NCR Editorial Staff

We say: Making family separation a point of government policy is unacceptable and immoral. That is exactly what the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy is, and, according to the United Nations human rights office, is also "a serious violation of the rights of the child."

We say: The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is totally man-made. It could be contained and a peace process put in motion. But international players have shown little interest in peace.

We say: It's time to revisit the pope's 2015 proposal to establish a tribunal that would hold responsible bishops and religious superiors who mishandle cases of clergy sex abuse.

We say: We must bring public pressure to bear on the White House and Congress to ensure the United States rejoins the world community and works in concert with all nations to slow global warming.

We say: The House committee plan would repeal a state's flexibility to extend nutrition assistance benefits to working families who earn enough to put them barely above the income eligibility limit for the program. These aggressive changes are a blunt hammer. 

We say: FOCUS has big plans; it has raised its sights beyond just campus ministry. It wants to send its missionaries into parishes. This could create quite the temptation for cash-strapped dioceses, but we would argue that dioceses should resist this temptation.

We say: Now President Trump's national security adviser appointment, the former U.N. ambassador has already done much to damage U.S. foreign policy standing.

We say: The response of Bishop James Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, to the fallout following his decision to keep musician Dan Schutte from performing in a local parish is disappointing and disheartening. He missed an opportunity.

We say: In early March, Florida passed a red-flag law, which was part of the demands of the students mobilized by the shooting deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. If a gun-friendly state like Florida can pass this legislation, so can others.

We say: The young — all of us really — are looking for authenticity. Examples of people who walk the faith and live the heart of the Gospel are more convincing than hours of apologetics and glitzy presentations on up-to-date delivery platforms.

The Catholic Church should proudly stand with labor unions in a joint effort to resist the libertarian impulses of our age and reconnect with the values and the policies that enflesh our nation's constitutional commitment to "promote the general welfare."

We say: Young people have the freedom to be single-minded, and we agree with them that it's time to find solutions to the pandemic of gun violence that plagues our nation.

We say: Trump's desire to see tanks and missiles paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue raises the question of what vision he has for America. He misunderstands what has made America great.

We say: Francis has an ambitious reform agenda for the church, an agenda he believes he was elected to implement. His actions in Chile in January weakened his reform efforts. If he can't fix this, his larger agenda will be in jeopardy.

We say: Unfortunately, Pope Francis' defense of Chilean Bishop Juan Barros Madrid is only the latest in a number of statements he has made in his nearly five-year papacy that have hurt survivors, and the whole body of the church. 

We say: Tearing apart families benefits no one. The temporary protected status program, like DACA, needs a long-term solution, but mass deportations are not the answer.

NCR Editorial: President Donald Trump and his staff routinely demonize immigrants. That a nation of immigrants is in danger of turning its back on the immigrants of today is bad enough. That some Catholics participate in that effort is shameful.

NCR Editorial: The boogeyman of communism that haunted Central America in the 1980s is gone, but the institutions and power centers set up in Honduras with U.S. assistance decades ago remain entrenched.

We say: That Francis has allowed this lapse to occur is worrisome. A commission without validly appointed members ceases to be a commission; its members may carry on their work but if they do, they do so as individuals without legal standing or vested authority to back them. 

We say: Now is the time for all of us, but especially for institutions and workplaces, to seize the societal shift these individual stories are creating, to change policy, to trust the accusation first, and to ensure a safe atmosphere for open conversation.