of clients fell but donations continued to come in.”
Baby formula is stored on shelves at Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale, Michigan. Courtesy of Helping Hands
Asberg told CNA that the center has been running a material assistance program for several years where it provides mothers and families with baby clothes, diapers, wipes, and baby food or formula.
“We still offer all those items to clients who come in, but recently we have noticed a surge of interest in formula,” he said. “God has been building our supply of formula for many months, and we didn’t know why we had so much. Now we do!”
Washington, D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Janet Durig, the executive director of Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, said that her center also has baby formula on hand.
“We’ve had some phone calls seeking help and we’ve had formula to give them,” she told CNA. But, she emphasized, the supply is limited because they rely on donations.
“We have it to help people on a limited basis and are helping people on a limited basis,” she said, adding that the center welcomes donations of unopened bottles or cans of formula as long as they have not expired.
Connecticut
Leticia Velasquez, executive director and co-founder of Pathways Pregnancy in Norwich, Connecticut, encouraged moms and families to reach out if they need formula.
She told CNA that the three-year-old center is there for any woman or mom in need.
“We just say, ‘How can we fill the need? That’s what we’re here for,’” she said. “We definitely stand with them in any crisis, whether it be a formula shortage or an unplanned pregnancy.”
Parents in eastern Connecticut looking for baby formula can text the center at (860) 222-4505.
North Carolina
Debbie Capen, the executive director of MiraVia, said that the baby formula shortage is affecting her group’s work in supporting and providing resources to new moms in need. The Catholic nonprofit runs an outreach center in Charlotte and a free college residence at nearby Belmont Abbey College where a pregnant student — from any university or college — can stay until her child turns two years old.
“Yes, the mothers we serve are very concerned about the baby formula shortage,” Capen told CNA. “We always encourage breastfeeding for our expectant mothers, but for those who cannot breastfeed, they usually rely on vouchers for baby formula through the USDA’s WIC program.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s WIC program, also known as the “Special Supplementation Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children,” offers federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, and young children at nutritional risk.
Capen highlighted that WIC only covers one specific brand of formula, which means that moms must pay full price for any other label. Formula is at a premium price right now, she added, which only puts more stress on their limited resources.
In each state, baby formula manufacturers bid for exclusive rights to provide formula to WIC participants in that state. In return, they offer the state discounts, or rebates. For those who rely on WIC, this means that they face limited options.
In response to the scarcity, the mothers at MiraVia are turning to alternatives: food pantries and the MiraVia community.
“They communicate with our staff and each other when they find formula at a certain location, as well as contact stores to find out when shipments are expected,” Capen said. “They substitute with generic brands when possible and reach out to their pediatricians for recommendations and even free samples.”
Capen listed some ways that people can help during this shortage, beginning with communication and the sharing of resources.
“For example, you can help by searching posts on social media and community apps like NextDoor or OfferUp to find those with formula and suggest where it can be donated,” she said. “Remind friends and family not to stockpile so that the supply of formula can flow to those in most urgent need. If you are pregnant and have received free samples of formula, donate what you won’t use to food pantries or programs for new mothers.”
Virginia
Kathleen Wilson, the executive director of Mary’s Shelter, a faith-centered maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, agreed that “our moms have had many difficulties.”
She told CNA about one of their mothers who gave birth to her fourth baby three months ago. At first, she used a formula brand called Enfamil Reguline. After it became unavailable, she began switching between brands and using whatever she can find, Wilson said. The mother has also tried ordering on Amazon and turned to her pediatrician for samples.
Yaretzi is a baby girl cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
“This is a mom who is trying to hold down a job, with an infant and other children to tend to,” Wilson stressed the “very difficult” situation.
Wilson said that two of the other mothers spent days driving around at one point to try to find formula for their babies. When necessary, they are also turning to sample packets of baby formula.
“Our staff and volunteers have been assisting with this and picking up and delivering formula when they can get their hands on it,” Wilson said, adding that donors have also pitched in.
“We are blessed with wonderful donors,” she said. “A friend just stopped in this morning with two cans of formula that he was able to find.”
“If donors are willing and can find formula, we would be thrilled to take their donation,” she said, concluding that she is “praying this comes to an end soon.”
Who is the other that is feared? Who are those fretting? As if God is calling for peace between heterosexuals and their war with Sodom and Gomorrah. Keywords dignity, liberty the standards of the advocates for creating oneself in one’s own image rather than the one created by God.
The takeaway from the Cardinal’s parabolic muse of the party line is don’t expect there to be any discordance between the Party and the bishops. Our Catholic Church in America will continue to dissolve, except for the likes of the Eucharistic Congress the numbers keep falling. Bishops cannot continue to stall expecting new management and return to better days. Germany warns us the Church in given conditions may not have the will to recover. We need fearless moral leadership.
Did the Cardinal take the time to exorcise the Planned Parenthood mobile killing unit parked out the convention?
The Nazis had something like that too called Hell Wagons. They backed them up to the Ghetto. I wonder how many of the German hierarchy paid attention to that?
Appalling.
A cardinal addressing the death cult that is the Democratic Party.
And *failing to mention* the most compelling, most critical, most horrific issue ever to face humanity: abortion.
The lefties are all about “existential” problems such as — LOL! — driving SUV’s and eating meat.
But they don’t even question the slaughter of more than a billion children worldwide over the past 50 years.
Think about that for a second. What kind of monsters are these people? And what kind of monsters vote for them?
Cupich, we see who you are and what you stand for.
We see which spirit you serve, and quite clearly it’s not the holy one.
Who is the other that is feared? Who are those fretting? As if God is calling for peace between heterosexuals and their war with Sodom and Gomorrah. Keywords dignity, liberty the standards of the advocates for creating oneself in one’s own image rather than the one created by God.
The takeaway from the Cardinal’s parabolic muse of the party line is don’t expect there to be any discordance between the Party and the bishops. Our Catholic Church in America will continue to dissolve, except for the likes of the Eucharistic Congress the numbers keep falling. Bishops cannot continue to stall expecting new management and return to better days. Germany warns us the Church in given conditions may not have the will to recover. We need fearless moral leadership.
Did the Cardinal take the time to exorcise the Planned Parenthood mobile killing unit parked out the convention?
The Nazis had something like that too called Hell Wagons. They backed them up to the Ghetto. I wonder how many of the German hierarchy paid attention to that?