“We must always face up to the question: how can we truly be a synodal Church unless we live ‘moving outwards’ towards everyone in order to go together towards God? (1/4) Synodal dialogue depends on courage both in speaking and in listening. It is not about engaging in a debate where one speaker tries to get the better of the others or counters their positions with brusque arguments, (2/4)

Today, a gunman walked into a grade school in Uvalde, TX, and slaughtered at least 18 children. The shooter allegedly killed his grandmother before driving to the school. Authorities say the suspect is dead. He was 18 years old. The parents were told, “Please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care.” Imagine being a parent with a child in that school. Imagine having to bury them.

This morning I re-read the statement I put out last Jan. 6, when the world watched in horror as a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol in a coordinated, deadly attempt to overturn the legitimate results of a presidential election. archchicago.org/statement/-/ar… We should all agree that those who instigated and participated in such anti-democratic crimes should be held accountable. People died that day, and soon after. Some were killed. Some took their own lives. Many others were gravely injured.

Today, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued an ill-considered statement on the day of President Biden’s inauguration. Aside from the fact that there is seemingly no precedent for doing so, the statement, critical of President Biden, came as a surprise to many bishops, who received it just hours before it was released.

Today, Attorney General William Barr announced that he was reversing a moratorium on the federal death penalty. This decision is gravely injurious to the common good, as it effaces the God-given dignity of all human beings, even those who have committed terrible crimes. Last August, Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church to say that capital punishment is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all. I welcome Pope Francis’ recent comment, “I am on the side of the bishops’ conference,” affirming his support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement calling this practice “contrary to our Catholic values” and “immoral.” This policy must be rescinded immediately.