Empowering people of faith to make a difference for the common good!

News Summary 2/24/23 (pdf)

Taking a point of personal privilege, I want to let you know that this will be my final News and Action Summary as my retirement begins on March 1. It has been a joy and a blessing to serve you in the role of advocate for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches for nearly 19 years. While it’s the end of my compensated service in this role, it is the beginning of a new chapter. I plan to take some time to rest and reflect, but intend to continue to advocate personally and with organizations I support for the laws and policies that are important to me, write, take on some volunteer activities, and return to spend lots of time in my long-neglected garden! Travel will be on the agenda as well. I also hope to stay in touch with many of you who have been so important to me during my tenure here. If you would like to connect, please feel free to drop me a note at wombat2pa@gmail.com (and I’ll be happy to explain that address if you do!). And THANK YOU for your faithful advocacy! (Rev. Sandy Strauss, editor)

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with no end in sight. The Ukrainian people have remained resilient and have held their own in a war that has been marked by atrocities and crimes against humanity by the Russian forces. We continue to support and pray for the Ukrainian people and leaders that have showed remarkable courage and resolve.

It has now been three weeks since the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio (just a stone’s throw from the Pennsylvania border) and the release and burning of toxic chemicals. Despite numerous reports of dead fish, livestock, and pets, respiratory issues and burning skin and skin rashes, many questions remain about toxic exposure and how and why this kind of accident could happen. Norfolk Southern bears responsibility for its failure to update its safety standards in an effort to prevent what happened—and in fact, should be made to answer for fighting to roll back standards under the previous administration. We encourage you to tell your member of Congress and our Senators to work to hold them responsible and improve safety standards for the rail industry.

We continue to note and celebrate Black History Month, and we urge you to Honor Black History Month—Act to Demand Justice and Reparations. You can also Sign Faith Leader Letter Asking President Biden to Act on Reparations.

We hope you will support this ministry with a generous gift, or even better a monthly gift. You can help us by going to https://pachurches.org/shop/ where you will find our address and links to make your donation. If you want to support advocacy, scroll down the page to find the links for Public Witness Ministry.

Here’s some “News You Can Use”:

Many more actions are available, and you can learn more in the articles below.

Please consider a gift to support our Ministry of Public Witness. One of the best ways you can help is to “subscribe” to this (almost!) weekly update by making a recurring contribution of $5/month or more. Of course, any contribution will be welcomed and appreciated!

To learn about how to keep informed between these updates, go to https://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org.

As usual, we understand that there is a lot of information here and in the links provided for further information. Please know that you aren’t expected to act on everything! Just choose the issues that are most important to you and do something! Sometimes you will be directed to action pages of other organizations—don’t worry! These are organizations that we work with regularly and who share a common interest.

Please consider contacting your legislators to thank them when they support your position as well, or to express your disappointment when they don’t. We don’t follow up with them often enough. They need our feedback to understand how we feel. Go to https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5415/getLocal4.jsp to find a summary of your federal and state legislators with basic contact information.

Our website is updated regularly. If there is something you would really like to see that isn’t there, please contact us at s.strauss@pachurches.org.


URGENT

If you don’t have time for any other actions, please consider taking action on these issues!

Tell the PA Legislature to Adopt Proposed New Rules

Tell Congress to Expand the Child Tax Credit Now


NEW ACTIONS

Tell Congress to Fund Universal School Meals NowNEW

Sign On to Support Healthy School MealsNEW

Sign Open Letter to POTUS, Congress Demanding Action on Voting Rights, Living Wages, Rural Economic InvestmentNEW

Tell Your PA Legislators It’s Time to Invest in PA Public SchoolsNEW

Tell Your PA Representative to Protect Pennsylvania’s Critical Wildlife HabitatNEW

Sign Petition to Urge EPA to Cut Methane Pollution and Protect the ClimateNEW

Tell the Administration to Keep Us Safe from Hazardous Chemical TrainsNEW

Tell Your PA Legislators to Pass Lost and Stolen Gun Reporting LegislationNEW


ONGOING ACTIONS

Sign Faith Leader Letter Asking President Biden to Act on Reparations

Honor Black History Month—Act to Demand Justice and Reparations

Tell Your PA Lawmakers to Stop Attempt to Rewrite PA Constitution

Tell Speaker Rozzi to Work to Reform Pennsylvania’s Flawed Constitutional Amendment Process

Tell Congress to Pass Paid Family and Medical Leave Now

Tell Congress to Tackle the Affordable Housing Crisis and Protect Renters

Tell the President to Demand a Clean Debt Ceiling Increase with No Cuts to Social Security or Medicare

Tell the President No Tax Breaks to Wealthy Corporations Without Investments in Children and Families

Tell PA Lawmakers to Fix PA’s Unconstitutional School Funding System

Tell Your PA Legislators to Make Funding Our Public Schools a Priority

Tell the Governor to Grow Access to High Quality Pre-K, Child Care, and More

Tell the EPA to Set Stronger Standards for Soot Pollution

Call on Speaker Rozzi to Prioritize Gun Violence Prevention

Tell Congress to Pass Citizenship Legislation for DREAMers Now

Tell Congress to Expand Insulin Copay to All Americans

Urge Your State Representative to Cosponsor Extreme Risk Protection Order Legislation

Tell Our Senators to Vote for Assault Weapons Ban

Help Shape Bureau of Prisons Rule on Inmate Financial Responsibility Program—till March 10

Tell PA Elected Officials to Fix Harrisburg with New Rules Package

Tell Congress to Pass the CLEAN Act and Commit to More Accountability in Government

Sign Now to Tell Congress to Pass the DISCLOSE Act and Overturn Citizens United

Tell Congress to Pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Now

Tell Congress to Pass the Equality Act


IMPORTANT AND TIME SENSITIVE NEWS!

So Much Happening: Here’s How You Can Keep Informed Between Updates

Summary of All News Posts Since Previous Update

Lenten Values: Spring Into Action—A Resource on Immigration Justice

Spring 2023 Holy Days and Holidays Toolkit


EVENTS

For a full listing of events (and events posted between updates), see the Events Calendar at https://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org (right column).

Ongoing events:

 

 Civics 9-1-1—Carlisle, 3 Events (3/21, 3/30, 4/4)

Just Creation Conference: Shalom for Our Common Home—March 16-18, Decatur, GA

Living the Golden Rule: Faith Climate Action Week 2023—April 14-23, 2023—Organizer’s Kit now available

Ecumenical Advocacy Days: Swords Into Plowshares—April 25-27

Caring for Creation with PA IPL—First Fridays, October 2022-June 2023

Moral Mondays—Sign Up for Notifications

Freedom Church of the Poor—Sundays 6-7:30

Events in the coming weeks:

Save Money AND the Environment: Learn about Tax Benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act—February 28

March for Our Lives PA Advocacy—March 23, Harrisburg


OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES TO LEARN AND ACT

For postings since the previous Summary…

Resources

Opportunities

Jobs, internships and fellowships


NEWS POSTS

Visit our weblog for the latest news and information. For previous News Summaries, go to https://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/news-summary/news-summary-archive/. Also, check out specific issue-related posts by clicking on links on the right side of the page.

Subscribe to our weblog via e-mail (see link at bottom of home page).

Summary of most recent News Posts.


SUPPORT THE COUNCIL’S ADVOCACY WORK 

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Financial support for the Council’s Advocacy Ministry is always welcome! Go to our online support page at https://www.pachurches.org/shop/ and look for “Advocacy Donation.”

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Empowering people of faith to make a difference for the common good!