Welcome to the  Nov.18, 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, and you'd like to receive it each week, please click here.     __________________________________________________________________

Racial reconciliation and justice listening sessions continue in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.  Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone joined a panel from the archdiocesan Committee for Racial Reconciliation and Justice at St. Paul of the Shipwreck on Nov. 14. This was the second listening session on racial issues. The first was at St. Francis of Assisi in East Palo Alto Oct. 10. More are planned. Please contact lifeanddignity@sfarch.org for updates.  Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting remotely this week, reauthorized for three more years the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, this week appointed a working group to address the unique challenges of a Biden presidency. At the fall virtual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week, Archbishop Gomez appointed Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron to lead the group. “The president-elect has given us reason to believe that his faith commitments will move him to support some good policies. This includes policies of immigration reform, refugees and the poor, and against racism, the death penalty, and climate change,” Archbishop Gomez said. “He has also given us reason to believe that he will support policies that are against some fundamental values that we hold dear as Catholics. These policies include: the repeal of the Hyde Amendment and the preservation of Roe vs. Wade. Both of these policies undermine our preeminent priority of the elimination of abortion.” 

A hand up, not a hand out is the philosophy of the CCHD. This weekend is the special collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. The CCHD is the national anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops and works to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. Twenty-five percent of the funds collected in the Archdiocese stay here for local programs.