Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

With the median length of unemployment reaching 10 months and more than four job seekers for every opening, Congress must find ways to continue unemployment compensation to protect jobless workers and their families, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. "For millions of American workers and their families, economic hardship continues and grows," said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., in a Dec. 12 letter to House members. "The U.S. Catholic bishops have long advocated that the most effective way to build a just economy is the availability of decent work at decent wages," he added. "When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to help protect the life and dignity of unemployed workers and their families." Millions will lose their unemployment benefits beginning Jan. 1. Bishop Blaire urged the House members to "consider the moral and human consequences of your decisions on the most vulnerable among us, especially unemployed workers and their families." With 15 percent of all Americans—including one in four children—living in poverty, the campaign will promote awareness about domestic poverty and provide resources including an interactive poverty tour and a monthlong Facebook event. Daily activities on Facebook beginning Jan. 1 will be aimed at building greater understanding about poverty in the United States. The content is recommended for use by diocesan social action directors, Catholic Campaign for Human Development directors and program coordinators, parish social ministry leaders, teachers and others. Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., chairman of the bishops' CCHD subcommittee, said the Catholic culture of life "begins with a love that binds us to the hopes and joys, the struggles and the sorrows of people, especially those who are poor or (in) any way afflicted. We march with immigrant families toward a society made stronger and safer by their inclusion," he added. "We embrace the mother and her unborn child, giving to both of them hope and opportunity. We measure our own health by the quality of care we give to those most vulnerable. We labor with those whose work is burdensome."

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025