Priests of the Sacred Heart/US Province

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A Public Letter

The following letter is being sent to local newspapers of areas in which the US Province ministers:

From:   Priests of the Sacred Heart, US Province -- Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission
To:       Our Fellow Citizens in Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin
Re:       The November Elections

We all sense that the November elections will have historic impact. Long before COVID-19, we saw division in Congress, our local communities and churches, even among our families and friends. Frequently, we ourselves have contributed to this tribalism in which one side sees itself as good and the other side as evil. This election must begin to move us toward that unity to which Jesus prayed before his death: that we would love one another and remain one in him.

Please consider  that we have two huge realities in common, whatever our political labels.


  • First, we all face two “existential threats” that could wipe out humanity or at least civilization as we know it – the threat of nuclear war and the climate crisis. These threats are so high that scientists have moved the iconic “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than at any time in history. All life depends on a healthy and nuclear weapons free Earth. We as well as our children, grandchildren and future descendants have a huge stake in addressing these threats in a serious and realistic way.

  • Second, we share a common humanity that recoils at hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans (Central Americans) being forced to migrate -- very often because of U.S. policies -- but who are denied asylum or refugee status or even humane levels of shelter and health care. Our hearts break at stories of permanent family separations, three-year-olds defending themselves in court, innocent people fleeing extreme violence, grinding poverty and five years of drought  as well as being penned in  like animals. Regrettably COVID itself further dramatizes the underlying divisions rocking society as people of color die at a higher rate than white people, especially “essential workers.” This disparity, combined with long-standing police abuse, boiled over into a diverse movement demanding greater equality and unity.

Please keep these commonalities in mind as we go to the polls. We must form our consciences and cast our votes in light of the common good.

We offer these reflections in the hope they will spark reflection and dialogue, and we pray that God protect all the nations of America and all nation of the world in these dangerous times. We don’t presume to suggest that any candidate or party has the monopoly on respecting life and increasing the common good. We must insist that all parties become more pro-life in the fullest sense of the term… more pro-human rights, more pro-environment, more pro-migrant, more pro-poor, more anti-racist, more anti-war and violence.


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