Advent is here!
Greetings folks. We hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying the holiday season.

December brings us to the end of another long year. We've faced many challenges over the last 11 months, but we've stayed together, remained faithful, and made it through. Three cheers for us!

December is also Advent season which is actually the start of a new liturgical year in the Church. (Happy New Church Year!) This is a time of anticipation and reflection, prayerfully considering what has come before and hoping for what is to come. We invite you to take time amongst all of the busy-ness of the season to rest, pray, offer thanks for the blessings of this past year, and contemplate what you'd like your Christmas season and then new year to look like.

If you're looking for some guidance in your Advent, we encourage you to check out the Catholic Telegraph's Ultimate Guide to Advent. We must say - it is beautifully done and contains resources of many different types to get fully into the season. You can also check out the daily reflections written by folks in the Archdiocese.

Thanks to all of those who donated to CCHD last month and shopped our fair trade sale. Your support is very much appreciated!!

Please know that we continue to pray for and support you, and we humbly ask that you continue to pray for us too.

If there's anything that we can do to support the work happening in your community, please let us know. We're trying to be more present to deaneries, parishes, schools, and neighborhoods, and we'd love to (re)connect with you and work to build up God's kingdom of peace, justice, and kinship.
We will continue to send out Regional Updates with time-sensitive reminders and Action Alerts encouraging everyone to bring their voice and power to bear on important issues. 

We wish you a joyful Advent and Christmas season, and - as always - we look forward to seeing you soon as we continue to stand up for justice, compassion, and equity. 

Peace,
Sara, Tammie, Sr. Christine, Mickey, & Andrew

CCHD 50th Anniversary

Thanks to all who donated for the CCHD collection weekend. Your support is so important.

If you didn't get a chance to contribute and are interested in doing so, you can still give through our online giving portal.

Please also take a few minutes to check out our new video series featuring a few of our grantees. You can view them on our YouTube channel CCHD playlist.

Daniel Rudd Recognized

On Sunday, 12/5, a historical marker commemorating the life of Daniel Rudd was dedicated. He was a black Catholic newspaperman, journalist, and advocate. You can read the article about the marker here, and - if you're looking for a little weekend trip - head to St. Rafael in Springfield and see it for yourself.

Abolishing the Death Penalty

For many decades, the Catholic Church has strongly discouraged the use of the death penalty as a means to protect citizens. Sadly, despite multiple attempts to end its use in OH, it is still legal.

Thankfully, there is a real possibility that we can abolish the death penalty in OH this year. Two key pieces of legislation – SB 108 and HB 183 – have been introduced that would abolish the death penalty. The Ohio bishops collectively and Archbishop Schnurr individually have issued statements supporting this legislation, and their voices joining a growing state-wide coalition working to end the death penalty. We encourage all Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to join in the effort to end this state-sanctioned violence and respect all life, from womb to tomb.

Laudato Si’ Action Platform

In May of this year the Vatican launched the 7-year Laudato Si’ Action Platform (laudatosiactionplatform.org).  This initiative’s aim is to have every Catholic institution, from the family to large organizations, become ecologically sustainable in seven years. Pope Francis’ goal is “to help lead the world’s Catholics along a journey of intensified action in caring for creation.” In his video message on May 24th, Pope Francis stated that “We need a new ecological approach that can transform our way of dwelling in the world, our styles of life, our relationship with the resources of the Earth and, in general, our way of looking at humanity and of living life.”

“Our selfishness, our indifference and our irresponsible ways are threatening the future of our children…I therefore renew my appeal: let us overcome the temptation of selfishness that makes us predators of resources; let us cultivate respect for the gifts of the Earth and creation, let us inaugurate a lifestyle and a society that is finally eco-sustainable,” said Francis in his video address.

In his encyclical Laudato Si’, published five years ago, Pope Francis identified the ecological crisis as “a summons to profound interior conversion; a reexamining of our relationships with the Creator, with creation, and with our sisters and brothers.” He also noted that “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue…and calls for a spiritual and cultural revolution to realize integral ecology.”

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform focuses on seven sectors: families, parishes, schools, hospitals, businesses, organizations, and religious orders. It has seven goals: the response to the cry of the earth, the response to the cry of the poor, ecological economics, adoption of simple lifestyles, ecological education, ecological spirituality, and community involvement. More specific steps about how the various sectors can become active participants in working towards the action plan goals are available at www.catholicclimatecovenant.org.

“There is hope,” Pope Francis says. “We can all collaborate, each one with his own culture and experience, each one with her own initiatives and capacities, so that our mother Earth may be restored to her original beauty and creation may once again shine according to God’s plan.”

Our Care for Creation Task Force is looking for people to join the ad hoc committees we're forming (one for each of the seven constituencies: families, parishes, schools, hospitals, businesses, organizations, and religious orders) to promulgate these ideas. If you're interested in joining this effort (or know someone who might be), please contact Andrew.



MARCC is one of the key partners in our interfaith work. We've partnered with them on several projects, including the MARCC ID and advocacy on multiple justice issues.
Many of our current representatives have worked on this initiative for several years, and we're now looking for a couple new folks to represent the Archdiocese with this group. If this might be of interest to you, please let Andrew know.

A Mighty Steam

EquaSion, the parent organization of the Festival of Faiths, has launched a new interfaith educational and action initiative to address racism. It is called 'A Mighty Stream' and the Social Action has signed on as one of the initial partners. You can click here to learn more, and if your parish is interested in joining this wonderful effort, please let Andrew know.

From the Respect Life Office

Walking With Moms in Need
When a woman finds herself in a crisis pregnancy, she needs more than just to be convinced that her unborn child is a person. She may need some material assistance like clothes, diapers and formula. She may need counseling and relationship classes. She may need help with drug addiction for her and her baby. What she needs may be a simple as a listening ear, or as involved as a place to live for several months, along with job training and child care. In the end, she needs to know that there are people out there who are able to walk with her, no matter the circumstances, to help ensure her life and the life of her child, will hold more promise than she is able to see right at that moment. She needs the hope that comes from Jesus, through the work of so many hands who do His work right here in this Archdiocese.

With that in mind, the USCCB began a program last year called “Walking with Moms in Need.” It is an invitation to parishes to be active in promoting the existing resources we already have in our Archdiocese—including the nearest pregnancy care center, material assistance services and other agencies—so that when someone is in need, you are ready to help. To get started, head to the USCCB website at www.walkingwithmoms.com, and use our page here at to help learn about our local resources as well. As Pope Francis reminded us in a 2015 address, “…our parishes and communities [should] become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference.” We should all know where to refer a pregnancy woman in need.

For more stories from the Office for Respect Life Ministries,
check out their Newsletter here. 

Explore Pope Francis' encyclical
Fratelli Tutti

Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio and the Archdiocesan Social Action Office invite you to delve into the riches of Pope Francis' newest Encylical and its implications for the faithful. This presentation offers a summary of the document and ways in which communities can put its teachings into practice. To learn more or to schedule a presentation contact Andrew.

Follow us on social media!

Our office is now on multiple social media platforms. Please add us to your contacts, friends, or following list so we keep you up to date on what's going on.

Twitter: @AoCincinnatiCsa

Instagram: @aocincinnati_csa

YouTube: @CatholicSocialActionAOC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csacinci

COVID-19 Vaccine Information 

There have been questions about the current Covid-19 vaccines and any moral issues that Catholics might have with taking them. The Ohio Bishops and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have both issued statements that address and support the moral use of these vaccines to save lives by fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. 




Vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer to combat COVID-19 may be taken without moral reservations, and some pro-life Catholic scholars have stated that all vaccines are morally acceptable.

Andrew Musgrave - Cincinnati, Director
Sara Seligmann - Dayton
Sr. Christine Pratt - Eastern Area
Tammie Mers - Administrative Assistant
Mickey Townsend - CCHD intern