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Catholic Worker

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will be used for generic do good

see immigration

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an 6 25

Religious organizations are slamming a Republican House probe, calling it a violation of their liberty, reports Religion News Service.

“It’s an invasion of religious liberty,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, a United Church of Christ pastor who heads Faith in Action. Royster argues his group reserves the right to practice a form of faith “which says that there’s no strangers amongst us, that we’re all siblings.”

But Royster said Reps. Mark E. Green (R-Tenn.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) were anything but friends when they announced plans to probe more than 200 nongovernmental organizations earlier this month. The congressmen are accusing their targets of being “involved in providing services or support to inadmissible aliens during the Biden-Harris administration’s historic border crisis.”

READ MORE: ‘Economy is rigged': Robert Reich explains how 'Trump fooled the majority of Americans

Royster told Religion News the probe was “designed to have a chilling effect” on organizations like Faith in Action. He added: “I will be damned if they’re going to stop us from doing what we feel mandated and called to do by God: To care for other human beings to the best of our ability.”

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The chairmen are requesting each non-governmental organization complete a survey of questions about government grants, contracts, and disbursements they received, lawsuits they are petitioning and amicus briefs they have filed in any lawsuit brought against the federal government. The survey also demands organizations reveal any legal service, translation service, transportation, housing, sheltering, or any other form of assistance they’ve provided to non-citizen residents or unaccompanied non-citizen children since January 2021.

Green and Breechen, who chair the House Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability, expressly targeted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Global Refuge for the probe. But a list provided to Religion News Service indicates more than 30 religious groups have received the lawmakers' letter.

Royster said the questionnaire wasn’t relevant to Faith in Action’s work, and said he had no intention of responding to it.

READ MORE:'Not a good outcome': Senate GOP leaders shut down effort to fire 'woke' Parliamentarian

Unitarian Universalist Association general counsel Adrienne K. Walker denied her denomination receiving any grants, contracts or disbursements from the Biden administration, and she criticized the probe as appearing “to target the UUA and its members’ fundamental rights to exercise their religious practices protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' spokesperson Chieko Noguchi said USCCB plans to respond to the survey but argues that the USCCB has a 45-year agreement with the federal government to serve groups of people authorized by that same government to receive assistance.

Read the full Religion News Service report at this link.

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MMA

Right-wing media call for “overwhelming force” and arrests in LA protests

Written by Chloe Simon & Reed McMaster

Published 06/12/25

Protests in Los Angeles have been ongoing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids continue to target migrant communities. In response, right-wing media have urged the Trump administration and law enforcement to crack down harder on protesters, called for Democratic officials to be arrested, and suggested the protesters were funded by outside groups.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham and others encouraged President Donald Trump to employ the Insurrection Act against protesters while Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said Trump should use “overwhelming force.” Fox host Sean Hannity and War Room host Steve Bannon have called for arrests of Democratic officials, and The Daily Caller blamed a “Pro-Chinese Communist Millionaire” for funding the protests.

Protests erupted after the Trump administration conducted ICE raids in LA and sent in troops

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JULY 25, 2023

AUTHOR: JACK JENKINS, RNS

In Targeting Catholic Charities, Republicans Amplify Right-Wing Catholic Fringe

WASHINGTON (RNS) — On Capitol Hill, a handful of Republican lawmakers are threatening to reduce or eliminate funding for Catholic Charities and other faith-based groups who offer aid to immigrants at the Southern border.

The members of Congress, who are echoing the campaigns of deeply conservative Catholic groups that vow to “#defund the bishops,” have already succeeded in inserting their agenda into legislation passed by the House earlier this year. Another attempt to zero-out appropriations for a key Department of Homeland Security program supporting faith-based border efforts is awaiting a vote in Congress.

[Migrants reach through a border wall for clothing handed out by volunteers, as they wait between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

In December, Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, penned a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In the letter, co-signed by Reps. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin and Jake Ellzey of Texas, the lawmakers complained that the Biden administration was “allowing non-governmental organizations … the freedom to aid and abet illegal aliens.” In addition, lawmakers also sent letters to Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service demanding they preserve documents “related to any expenditures submitted for reimbursement from the federal government related to migrants encountered at the southern border.”

Contacted by Religion News Service at the time, Anthony Granado, vice president of government relations at Catholic Charities USA, said, “We have not seen such a level of direct … attack against Catholic Charities USA.”

In May, when Gooden penned another letter to Mayorkas, this time with Rep. Tom McClintock of California and Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, they accused the NGOs that use federal funds to aid immigrants of creating an “incentive” for illegal immigration and demanded access to a broad swath of records about DHS funding practices.

Days later, Gooden published an open letter to House colleagues that accused NGOs, including faith-based groups, of abusing their tax-exempt status by “play(ing) a disturbing role in the inflow and spread of illegal immigration throughout the country.”

Gooden, who worships at a Church of Christ congregation, expressed particular frustration with FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program — which is transitioning to an effort titled the Shelter and Services Program — that reimburses NGOs and local governments for offering certain aid to migrants. He singled out a number of faith-based groups in his solo letter, such as Jewish Family Services and LIRS, but criticized Catholic Charities at length.

For his part, Tiffany recently called for Catholic Charities USA to testify before the Judiciary Committee to explain “what they’re doing down on the border to facilitate this illegal immigration,” according to Bloomberg Government.

In a phone interview last week, Lee Williams, chief programs officer for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, called the lawmakers’ allegations “preposterous” and “dangerous.” He also pointed out that LIRS aids immigrants after they are processed and released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, work that is funded by private money.

Catholic Charities, for its part, receives ample government funds annually and operates as a network of local charities. In addition to anti-poverty programs, Catholic Charities also works with immigrants — including efforts to offer humanitarian aid to migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.

It’s work that, not long ago, Republicans in Congress nearly uniformly praised. In 2014, amid a spike in border crossings by unaccompanied minors and mothers traveling with children, a delegation of Republican lawmakers led by talk-show host Glenn Beck visited a Catholic Charities respite center based in a church in McAllen, Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz, East Texas Rep. Randy Weber and then-Rep. Louie Gohmert, among others, toured the center and, in Beck’s case, donated toys to children.

“I want to thank Catholic Charities that are working to care for these children and care for these families,” Cruz told reporters at the time.

Weber was similarly effusive, quoting Scripture while describing the center’s work as a fulfillment of “the church’s role.”

Mistrust of faith groups that work with immigrants, but in particular Catholic Charities, has been growing in right-wing circles since at least February 2022, when CatholicVote, a conservative political group, sued the Biden administration in an effort to acquire copies of “all communications between the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol” and various Catholic bishops and Catholic Charities entities — including the respite center in McAllen.

The antipathy for Catholic Charities came up again last summer, when Michael Voris, founder of the conservative Catholic website Church Militant, interviewed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a self-described Christian nationalist and former Catholic who converted to evangelicalism. Voris, whose organization has referred to Catholic Charities as an “enemy of the people,” complained to Greene about the American bishops supporting immigrant aid through religious agencies such as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities. Greene responded by framing the work as “Satan controlling the church.”

Most recently, in Washington on Thursday (July 20), members of the Deposit of Faith Coalition, a group of activists who object to the direction the U.S. Catholic bishops are taking and accuse them of “standing with Marxists,” called on Congress — and particularly appropriations committees — to stop granting contracts to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities.

Addressing the crowd from a podium at the National Press Club that read “#DefundtheBishops,” Sheena Rodriguez, head of Alliance for a Safe Texas, insisted that Catholic Charities was one constellation of groups “incentiviz(ing) mass illegal migration worldwide” and “creating a modern-day slavery scheme.”

The gathering attracted only a small crowd, but their ideas have gained a footing on Capitol Hill. In April, Rodriguez was invited to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on border security, arguing that unaccompanied minors at the border were being mistreated under the Biden administration.

After her testimony, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat,pointed out that Rodriguez was among the crowd that surrounded the U.S. Capitol when rioters attacked the building on Jan. 6, 2021, although there is no evidence Rodriguez entered the building that day. She had also taken part in the Christian nationalism-themed Jericho March at the Capitol the day before.

The movement to defund Catholic agencies also found its way into the GOP’s signature border security bill passed in May, known as the Secure the Border Act. It included a provision that would cut all funding to the Shelter Services Program.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposed the Secure the Border Act for multiple reasons, including how it treats DHS funding streams to NGOs. The bishops sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to vote against it. Sister Donna Markham, a Catholic nun who oversees Catholic Charities USA, also wrote a letter to congressional leadership at the time decrying the proposed cuts, saying they would “dismantle the public-private infrastructure currently in place to manage the humanitarian crisis at the southern border and its impact throughout the country.”

The bill passed the House largely along party lines, with Gooden, Tiffany and Weber all voting in favor.

The bill has little chance of passing the U.S. Senate, where Democrats enjoy a majority, but Gooden’s movement persists: Last month the House Appropriations Committee unveiled a DHS appropriations bill, which, like the border bill, eliminates funding for the Shelter and Services Program.

Markham said in a statement to RNS that the work of respite centers along the U.S.-Mexico border should be uncontroversial and invited members of Congress to tour their facilities.

“This work is humanitarian and motivated by the teachings of the gospels; it is not political, and it should not be controversial,” Markham’s statement read.

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drilled

fines boost 15,000 but 10x for orfanizing (not even on site) 1.5 mil$

treas state...front montana

witchita regional CoC = koch

BP, exxon, API, trade groups; koch reg to lobby ark and alabama

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https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2021/06/30/iowa-activist-jessica-reznicek-sentenced-dakota-access-pipeline-sabotage-catholic-workers/7808907002/

no lnx pix

Iowa climate activist sentenced to eight years in federal prison for Dakota Access pipeline sabotage

Philip Joens

Des Moines Register

One of two central Iowa women responsible for millions of dollars in damage to the Dakota Access pipeline was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to eight years in prison.

Climate activists Jessica Reznicek, 39, and Ruby Montoya, 31, were indicted on nine federal charges each in September 2019, including charges for damaging an energy facility, use of fire in the commission of a felony, and malicious use of fire. Reznicek and Montoya both pleaded guilty to a single count of damaging an energy facility. The remaining charges were dismissed.

In July 2017 the women claimed credit for a series of acts of sabotage, including burning pipeline construction equipment at a Buena Vista County worksite in November 2016 and using oxyacetylene cutting torches or gasoline-soaked rags to damage other pipeline sites around the state between March and May 2017. At the time of their admission, they were affiliated with the Des Moines Catholic Workers' social justice movement.

Why Jessica Reznicek says she damaged the DAPL

In court Wednesday, Reznicek said she committed the acts against the pipeline because she was concerned it would spill and further contaminate drinking water in Iowa.

Ruby Montoya, left, and Jessica Reznicek.]

"The toxins we enter into our waterways here in Iowa enter into the Mississippi (River) which enters into the Gulf (of Mexico)," Reznicek said during sentencing Wednesday. "Going to this extreme was out of character for me."

Montoya will be sentenced July 30.

The Des Moines Catholic Worker community was founded in 1976 in response to the Gospel call for compassionate action like that characterized by the Sermon on the Mount. Catholic Workers are not all Catholics and they are not controlled by the bishop of the Des Moines Roman Catholic Diocese. The Catholic Workers also have no financial ties to the diocese.

In public comments after they damaged the pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to Illinois and began operations in June 2017, Reznicek and Montoya bragged that they got away with it and claimed other people could too, said federal prosecutor Jason Griess.

But in recent years Reznicek said she shied away from the spotlight and gave up her bombastic public persona and advocacy.

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"Learning there was a different type of service without activism was life-changing for me," Reznicek said.

More: DAPL protestors to plead guilty to multimillion dollar sabotage]

Sentencing in the Dakota Access pipeline sabotage case

Sentencing guidelines recommended up to 20 years in prison due to Reznicek's criminal history, which included convictions for things like trespassing during her activism.

Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger also concluded that a terrorism sentencing enhancement could apply because Reznicek tried to stop the flow of oil,retaliated for decisions by state and federal governments to approve the project and wanted to prevent the government from approving future projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline.

"Not only the flow of oil, but the government's continued response were targets of this action," Goodgame Ebinger said.

Griess, the prosecutor, argued Reznicek and Montoya put the lives of firefighters and other first responders at risk when they used blow torches to cut into the pipeline without knowing what was inside.In all they set 11 fires,Griess said. Construction workers were also placed at risk when they did not know what they would encounter at work, Griess said.

"It is very difficult to downplay," Griess said. "This is incredibly dangerous conduct."

The sentence needed to be harsh to deter others from acting out like Reznicek and Montoya did, Goodgame Ebinger said. But the judge also took pity on Reznicek. The terrorism adjustment made the sentencing guidelines far higher than if that and her criminal history had not been considered, Goodgame Ebinger said.

The judge also said that the work Reznicek was doing now with the Catholic Workers — Reznicek's lawyer, Melanie Keiper, said her client's efforts recently were to feed the homeless — was admirable. She also described Reznicek's environmental concerns as, "Laudable though misguided."

Philip Joens covers breaking news for The Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-443-3347 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

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https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/07/24/dakota-access-protesters-claim-responsibility-pipeline-sabotage/504136001/

no lnx pix vid

Dakota Access protesters claim responsibility for pipeline sabotage

William Petroski, bpetrosk@dmreg.com Published 11:04 a.m. CT July 24, 2017 | Updated 8:56 p.m. CT July 24, 2017

Jessica Reznicek (purple shirt) and Ruby Montoya (blue shirt) claim responsibility for Dakota Access equipment vandalism on July 24, 2017.

170724_02_iubprotest_bp.jpgBuy Photo

(Photo: Brian Powers/The Register)

Two Iowa activists with a history of arrests for political dissent are claiming responsibility for repeatedly damaging the Dakota Access Pipeline while the four-state, $3.8 billion project was under construction in Iowa.

Jessica Reznicek, 35, and Ruby Montoya, 27, both of Des Moines, held a news conference Monday outside the Iowa Utilities Board’s offices where they provided a detailed description of their deliberate efforts to stop the pipeline's completion. They were taken into custody by state troopers immediately afterward when they abruptly began using a crowbar and a hammer to damage a sign on state property.

Both women are involved in Iowa’s Catholic Worker social justice movementand they described their pipeline sabotage as a "direct action" campaign that began on Election Day 2016. They said their first incident of destruction involved burning at least five pieces of heavy equipment on the pipeline route in northwest Iowa's Buena Vista County.

"The Dakota Access Pipeline is an issue that affects this entire nation and the people that are subject to its rule," Reznicek said. "With DAPL, we have seen incredible issues regarding the rule of law, indigenous sovereignty, land seizures, state-sanctioned brutality, as well as corporate protections and pardons for their wrongdoings. To all those that continue to be subjected to the government's injustices, we humbly stand with you, and we ask now that you stand with us."

The two women said they researched how to pierce the steel pipe used for the pipeline and in March they began using oxyacetylene cutting torches to damage exposed, empty pipeline valves. They said they started deliberately vandalizing the pipeline in southeast Iowa's Mahaska County, delaying completion for weeks.

Jessica Reznicek

Jessica Reznicek (Photo: Special to the Register)

Reznicek and Montoya said they subsequently used torches to cause damage up and down the pipeline throughout Iowa and into part of South Dakota, moving from valve to valve until running out of supplies. They said their actions were rarely reported in the media. They also contended the federal government and Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline developer, withheld vital information from the public.

The two women said they later returned to arson as a tactic, using tires and gasoline soaked rags to burn multiple valve sites and electric units, as well as heavy equipment located on pipeline easements throughout Iowa. They said they attempted again in May to pierce a valve in southeast Iowa's Wapello County with a cutting torch. But they were disappointed to learn oil was already in the pipe.

Ruby Montoya

Ruby Montoya (Photo: Special to the Register)

In Montoya's comments to reporters, she criticized decisions by the courts and public officials that allowed the pipeline project to proceed.

"Our conclusion is that thesystem is broken and it is up to us as individuals to take peaceful action and remedy it,and this we did, out of necessity," Montoya said.

Both Reznicek and Montoya were transported Monday by law enforcement officers to the Polk County Jail, where they were booked on charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief  for damaging metal letters on the sign outside the Iowa Utilities Board building. They were each held on $1,000 bond.

Ronald Humphrey, a special agent in charge of the arson and explosives bureau of the State Fire Marshal's Office, said there is an active, open investigation into arson and damage to the pipeline and construction equipment. Details about the investigation are confidential because it is an ongoing investigation, he added. Meanwhile, an FBI spokesman in Omaha declined to comment  and representatives of Energy Transfer Partners didn't respond to a request for comment.

The Dakota Access Pipeline, which became operational June 1, transports crude oil from the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to a distribution hub near Patoka, Ill. It has the capacity to ship about 520,000 barrels of oil daily.

Look at some numbers associated with the Bakken Pipeline, (Dakota Access Crude Pipeline) Rodney White/The Register

The pipeline has encountered strong opposition in Iowa, particularly from environmental activists. The project, which cuts diagonally through 18 Iowa counties, has also been fought by farmers who have criticized the use of eminent domain to obtain access to their land for the pipeline. Litigation involving the pipeline is still pending in federal court and before theIowa Supreme Court.

Veteran activist Frank Cordaro of Des Moines, a former Catholic priest who has long been involved in the Catholic Worker movement, cheered Reznicek and Montoya as they were taken into custody Monday morning. He shouted, "Thank you for your witness. Thank you for your courage."

Cordaro characterized the actions of the two women as consistent with an American tradition of civil disobedience in the face of wrongdoing and injustice. He said the two women felt an obligation to take personal responsibility to stop the crude oil pipeline project in an effort to prevent environmental damage to soil and water and the eventual destruction of the planet through climate change caused by the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Leaders of anti-pipeline organizations had mixed reactions Monday to the women's arrests and claims of responsiblity for the sabotage.

Sierra Club of Iowa lawyer Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids deplored the women's actions. "Certainly, we had absolutely no knowledge about what these women were doing or were going to do, and we condemn any kind of damage or anything like that," he said.

Ed Fallon of Des Moines, a former state legislator who helped lead Iowa anti-pipeline protests, said he admired the courage and passion of Reznicek and Montoya.

"I think what this does is generate a pretty hearty discussion about violent vs. non-violent action, about effectiveness versus ineffective actions," Fallon said. "I think that is a conversation that we all need to continue. It is not a strategy that I have historically approved or of embraced. But I  am willing to keep an open mind on where other people stand on it."

A representative of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement had no comment, while a spokesman for the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition said the organization was surprised by Reznichek and Montoya's claims of responsibility and had no involvement in their actions.

Craig Stevens,a spokesman for the Grow America's Infrastructure Now Coalition, a pro-pipeline group which includes business and labor interests, called the two women's statements a "stunning admission of guilt."

"Despite their repeated claims, in no way are the use of gasoline, motor oil, fire and welding torches to destroy construction equipment or pierce pipelines acts of 'peaceful' protest," Stevens said. "These are violent criminals hiding beneath the veneer of young women. They are lucky they were not seriously injured or killed."

Stevens also said his organization believes improving the nation’s energy infrastructure is critical to ensuring that people have necessary energy. "One has to wonder what magic juice gets these violent criminals from protest site to protest site and also provides the feedstock to the thousands of everyday products they, their families and all Americans use," he added.

Reznicek and Montoya are active in the Des Moines Catholic Worker community, which was founded in 1976 in response to the Gospel call for compassionate action as summarized by the Sermon on the Mount. However, the Catholic Workers are not all Catholics and they are not controlled by the bishop of the Des Moines Roman Catholic Diocese. The Catholic Workers also have no financial ties to the diocese.

The Catholic Worker community has four houses in Des Moinesthat focus on a nonviolent lifestyle while serving the poor. Some members of the community have been critical of the Des Moines Roman Catholic Diocese and have called for changes that include ordination of women as Catholic priests and stances against corporate agriculture and the military-industrial complex.

One of the incidents described by the two women appears to match a law enforcement report in March involving an incident in Oskaloosa in southeast Iowa. The Mahaska County sheriff’s office said someone used a blowtorch to damage an above-ground safety valve surrounded by a security fence. There was no oil in the pipeline, although authorities said it was pressurized with nitrogen gas.

A suspect burned a hole through the Dakota Access Pipeline

A suspect burned a hole through the Dakota Access Pipeline in Mahaska County, according to the sheriff's office. (Photo: Special to the Register)

However, both women have reportedly denied involvement in several suspected arson incidents last year along the Dakota Access Pipeline construction project that have never been solved by authorities. These included fires in July 2016 involving heavy equipment such as bulldozer and backhoes in Jasper and Mahaska counties that caused nearly $1 million in damage near Newton, Reasonor and Oskaloosa. In October, an intentionally-set fire caused about $2 million in damage to construction equipment near Reasnor.

Both Reznicek, a Des Moines native, and Montoya, who previously lived in Phoenix, Ariz., are experienced political activists. Reznizek became involved in political movements about six years ago withOccupy Wall Street protests. Montoya came to Iowa last year after becoming involved in pipeline protests at the Standing Rockreservation in North Dakota. Both were involved in the "Mississippi Stand" protest against the pipeline along the Mississippi River in southeast Iowa.

Reznicek was among four people arrested in 2015 in Bellevue, Neb., for breaking windows at Northrop Grumman,which is a defense contractor for the U.S. Air Force. She was also engaged in ahunger strike outside the Iowa Utilities Board’s office in November, demanding the board take action to stop the pipeline project. She was subsequently arrested for trespassing after she refused police orders to leave the building. Reznicek and Montoya were also among 12 people arrested in January in Memphis, Tenn., during a protest at a Valero oil refinerywhile protesting the $900 million Diamond Pipeline project.

[Protesters gather at the Iowa Air National Guard Base in Des Moines, Iowa on Satuday, March 15, 2014, to demonstrate their opposition to U.S. Military use of Unmannned Aerial Vehicles. Charlie Litchfield/The Register

In addition, Reznicek and Montoya among four people arrested in June  who blocked access to the Iowa Air National Guard Base at the Des Moines airport to protest the base's operation of military drones overseas. All four were ordered last week to pay restitution jointly for more than $3,200 to cover the costs of police, firefighters and other city employees who were called to the protest, which blocked McKinley Avenue for more than two hours.

In a statement emailed to The Register on Saturday, Montoya said both she and Reznicek deny responsibility for the restitution, alleging they were mistreated by firefighters and police. Des Moines police and fire officials said they followed standard operating procedures and there was nothing improper about the way the protesters were treated.

Reporters Charly Haley and Grant Rodgers contributed to this story.

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