Bending the Arc

On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Each month, we will share an article inviting reflection on this anniversary, the current state of our democracy, and our personal role in its maintenance. 

We have all heard politicians and pundits alike proclaim at every shooting, every violent act or unseemly behavior: “This is not who we are! We are better than this.”

I beg to differ. I believe that this IS who we are. None of us likes to admit it, but it’s true. As a human being, I am a mixed bag of behaviors, of good and evil, of strengths and weaknesses, of kindness and cruelty and I never know which behavior will emerge from that bag at any given moment. Some of us spend our lives slowly opening this bag, owning who we are a little at a time if we can be honest with ourselves and keep growing into higher levels of human consciousness. Unfortunately, a few of us get stuck somewhere along the way, end up in denial and stop growing.

Beyond my humanity, I am a Catholic Christian, so my mixed bag further contains the metaphors and realities of light and darkness, sin and forgiveness, death and resurrection, inertia and transformation—to my constant chagrin and humility. Some of us spend our lives trying to balance these polarities, embracing our True Selves in the process while God works to make us whole. Again, a few of us get stuck at some point, perhaps, for example, narrowly thinking that our faith tradition is the only, true way to God or some other dogmatic theory that traps us in its claws.

But the mixed bag gets much heavier when I get to my identity as a citizen of the United States of America. This bag is filled with 250 years of shadow and glory, slavery and freedom, genocide and manifest destiny, racism and diversity, poverty and obscene wealth, honest work and corruption, imperialism and equality of nations, war and some semblance of peace—and everything in between.

In each of these “identities” or levels of being, how does one grow to fullness, to wholeness? I think it has something to do with acknowledging the past and how that has affected the present, the NOW, of my life, our life together, and how that might affect the trajectory of the future of my life, our life together. So, as a human, I must come to grips with my family history, my ancestors, my cultural ways so that I understand my behaviors, my shadow, my personality, my traumas and can grow beyond, not being held prisoner, but being free.

That is true for my Catholic faith tradition as well. How has the ongoing patriarchy, the colonialism, the traditionalism of the past affected my present? The abuse and its coverup? The dishonesty of it all? How has that shaped my faith life and the subsequent behaviors that emerge from my bag? How can I lay them at the feet of God and be free? My contemplative and apostolic life as a vowed religious woman leads me forward in that quest. Present efforts in the Church to wrestle with that history also help.

Even in my 8th decade of life, I am working at the first two, accepting that I am a mixed bag of behaviors and trying to become whole. But this last bag, the one of citizenship? This bag is daunting. I have discovered that the history I learned in school 60-70 years ago was partial at best, from a white perspective, and wholly about manifest destiny. All the behaviors listed above, the shadows of our country’s existence, while very real, are not acknowledged by very many in power because it is not to their advantage. As I stated before, acknowledging our history, our roots, our past, is the first step in healing, in growth. If we cannot do that on a large enough scale, then the shadow behaviors will keep emerging over and over—the cruelty, the racism, the white supremacy, the imperialism, the corruption and greed—as we are experiencing in this very moment. It is evident to me that we have not had the wider conversations about the ugliness of some of our nation’s past, have not told ourselves the truth about our history and its effects on us, have not accepted the full narrative of who we are in reality, have not asked forgiveness nor forgiven ourselves for the pain we have inflicted on ourselves and then ignored.

So, people, pundits and politicians, stop saying,” This is not who we are!” It IS who we are. We are a mixed bag of shadow and goodness. Some of us have not even opened the bag of our own humanity much less our own faith tradition, whatever that may be. Many, if not most, have certainly not engaged in the conversations we so desperately need to have on our country’s mixed bag of historical and ongoing behaviors. We tend to be mired in American exceptionalism. In the split screen playing out before our eyes right now, we tend to see only the goodness of our neighbors taking care of each other, walking each other’s children to school, shopping for groceries for each other, sounding whistles of warning for each other and not see the screen showing the reasons that make all that even more necessary than usual these days, that lay bare the fear and violence gripping those not considered “exceptional” in these days. I challenge us not to be afraid to open the three bags—that of our humanity, our faith traditions, our citizenship--and courageously yet tenderly explore their contents. Yes, it’s a humbling journey, but it’s the only way we can truly grow—and the survival, if not the thriving, of our common humanity, our many faith traditions and our beloved country depend on it.

Reflect

Questions developed by Patrice Rog, CSA

• Can I honestly and humbly explore my own “mixed bag”? What surprises me? What growth have I experienced over the years? What must I throw out of the bag? Where do I need to add to the bag?
• What idea in the essay touched me as I reflect on my past and current beliefs and assertions?
• In which narrative of our nation do I believe? What can I do to challenge our leadership to align our country’s narrative to our entire past, including both its honorable and distasteful truths?

Learn more about CSA's “US at 250” initiatives including the April 23 event featuring Justice Janine Geske.

The housing supply gap is over 4.2 million in our country. Americans need affordable housing! The two drivers for the housing shortage are the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID pandemic.

Wisconsin Senator Baldwin has voted to advance legislation to boost housing supply and bring down costs for Wisconsinites, including new steps to ban large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes. The package passed the Senate 89-10 and now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives. If signed into law, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would mark the largest legislative housing package in decades. There may not be another bill like this for many years, if at all. It has to pass. 

“Everywhere I travel in Wisconsin, I hear from families struggling to make ends meet as the cost of just about everything continues to rise, including housing. I’m proud to back bipartisan legislation that will not only lower the cost to rent or buy in Wisconsin communities, but also invest in building more homes,” said Senator Baldwin. “This bill also makes important strides toward cracking down on Wall Street investors that buy up single-family homes, lock Wisconsinites out of homeownership, and drive up costs in our neighborhoods. While this bill won’t solve the housing crisis, it’s a step in the right direction, and I’m proud to work with my Republican and Democratic colleagues to bring down costs and help more Wisconsinites live and invest in the communities they love.” 

The ROAD to Housing Act includes key bipartisan priorities, including a provision banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. Senator Baldwin has long-championed efforts to crack down on corporate investors who buy up homes and lock Wisconsinites out of homeownership. 

Key provisions of the bill include: 

• Bans corporate landlords from buying up single-family homes
• Boosts housing supply to bring down costs
• Makes key reforms to increase housing fairness, access, and affordability
• Includes significant, longstanding policy priorities to build more housing and make it more affordable; and
• Makes additional investments in housing supply.

Read more here

Then, call your members of the House.
 

Sisters of Mercy are sponsoring a special program with the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, Creation Justice Ministries, Maryknoll and the Mennonite Central Committee. It will be one that provides space for reflection on the Doctrine of Discovery, its legacy of increasingly extreme forms of extracting natural resources, and will explore alternatives to this economic paradigm.

The program is called, The Roots of Extractivism and the Moral Call for Transformation and will be online Thursday, April 15 at 6 pm CT.

The current exploitation of land, water and communities for mining, oil and gas drilling and other forms of extracting natural resources is rooted in a 15th-century church doctrine promoting colonial conquest. This 90-minute program will explore these roots of the extractivist economy, create space for reflection on our own complicity, and showcase examples of alternative ways of living and working. Speakers include Sarah Augustine, a Pueblo (Tewa) woman who co-founded the Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition; Ryan Juskus, an assistant professor at Notre Dame who specializes in issues of environmental justice; and a panel of practitioners of alternative economies.  

This is a free program, but donations are appreciated. 

REGISTER HERE
 

Wisconsin Assembly Bill 604 is a bipartisan bill seeking to provide more access to care for incarcerated people with substance use disorders. A Medicaid expansion would also cover general health care needs. This bill was officially passed by the State Senate and State Assembly this week! Read the full story here. 

This is an important victory for incarcerated people and their loved ones in Wisconsin. The full implementation of this bill would:

• reduce needless suffering in jails and prisons,
• put more people on a pathway to successful reentry,
• reduce the number of people being detained,
• enhance public safety, and save resources that can instead be utilized to build stronger and healthier communities.

Read more about AB 604
 

Last November, the Department of Homeland Security announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti effective February 3, 2026. On February 2, the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled the termination was unlawful and could not be enforced. The ruling is being appealed by the Department of Homeland Security. Haitians living in the US under TPS face a very uncertain future.  

We are thankful to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for their statements of January 29, 2026, and February 3, 2026, concerning this issue. The Bishops state, “We are deeply concerned about the plight of our Haitian brothers and sisters living in the United States who will soon have their legal status and work authorization revoked due to the Administration’s termination of TPS for Haiti. There is simply no realistic opportunity for the safe and orderly return of people to Haiti at this time."   

In order to extend TPS for 300,000 Haitians at risk for deportation, members of the House of Representatives are being asked to sign Discharge Petition #15 to force a vote on H. Res. 965, which, if passed, would immediately bring H.R. 1689 to the floor for a vote. H.R. 1689, if passed, would extend TPS for Haitians. To understand the legislative process on this issue, refer to Understanding the Bill, the Resolution, and the Discharge Petition. 
218 signatures are needed. Presently, 172 representatives have signed. Click here to check if your representative signed the petition.

CSA and other Catholic organizations stand in solidarity with our Haitian siblings.You are invited to take action with this SSND petition and contact your U.S.Representative requesting they sign the Discharge Petition immediately. 

The seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) is taking place March 9-19, 2026. The priority theme of the session will be: Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers. 

The review theme will be: Women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

On March 9, 2026, the NGO Working Group to End Homelessness (WGEH) offered a virtual side event titled, A Home for All is Justice for All. This CSW70 side event convened a distinguished panel to discuss the critical issues of specific populations of women and girls and successful interventions to redress violations of their rights and call government stakeholders to take action to prevent homelessness by addressing legal barriers and discrimination that serve as barriers to women’s human rights in housing, land and inheritance rights.

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights affirms that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing and shelter….” Yet, well over 2.8 billion people lack access to adequate housing, secure land and basic water and sanitation services. More than 1.12 billion of these people live in precarious conditions in slums or informal settlements, threatening their health and even their survival. In addition, some 300 million people face absolute homelessness globally, lacking any form of stable shelter, no housing at all. 

Many people are experiencing or at risk of experiencing hidden homelessness, which means they are often not included in the data. Many of these people are women with children who conceal their housing status due to fear of losing their children to the state government. Furthermore, millions of people are forcibly evicted or displaced from their homes every year. Many are driven into homelessness by conflict, climate, commodification, or criminalization. A gender analysis indicates that women of all ages are particularly affected in all forms of homelessness, and their needs require specific solutions. Whether migrants, indigenous, economically  disenfranchised, mothers, youth, or older adults, one of the major causes of this vulnerability for women is discriminatory statutory laws as well as customary laws and practices, and lack of access to legal and other remedies.

This panel was moderated by Sister Jean Quinn, DW, Executive Director of UNANIMA International. The recording is now available here.

Learn more at https://unanima-international.org/csw70/ 
 

The Interfaith Peace Working Group (IPWG) is planning a day-long conference on nonviolence in the life of people of faith and conscience on Thursday, April 23, 2026. Internationally known faith leaders Shane Claiborne and Kathy Kelly will be keynote speakers. There will also be eight different workshops to choose from. Learn more at https://www.interfaithpeacewg.org/upcoming-events 

This will be an in-person conference with interfaith conversations on building the beloved community. Location is Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, WI. Cost is $20 and includes lunch. There will be an optional action at the Capitol at the end of the day.

CLICK HERE to REGISTER!

CSA is a co-sponsor of this event. Please contact Tracy at tabler@csasisters.org if you’d like to carpool from Fond du Lac.
 

Earlier this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing entitled, "Lost and Exploited: Confronting Child Trafficking and the Failure to Protect America's Most Vulnerable."  

During the hearing, the following testimony was presented:

• Tim Tebow, Founder and Chairman of the Tim Tebow Foundation showed a map of the U.S. displaying 338,984 unique Internet addresses that have shared Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) of children under the age of 12 being tied up, tortured, and raped.
• Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director of Rights4Girls shared that one survivor from Los Angeles spent six months at age 16 telling every one of her adult buyers that she was being trafficked against her will and that she needed help. Not one buyer helped her. Each year hundreds of American children are arrested for prostitution— despite the fact that no child can legally consent to sex. The arrests leave survivors vulnerable to further victimization and trauma in the youth justice system.
• A Mother of CSAM Victim described how her child, a victim of familial exploitation and trafficking, is revictimized every day through sexual abuse in online images that were created when she was an infant.
• Julia Einbond, Chief Executive Officer, Covenant House New Jersey advocated emphasized that identification of vulnerabilities and of trafficking itself is a needed intervention for children.
• Staca Shehan, Vice President, Analytical Services Division, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children anticipates that reports of online child sex trafficking will continue to increase and the identification of child victims of online exploitation will require a sophisticated blend of technology, human analytical review, and post-recovery resources for victimized children.

Given these realities, we encourage you to contact your Senators and Representatives to encourage passage of the following suite of bills:

• H.R. 1144: Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025 which includes education and prevention provisions, would support a survivors’ employment and education program, and authorize housing assistance grants for survivors.
• H.R. 6998: Renewed Hope Act for the Department of Homeland Security to hire forensics analysts and child exploitation investigators to investigate child trafficking and exploitation.
• S. 1829/H.R. 3921:STOP CSAM Act to combat the sexual exploitation of children by supporting victims and promoting accountability and transparency by the technology industry.
• S.2012/H.R. 3856: Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA) to reauthorize housing and transitional living grants.
   

ACT NOW