On September 13, 2019 Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, Chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, issued a statement in anticipation of the reported recommendation of Administration officials to the White House that the number of refugee admissions for the next year be fewer than 30,000 refugees.
As I write this column Hurricane Dorian has hit the Atlantic Maritime Provinces of Canada (notably Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland) on Sunday afternoon (September 8). By Sunday evening it should have blown out to sea. Several days ago Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement about Hurricane Dorian that left at least fifty people dead in its path. Here is part of Cardinal DiNardo’s statement: “…we are extremely mindful of the dire need faced by the community in the Bahamas so devastated by this catastrophic storm. We pray for all affected and invite Catholics and all people of goodwill to donate to Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA.”
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019, I received the sad news that Sr. Marcella Marie Missar, SND, who turned 92 on April 7, 2019, had died at the Notre Dame Health Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 9, 2019. Sr. Marcella had been in religious life for seventy-six years.
I am writing this column after having returned from my brief visit to Butler, Pennsylvania to visit family and friends. While I was in Butler I saw clear evidence of the opioid epidemic that has plagued various parts of the country, particularly Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. A priest ministering in Pennsylvania said that he saw the impact of the opioid crisis in people walking the streets, high all day, and being so blatant to the point that they are shooting up in public and not even trying to hide it. When I was in Butler, I talked with a long-standing acquaintance about the impact of the opioid crisis in my hometown. He expressed the frustration of many who want to be compassionate but become angry and frustrated when they see addicts passed out or stealing from people to get money to purchase more drugs.