ESAs invest in students and families
The four diocesan Catholic school superintendents of Iowa have written an article in response to recent criticism of nonpublic schools in connection with the Education Savings Account program. You can read Iowa Has Always Invested in Students. Now It Includes Every Student.
Voting is underway in Iowa
Here’s information on making sure you’re ready to vote.
The Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) advises a “no” vote on Amendment 1, a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. If approved, it would require a two-thirds majority in each legislative chamber to raise two types of taxes: personal income and corporate income. In other words, it would give a minority of lawmakers the ability to stop any increases in those taxes. Other taxes could be raised by simple majority vote of the legislature and a signature from the governor.
Obviously, nobody likes tax increases. However, the ICC has opposed the proposal, arguing that Catholic teaching supports a more progressive form of taxation. If the amendment passes and the state later needs more revenue to maintain current services, legislators may be more likely to raise the sales tax. This would require lower-income people to spend a larger percentage of their income on that tax. The ICC had a comprehensive statement on taxation in 2003, following opposition to a similar constitutional amendment: https://iowacatholicconference.org/taxation-2003/.
ICC chairman: “Ask God for a sincere desire to know the truth”
The Catholic bishops of Iowa are speaking out on several topics related to faithful citizenship as a part of a social media campaign found on our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channels.
Bishop Dennis Walsh
When asked about how Catholics can form their conscience before they vote, Davenport Bishop Dennis Walsh said, “Begin with prayer and ask God for a sincere desire to know the truth. A Catholic conscience is not just personal preference or political instinct. It has to be formed by God, by Scripture, by the moral teaching of the Church, and by a sincere willingness to be challenged.”
Bishop Walsh is the chairman of the Iowa Catholic Conference Board of Directors.
Pray a novena for Respect Life Month
You can join thousands of Catholics across the country praying for the protection of human life from conception to natural death. Each day of the novena features a different prayer intention, a short reflection, ideas for building a culture of life, and more.
Sign up to receive the daily prayers via email or text message. Resources are available for promoting and sharing the novena in your parish, school, or ministry.
No further treatment needed for Pope Leo
Pope Leo is back to work following his lung surgery, according to Vatican News. There are hopes he will still be able to make his visit to Latin America next month.
It was announced Wednesday by Vatican News that the pope’s doctors confirmed that the tumor removed on Oct. 13 was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said that a subsequent oncological assessment said that “no further treatment is necessary.”
Catholic and Evangelical Leaders unite in call for compassionate immigration reform
“There is much that can be done to avoid the rupturing of our families and communities brought about by indiscriminate and aggressive enforcement actions,” said Bishop Brendan Cahill and Reverend Walter Kim in an ecumenical statement released earlier this month.
Bishop Cahill serves as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration and Reverend Kim as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Together, they lead the Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue on Immigration (ECDI) as its co-chairs.
The statement, “A Call for Christian Compassion and Wisdom in the Immigration Debate,” represents the first such statement on immigration in U.S. history to be jointly issued by senior leaders of the Catholic and evangelical traditions.
U.S. Supreme Court invites executive branch brief on state immigrant law
According to the state Attorney General’s office, the U.S. Supreme Court has invited the Solicitor General of the United States to file a brief expressing the views of the federal government in Bird v. Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice. The state is asking the Justices to reverse a lower-court ruling that has blocked enforcement of the Iowa’s “illegal reentry” law since 2024.
The law would have made it an aggravated misdemeanor for a person who has been previously denied admission or deported from the U.S. to be in Iowa, even if they are now authorized to be in the United States. It made it. The ICC opposed the bill before passage in 2024. At the time, the bishops said, “At the state level, we have opposed migration enforcement measures such as SF 2340 because they place a disproportionate emphasis on punitive sanctions, undermine family unity, reduce humanitarian protections, and provide no viable solutions for long-time residents without legal status.”
