Welcome to the May 20, 2020 edition of Just 3 Things, the weekly social action newsletter of the Office of Human Life & Dignity. 

Here are some of the social justice news items of the week. If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive it each week, click here to visit our website to subscribe.     __________________________________________________________________

California must open churches sooner or face constitutional consequences, the U.S. Justice Department warned in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom reported late Tuesday.  This week Newsom said public church services, including Mass, would not be allowed for several more weeks, as part of Phase 3. The state is just now entering Phase 2. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said earlier Tuesday churches probably can't open for weeks more. In the letter to Newsom, the DOJ said, "“We believe that the Constitution calls for California to do more to accommodate religious worship, including in Stage 2 of the Reopening Plan.”

The letter notes several federal court rulings outside California in favor of churches, and that Protestant churches are suing the state and plan to open May 31. In addition, this week a blue-ribbon panel of Catholic doctors said churches should be able to reopen "as safely as other essential services."  Further, Dr. Andrew Wang, a immunobiologist  helping to guide clinical research into the virus at Yale, told Angelus News: "I just can't see for any clear scientific reason why preparing food for a thousand people in a restaurant is any safer than people going to Mass."  

Catholic Charities is dispersing funds from the state of California for undocumented immigrants who don't qualify for federal aid during the pandemic.  More information, including the phone numbers to call, are available on the Catholic Charities website.

Millions are being evacuated from low lying coastal areas of India and Bangladesh as Super Cyclone Amphan, which is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, is forecast to make landfall early today, May 20. The cyclone is more powerful than Cyclone Sidr, which left a trail of devastation in Bangladesh’s southern coastal zone and killed more than 3,500 people in 2007, UCA News reports. Catholic Relief Service is mobilizing to help. 

(Photo below shows Bangladeshi official urging residents to evacuate to shelters ahead of the expected landfall of Super Cyclone Amphan in Khulna on May 19.  Photo by Kazi Shanto/AFP)