Social Justice Tag: Immigration

October 2026

Articles from Mercy:

• Critical Considerations: How much is too much? (Karen Donahue, RSM)
• USCCB economic letter still guides voters (Rose Marie Tresp, RSM; Institute Justice Team)
• MELF cohort closes by sharing gifts in Dublin (Angie Howard-McParland; Institute Justice Team)

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Critical Considerations

How much is too much?

Karen Donahue, RSM

Even though the federal government’s fiscal year (FY) 2027 began earlier this month, budget negotiations are still underway. However, the administration’s request for $1.5 trillion (1,500 billion) to fund the Pentagon is unprecedented. This sum represents an increase of almost 50% over the FY26 military budget.

Two recent articles shed light on the military budget and raise serious questions about the nation’s priorities. In a series of three charts, the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies shows how the military budget accounts for almost 70% of the federal discretionary budget (funding directly under congressional control). By comparison, only 3.6% goes to education and 5.2% to housing and community development.

Looking at the military budget itself, more than half (52.2%) is allocated for development and purchase of weapons. Only 14% is spent on the troops in the form of pay, benefits and military family housing. The third chart examines where these additional funds ($441 billion) will be appropriated. More than $300 billion will be spent on weapons development and procurement.

A second article posted on the TomDispatch website, looks at the Pentagon’s shadow budget. These are military expenditures buried in the budgets of other government departments and agencies. For example, funding for nuclear weapons is included in the budget for the Department of Energy even though the Department of Defense controls and deploys these weapons.

In this article, political anthropologist, author and retired American University professor David Vine observes that including these military expenditures now outside the formal Department of Defense budget would bring total military spending in FY27 to well over $2 trillion. While these numbers boggle the mind, Vine reminds us that “every single dollar spent on the Pentagon is a dollar not spent on our children, on healthcare, on affordable housing, on efforts to slow catastrophic climate change, and much more.”

He reminds us that “the public needs a full, accurate accounting of the military. Congress could provide an annual True Total Military Budget that tallies all of the Pentagon’s spending in one place and stop hiding funding in other agencies’ budgets. Until this happens, journalists and analysts can help by explaining the full scale of spending and no longer repeating incomplete totals.”

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USCCB economic letter still guides voters

Priorities for voters in guiding economic choices by Catholic Social Teaching on the 40th anniversary of the pastoral letter, “Economic Justice For All”

Rose Marie Tresp, RSM; Institute Justice Team

As we prepare to vote in the midterm elections, uncertainty and fear about work and the dignity of workers are prevalent, especially with the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. Our economic future as individuals and families seems uncertain with the increasing level of inequality in the United States and the world. The wealth gap today is higher than it was in the 1920s prior to the Great Depression.

Forty years ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published a pastoral letter titled “Economic Justice for All” (EJA). This letter gives us norms and guidance:

Many Catholics probably don’t ever remember hearing these words. But these were spoken by Saint John Paul II during his visit to Canada in 1984 and repeated in the USCCB’s pastoral letter two years later.

The bishops’ pastoral letter provides some guidance for citizens today as we prepare to go to the polls. This guidance leaves to each person the responsibility of judging who and what to vote for while understanding that no politician and no laws or regulations perfectly fit these criteria.

In the words of the pastoral letter,

In 2026, the USCCB again reiterates support for the norms and guidance in this document written 40 years ago. The principles of economic justice articulated by the bishops in 1986 remain just as relevant and necessary today amid persistent poverty, growing inequality, revolutionary technological changes, and the marginalization of many people and communities.

Practically, what does the USCCB support? In brief, when deciding who to vote for, citizens are invited to consider supporting a wide range of issues that could build a just economy. The USCCB names issues and problems that people of faith should recognize and take into account when entering the polling station: “food security and hunger, work and joblessness, homelessness and affordable housing, and tax credits for low-income families, as well as protecting programs that serve poor and vulnerable people throughout the federal budget.”

A summary resource has been published for the fortieth anniversary of Economic Justice for All.

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MELF cohort closes by sharing gifts in Dublin

Angie Howard-McParland; Institute Justice Team

The close of summer this year also marked the end of my year-long journey with the Mercy Emerging Leaders Fellowship (MELF) as we presented our final projects and graduated at the house on Baggot Street in Dublin, Ireland. Even as I continue to reflect and discern how I can best share the gifts I received, I know that no articles or webinars will quite capture the grace of this experience. But anyone who has been able to connect with the broader Mercy world across international borders and cultures knows that it changes your work and ministry going forward with new perspectives and appreciation.

I was a member of the fifth MELF cohort, following in the footsteps of dozens of other Mercy women from around the globe. Last fall, the nine of us from Colombia, Guyana, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, the Philippines, Tonga, and the United States met for the first time in-person in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where we witnessed Mercy in action at the heart of war, peace, and reconciliation. In March, we reconvened at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, learning from Cecilie Kern and the work of Mercy at the UN. Finally, we concluded our time together in Dublin, presenting our unique justice projects from our own contexts, reflecting on the future of Mercy where it all began in Coolock and on Baggot Street, and resolving for this to be the beginning of more collaboration across the Mercy world.

Our projects ranged from creative leadership development in the Philippines to support of women and children in New Zealand to environmental education in Kenya and more. Every single fellow focused her efforts on a vulnerable population such as immigrants, elders, or youth, and, in the spirit of Catherine McAuley, worked in the local context to pull levers of influence and power to offer care and compassion. I was honored to present the work of the Mercy Justice Team in this current iteration of politics in the United States, illustrating the ways our sisters, associates, and ministries truly live out Mercy values and the Critical Concerns at this point in history.

More than anything else, this experience has strengthened my resolve to make the extra effort to connect across institutes and time zones. It is an immense gift to be part of the Mercy world and the way it adapts and serves in localities far from the red door in Dublin. While our justice work necessarily looks different around the world, the grounding in Mercy values and the commitment to making the world better today than yesterday connects us to the ministry and to one another. We all have something to learn from one another to continue Catherine’s vision and, in a world in dire need of justice and mercy, we also have a responsibility to offer it wherever we are.

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