Bending the Arc

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, met Pope Leo at the end of his June 17 public audience in St. Peter’s Square. Among other things, she thanked Pope Leo for his April 2026 video, honoring the 15th anniversary of its abolition of the death penalty in his home state of Illinois. In his address, Pope Leo stressed that “the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.” Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo continues to condemn capital punishment as inadmissible.

Read more about Ms. Vaillancourt Murphy and her visit in this America Magazine article.

Ms. Vaillancort Murphy recalls her desire to work for the abolition of the death penalty was sparked in 1995 when she saw the movie, “Dead Man Walking,” which was based on the ministry of Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ. She was moved by Sister Helen’s conviction and by the humanity of people she encountered on death row, their struggles, and by the realities of the family members impacted.

Actress Susan Sarandon portrayed Sister Helen in the movie and won an academy award for best actress for this role in 1996. Actor Sean Penn was also nominated for his role in the movie. This might be a movie you want to try to find again and watch! Of course, Sister Helen first wrote the book.

Learn more about Sr. Helen’s Ministry Against the Death Penalty at https://www.sisterhelen.org/

To learn more or get involved with Catholic Mobilizing Network, visit https://catholicsmobilizing.org/ 
 

The Winnebagoland Housing Coalition comprises three counties in Wisconsin - Fond du Lac, Green Lake, and Southern Winnebago. The coalition works with agencies in their areas to address housing issues. Fond du Lac has its own working subcommittee that meets virtually the first Monday of every month at 10 am. Tracy Abler represents CSA and serves as the secretary of this subcommittee. Let her know if you’re from a local agency interested in joining.

An important annual event coming up this month is the PIT (Point in Time) Count, which is a mandated count of the community’s unsheltered homeless population on one single night. Volunteers drive around designated areas of their respective communities to count those staying in shelters and interviewing (and counting) those suspected to be in places not meant for human habitation. PITs are conducted twice a year, January and July. Volunteers are still needed for the July 22 PIT, which begins late in the night and finishes the early hours of July 23. No experience is required. Training is provided. Sign up here. Later in the morning on July 23, ADVOCAP is hosting a Resource Fair and volunteers are needed for this too.

CSA Sisters and Associates have participated in Fond du Lac’s PIT count in the past. Equally valuable as the volunteer time is the hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards that Sisters and Associates purchase and donate for each PIT. These cards are given to individuals encountered overnight during the PIT Count and to those who attend the Resource Fair the next day. Tracy will also be serving up iced coffee and lemonade at the Resource Fair and hopes others will stop by and lend their care and support.

As of June 15, numbers reported from Continuum of Care (CoC) at ADVOCAP show that 689 households are on the Winnebagoland homeless list. This number includes those searching for housing in the Winnebagoland area, but may not be within the area right now. In the context of a CoC, a “household” is defined as either a single unaccompanied individual or a group of people who apply together for assistance and share (or intend to share) the same housing unit. Of the 689 total households, 206 of these households are on the prevention list (at risk of homelessness or impending homelessness). These include: 82 households without children and 124 households with children.

On a related note, members in the Fond du Lac community are noticing an increase in panhandlers across the city. It’s been reported that some of these panhandlers are not actually homeless, but are still vulnerable and likely in need of something. All of us are to respond as our heart and/or mind tell us, but when in doubt, at the very least, individuals can be directed to any of the many resources our community offers such as to: the ADVOCAP Opportunity Center, food pantries, the 211 Resource Hotline or a Community Resource Directory. All of this information is available on one quarter-size card and available in the CSA JPIC Office or email Tracy at tabler@csasisters.org to receive an electronic copy for yourself.
 

Land Justice Futures works with Catholic sisters, and other religious landowners who seek to pursue land justice - centering racial repair, ecological healing, and community power into decisions about how land is loved, used, and governed. While it can take many forms, at its core, land justice is about interrupting the story of land as commodity, and living instead as though repair and reciprocity are possible.

On July 7, 2026, Sarah Bradley, from Land Justice Futures (LJF), led a special webinar called, “Unmasking the 250th: The Indigenous Roots of U.S.Democracy and A Call to Interdependence.” Guests Mohawk Clanmother, Mommabear Louise Herne, Baratunde Thurston and Rev.Jolena Wolcott joined Sarah as they applied a critical, historical lens to the 250th anniversary and discussed the unfinished work of truth-telling, repair, and right relationships for the next 250 years.

Mommabear reminds us that the U.S. was founded on the glorification of war and war heroes (all men). Women and mothers are often left out of our history, and even still today, but they are absolutely necessary for the birth of anything. She calls our country to perform a maternity test. Listen to the full, thought-provoking webinar in this recording.

Before or after watching the recording, you are also encouraged to read this essay from LJF’s Sarah Bradley and/or consider these reflection questions. May we learn and practice that which is foundational to the future we need:

• Women at the center of governance
• Humans living in reciprocity with the natural world
• Every decision considers seven generations ahead
• Peace, which is the presence of justice and absence of abuse, is the people’s preferred way of life, and the highest calling of government
• Law is rooted in the sacred and in the alignment with and appreciation for all life, from people to Mother Earth to the sun and cosmos

Further recommended reading and learning is here:

• Rematriated Voices with Michelle Schenandoah on PBS (2025)
• The book American Indigenous Democracy: A Call for Interdependence by Oren Lyons, John Mohawk, Katsi Cook, and other contributing authors (2026)
• The book Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists by Sally Roesch Wagner (2021)
• A Call to Mother Law essay by Sarah Bradley and Brittany Koteles of LJF
• Read this Forge interview on the 250th anniversary and Haudenosaunee democracy as “the Great Goodness” with our friends Baratunde Thurston & Claire Maracle (Mohawk)
• Check out this helpful cheatsheet of historical dates and quotes from Sara Jolena 
   

Catholic Climate Covenant invites you to join them on Tuesday, July 21 (2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT) for a one-hour webinar focused on how greater reliance on clean energy can be an effective strategy to lower energy prices and meet the ever-increasing power demands of data centers.  

Let’s Talk Energy: Affordability, Clean Energy, and Data Centers. REGISTER HERE. 
(The webinar will be recorded, and all who register will receive a link to the recording)

Data centers are usually powered by greenhouse gas-emitting generators, further polluting our neighborhoods, inflating our utility bills, and worsening climate change. In a world where increasing reliance on AI is fueling the construction of more data centers, how can we respond and limit their negative impacts?

Panelists will discuss:

1. How is the growth of data centers impacting energy prices?
2. What are some concrete policies, especially when looking at the growth of data centers, that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs, promote sustainable economic prosperity, and advance environmental justice?
3. How can local and state governments respond to the growth of data centers?
4. How can the U.S. Catholic Church respond and create pathways for clean energy use in its own facilities?

Panelists:

1) Maria Fernanda Chavez, Senior Analyst, Climate and Energy program, Union of Concerned Scientists
2) Jamie Dickerson, Senior Director, Climate and Clean Energy Programs, Acadia Center
3) Ian Moise, Director, Catholic Energies

If you have questions, please contact Paz Artaza-Regan at paz@catholicclimatecovenant.org. 
 

Astronauts viewing Earth from space experience a profound cognitive shift known as the Overview Effect. It is an intense state of awe and interconnectedness. From the vantage point of orbit or deep space, they see our world as a single, borderless entity suspended in darkness, free from political, cultural, and geographic boundaries. It is protected by a paper-thin atmosphere and very vulnerable. Learn more about the Overview Effect from NASA or in this Medium article. 

In her July 7 meditation, Rev. Cameron Trimble reflects on something similar—the World Cup. Over the past weeks, many of us felt it too. We started noticing and became interested in other countries. We started rooting for them and found joy in their joy, even when we didn’t understand their language. The world started to feel interesting again, not threatening or split into friends and enemies. Curiosity took the place of suspicion. Differences were not erased, they were honored.

Read Rev. Trimble’s full post and ask yourself these questions:

1. What in the past few weeks has awakened your curiosity or affection?
2. Where in your life has fear or habit caused your world to become smaller than it needs to be?
3. What would it take to carry the openness and delight you experienced during the World Cup (or a trip into deep space) into your relationships with those whose stories are different from your own?

As the anniversaries of the Trinity Test (July 16) and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9) grow near, Pax Christi USA reminds us to be aware and inform others that the risk of nuclear war is greater today than it has been since 1986. There are no nuclear weapons limitation treaties, no treaties about monitoring nuclear developments, and most of the nuclear powers are posed to modernize and expand their nuclear arsenals. 

France has already promised to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads.

As we pray to remember the victims of past nuclear weapons, let us pray for our present and the coming future. Visit the Pax Christi website for 2026 resources.

Here are some links to study the present situation:

• Click this link to watch Daniel Ellsberg’s last interview, a 29-minute documentary, called “An Ordinary Insanity.”
• Growing Concerns After the 2026 NPT Review Conference, Pax Christi International report on the recent Nonproliferation Review Conference at the U. N. in New York.
• RevCon 2026: Expert Warns Nuclear Treaty Under Strain Amid Nuclear Threats, Global Conflicts, an arms control expert’s take on the NPT Conference.

If you are concerned about this situation, contact your Senators and Congressional Representative and urge them to raise the issue of nuclear disarmament.

Please also consider attending Lanterns for Peace August 6 @ 6:30 - 8:30 pm CDT at John Wall Family Pavilion, Tenney Park, 402 N. Thornton Ave, Madison, WI. Details at https://psr-wisconsin.org/lanterns-for-peace2026 
 

211 Wisconsin, with funding from the State of Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, invites Wisconsin residents, 18 years of age and older, to participate in a Wisconsin statewide poster contest focused on raising awareness about human trafficking.

Participants must download and use the provided template which provides individuals with 211 contact information and approved anti-human trafficking messaging. Human trafficking affects individuals and communities across Wisconsin. Through art, we can educate others, spark important conversations, and share messages of hope, prevention, and support.

This contest is open to Wisconsin residents or students attending high school, college, university, or tech school in the state. Must be 18 or older at the time of submission. Individual entries only (no group submissions will be accepted).

Learn more about the rewards and guidelines at https://www.unitedwaywi.org/general/custom.asp?page=AHTPosterContest 
 

According to a June 10, 2026 press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, tribal and conservation groups have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop a land trade that would hand 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas to SpaceX. In exchange for these lands, SpaceX is giving 683 acres of private lands to the Service.

Under the law, any exchanges of wildlife refuge lands must result in net conservation benefits to both the individual refuge where land will be exchanged and the wildlife refuge system as a whole. The wildlife habitat that SpaceX is seeking to take ownership of has been degraded by SpaceX’s expanding operations and failed rocket launches.

The land deal resulting in more than 700 acres of a national forest is one of the largest exchanges of land in the refuge system’s history outside the state of Alaska. Read more here.

Care to help save this vital refuge from a trillionaire’s takeover?! 

Take action here

The Center for Biological Diversity has several Action Alerts that you, as a steward of the Earth, may wish to partake in. As Sister Dianne Bergant, CSA, often reminds us, “We are totally dependent on Creation.” In cases like this, it is depending on us to take action!