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Mercy for Justice

Everyday Justice magazine

A monthly series of in-depth, curated articles exploring Mercy's Critical Concerns and their intersection with current events and the work of justice.

May 2025

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A letter to Pope Francis

Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team

A friend of mine, who is not very sympathetic to the Church, wrote to me this Easter Monday, “Today we are a little more alone in our search for justice.”

Francis you have departed, but as a simple and humble Latin American man who will be remembered by many with affection and gratitude. But for others, you were undesirable as pope for being an ecclesiastic reformer and for being critical of the market system and the business of war.

I don’t have much to add to all that has been said about your life, and in any case your encyclicals will continue to proclaim the Gospel with your voice. But I want to thank you for doing your best to thaw Vatican II so that the Church can be more transparent, poor, inclusive, defender of the impoverished, indigenous, migrants…, respectful of diversity, caring for Mother Earth, less clerical, and more synodal.

Thank you for seeking a more just world and for warning us about the dehumanization and desensitization that prevent us from feeling the pain of others and acting to restore their rights to the many who have been discarded by a system that kills.

Thank you for denouncing the business of wars, the extractivism that is devastating to ecosystems, and the enduring colonialism. Thank you for building channels of dialogue and peace, and for sowing hope, although you did not see much of a harvest.

Thank you for being so Argentine: a lover of soccer, mate, tango, literature, humor, coffee chats, for walking the streets as one of us, for the devotion to Mary.

Francis, rest in love and pray for us, who are called to continue this long journey of transformation of the Church and the world with courage and compassion. I embrace you from your land of Argentina.

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Critical Considerations

Is this really an emergency?

Karen Donahue, RSM

Since taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump has issued eight emergency declarations, bringing the total for his entire presidency (including his first term) to twenty-one. By comparison, George W. Bush issued only sixteen during his eight years in office. These declarations have been issued to justify a number of policies including militarizing our southern border, expanding drilling for fossil fuels and logging on public lands, and imposing tariffs.

In 1976, Congress enacted the National Emergencies Act, legislation that gives the president power to act in sudden, unforeseen crises where the normal legislative process does not provide the speed and/or flexibility circumstances demand. As a protection against presidential overreach, the bill also gave Congress the power to rescind an emergency declaration by a simple majority vote, also known as a legislative vote.

However, in 1983 the Supreme Court ruled that a legislative vote was unconstitutional, thus making it harder for Congress to challenge a presidential emergency declaration. Now, if Congress wants to end a state of emergency it must pass legislation with enough votes to overcome a presidential veto.

There is the real danger that a president could use an emergency declaration to circumvent Congress in an effort to achieve her/his policy goals. For example, during his first term, Donald Trump declared an emergency at the US/Mexico border after Congress failed to appropriate funding for his border wall. Similarly, he is using an emergency declaration (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to impose his tariff scheme. This act can be invoked when the US faces an unusual and extraordinary threat to its national security, foreign policy or economy. US trade relationships, many of long duration or with small countries, hardly meet this standard.

Fearing a presidential power grab, the Founders constructed a complex system of checks and balances. These checks and balances are under severe strain today as the executive branch usurps greater power and Congress seems to be incapable of exercising its constitutional prerogatives.

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Trump’s attacks on women

Br Ryan W Roberts, OLF; Institute Justice Team

Among the many alarming attacks the Trump administration is making against a wide variety of identity categories, one that isn’t receiving as much focus is the coordinated assault on women. One attack is the systematic removal of support for survivors of sexual assault, a group not exclusively but primarily composed of women.

By placing abusers and harassers in positions of power, President Trump creates an environment hostile to women and amenable to control through gender-based violence. Grants and studies are being canceled, data is being removed from publicly accessible spaces, and programs to educate about and reduce sexual violence are being abandoned. Canceling DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, of which women are significant beneficiaries, reduce the resources that empower women’s independence and makes them more vulnerable to all kinds of injustice. False claims that immigrants drive sexual violence perpetuate unnecessary fear and distract from the truth that most survivors knew their attackers.

In many ways, the U.S. government has become an abuser who revictimizes survivors and emboldens those who would choose to harm women. The National Women’s Law Center has summarized some of the ways the Trump administration has jeopardized resources that protect women and support survivors. The article contains links to a number of supporting materials. Women deserve better, and awareness is an important tool in Mercy’s work on the Critical Concern for Women.

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Article Archive

2025

May

A letter to Pope Francis

Critical Considerations:

Is this really an emergency?

Trump’s attacks on women

April

The cultural battle advances

Critical Considerations:

What’s going on with tariffs?

Water extractivism in Palestine

March

Hope for Panama in truth

Deportation stigma in Jamaica

Critical Considerations:

Who benefits from tax cuts? Who pays?

April is SWANA Heritage Month

NETWORK webinar on U.S. federal policy

February

National declaration of emergency in Bajo Aguán

Critical Considerations:

Has the United States declared war on immigrants?

What energy emergency?

January

If you make a mess, clean it up! (Advocacy success in NY)

Youth claim climate victory in Montana court

Critical Considerations:

Was January 1, 2025 a wake-up call?

(click years to expand)

2024

December

Gender and climate justice

Critical Considerations:

Is the United States becoming a plutocracy?

Making nuclear weapons taboo

November

Critical Considerations:

What happened on November 5, 2024?

The Ecological Debt

October

Overturning the Chevron deference

Critical Considerations:

Who are the Israeli settlers and what motivates them?

Assassination of Honduran water protector deeply grieves Sisters of Mercy

September

God walks with his people: National Migration Week September 23–29

Critical Considerations:

What does CEO compensation say about corporate priorities?

Anxiety – election season can heighten it!

August

Critical Considerations:

What is Project 2025 all about?

Working to stop weapon exports to Haiti

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 2

July

Critical Considerations:

Is there a better way to spend $91 billion?

Education, Agriculture, & Emigration in the Philippines

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 1

June

Critical Considerations:

Are we creating a prison-industrial complex?

Conscience

Mercy student videos address the Critical Concerns

May

Critical Considerations:

Degrowth is the only sane survival plan

Argentina and the government of hate

Listening to a chorus of voices

April

Critical Considerations:

An Israeli Jesuit reflects on war in the Holy Land

Advocacy Success! Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales

March

Military spending and national (in)security

February

The challenge Gaza war presents for American Jews

January

Gaza war threatens credibility of West’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law

2023

December

Climate Summit fails to adequately respond to gravity of climate crisis

November

Critical Considerations:

The dangers of conflating Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

Red flag laws in jeopardy: faith voices speak to save them

October

Jewish and Palestinian perspectives on Gaza crisis

September

U.S. China tensions impact efforts to address climate change

August

When Good Economic Policy Isn’t Enough

July

States Move to Weaken Protections for Child Workers

June

Corporate Lobbyists at Climate Talks

May

Electric Vehicle Transition Challenges

April

Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery

March

Misrepresenting War

February

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

January

How the News is Reported Affects What We Know

2022

December

How Corporations Took Over the Government

November

The Independent State Legislature Theory Explained

October

The Next Phase in the Voting Wars


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