1. This is a really interesting untold faith story: faith groups across the country—evangelical, Mainline, Catholic, Jewish, etc—are shuttering refugee resettlement programs that have existed for decades because of policy changes by the Trump administration.
2. The latest closure appears to be from a Catholic Charities group based in Dubuque, Iowa—a deeply Catholic area.
3. Lost in the conversation about refugees is how U.S. resettlement programs are mostly run by religious organizations.
They’re a classic example of the federal government partnering with faith groups. Yet what should be a top-level faith story gets relatively little airtime.
They’re a classic example of the federal government partnering with faith groups. Yet what should be a top-level faith story gets relatively little airtime.
4. Relatedly, this from Melissa Rogers, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships under Obama (Trump has not yet appointed anyone to head the office; which was created under George W. Bush):
5. Also, of course @emmillerwrites covered the early iterations of this shift back in February:
6. Also this from Shaun Casey, who oversaw the State Department’s new religion office under John Kerry/Obama (since largely shuttered under Trump).
7. So, completely coincidentally, this story just broke: mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/id…
