Editorials

Omaha attorney Brian Buescher, a Catholic and member of the Knights of Columbus, was nominated by President Trump to serve on the U.S. District Court in Nebraska. But when the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on his nomination, U. S. Senators Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Kamala Harris of California, both Democrats, asked Buescher if he was willing to end his longtime membership in the Knights of Columbus if confirmed because in their view, the organization holds “extreme beliefs,” which they felt would cloud his ability to fairly judge cases.

On Jan. 14, thousands of Catholics across the country will join in prayer for “9 Days for Life.” The prayer campaign, sponsored by the Committee on Pro Life Activities of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, leads up to the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on Jan. 22. The novena and day of prayer are a time of recollection and reparation in observation of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade — the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States.

This was a joyous Christmas season for Christians in Iraq. Just a day after Iraq celebrated the one-year anniversary of its victory over the Islamic State terrorist army, President Trump signed into law the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 390) Dec. 11. It’s designed to provide dedicated U.S. support directly to the Christian victims of ISIS’ campaign of genocide.

More than two thousand years ago, a baby was born in Bethlehem — and since that sacred day that baby’s life has impacted the world as no other life has. This Christmas Day can be a special time for us if we celebrate the birthday of Christ by giving him the gift he wants most from us — finding him in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the homeless, the sick, the addicted and the imprisoned.

Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to serve World War II survivors in Europe. Since then, it has expanded in size to reach more than 130 million people in more than 100 countries on five continents.