Agents of Faith in a Time of Moral Crisis
For many in the Catholic community, these last weeks have felt like a bad case of whiplash. With each breaking news alert, our hearts grow increasingly weary. The enormity of and the ferocity with which recent executive orders have occurred has been particularly gutting.
So many of these actions have already and will continue to have a direct and immediate impact on the most vulnerable in our society. Of course, these are the very same individuals that our Catholic faith compels us to stand in solidarity with, including (but not limited to) immigrants and refugees, workers and laborers, the LGBTQ community, the poor, and the marginalized.
Many of our longtime nonprofit partners and colleagues have experienced immediate repercussions as well. Sudden freezes in funding have led to lay-offs and devastating program cuts that, in many instances, will cost some people their livelihoods and others their lives. Just one example: an estimated eight million people will die of starvation as the result of the elimination of USAID.[1]
We are grateful for the Catholic voices speaking out on behalf of the Church on these issues. Pope Francis swiftly denounced the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportation as “a disgrace.” Cardinal Robert McElroy, newly appointed shepherd of the Archdiocese of Washington, rebuked such actions as “incompatible with Church teaching.” A statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops went even further, condemning executive orders “focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment” as “deeply troubling with negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us.”
In the midst of all of this, it can be expected to feel overwhelmed and powerless. It is tempting to throw up one’s hands and say: “someone else’s decisions, someone else’s problems.” Unless, of course, you are among those in the crosshairs – a circle that grows wider by the day.
As Catholics, our faith will not allow us to sit this one out and, in fact, Jesus commands us to respond in the face of moral crisis. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago recently noted that anything less “belies a basic understanding of a key mission of the Church … to serve those in need, regardless of their proximity or nationality or origin. We take up this work because it is the Gospel.”
The communion of saints offers many examples of this kind of resilience and fortitude, including:
- Despite having spent much of her early years as an enslaved person in Sudan, St. Josephine Bahkita once reflected that the “whole of her life” had been a gift from God. Today, she is lauded as an exemplar of turning suffering into transformation.
- During the height of World War II, St. Maximillian Kolbe defied Nazi rule by reminding his followers that “the most deadly poison of our time is indifference.” In fact, he continued to proclaim the Gospel up to and throughout his imprisonment and execution at Auschwitz in 1941.
- Servant of God Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, spoke often and profoundly of what it would take to instigate what she referred to as “a revolution of the heart” in a society rife with greed and malice. She encouraged small efforts that “like a pebble in the pond” would expand to “reach around the world.”
- St. Oscar Romero, martyred in 1980 in El Salvador, said that we are mandated by our Baptism to be “God’s microphone, to be a messenger, to be a prophet” and reminded us that “it is not enough to be good.”
- Although not officially canonized, it is also worthwhile to consider Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, Chaplain to the Fire Department of New York. On 9/11, he heroically ran toward the Twin Towers and perished while administering last rites to the fallen, becoming the first recognized causality of that fateful day.
Most profoundly, we can look to the example of Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. In a moment of human frailty, he implored God to remove the burden of his impending arrest and crucifixion: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26). The end of that story – a model of grace, courage, and forgiveness in the face of imminent and unjust persecution – is the very foundation of all that Catholics hold sacred.
Not as I will, but as You will.
At this moment, God is calling each of us, too, in our own way. How we choose to stand in solidarity, bear witness, and be courageous agents of the Gospel will look different for each person, community, and context.
In The Time is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage (2019) Sr. Joan Chittester, OSB, forewarned “This [moment] is about the prophet in you. A world gone badly askew stands on the cusp of authoritarianism and freedom, between universal compassion and national self-centeredness.” Sr. Joan lays out some pretty clear choices for people of faith: quit, surrender, or “follow the more challenging example of the prophets before us.”[2]
The path that the prophets chose is courage. But what path will we choose – as individuals, communities, and the broader Church? What is God’s will for us?
At Goodfaith, we have been discerning how best to respond to this question. As practitioners of Catholic social teaching, we feel strongly compelled to speak out against the injustices happening around us. We share in the frustration and lamentation of many friends and colleagues. We stand firm in our resolve to accompany those in need from all backgrounds and walks of life.
As a small nonprofit, though, we also recognize the limitations of our capacity – particularly in the areas of communications. While we are eager to join the conversation, we don’t want to add to an already crowded cacophony of voices. Perhaps more importantly, we want to add value and depth – responsibly, and in keeping with our mission.
Our hope is to equip stakeholders like you to be agents of faith by providing the tools, language, and skill set needed to live into the aspirations of Catholic social teaching in a meaningful way in everyday life. We believe that this call to action has never been more urgent or timely.
We have decided that this – equipping you – will be our communications focus in the months ahead, starting with a series of resources related to our Pathways framework. (If you need a refresher on this, please listen to our latest episode of In Good Faith!) Available for free, these will be designed to empower and equip both individuals and communities to take action in their own contexts through the lens of accompaniment, encounter, protagonism, and spiritual imagination. Each resource will be grounded in Church teaching and provide tangible and realistic action steps.
Toward that end, please let us know about anything specific that would be helpful to you, your parish, your school, your family – and beyond! What questions, considerations, and concerns are you carrying? Let us know and we’ll do our best to curate a well-rounded response.
Meanwhile, know that our mission endures behind the scenes in a host of hopeful ways. We continue to work with young people on their passions for changing the world. This Lent, we will be actively walking with families on a journey through the Corporal Works of Mercy. We are gearing up for another summer season of service immersion, which is just around the corner. We are lining up a host of exciting new initiatives for the coming fiscal year. All evidence that glimmers of goodness prevail despite the foreboding challenges.
So, for now, let us not be consumed by what Dorothy Day referred to as the “sin of futility” and instead stand firm in a hope-filled belief that one person can, in fact, make a difference.
“What can one person do? We can only lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform these actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes.” (Dorothy Day, The Reckless Way of Love: Notes for Following Jesus)[3]
[1] Washington Post. 2025. “Africa, Trump, Musk, and USAID Funding Cuts.” The Washington Post, February 4, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/02/04/africa-trump-musk-usaid-funding-cuts/.
[2] Joan Chittister, The Time is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage. (NY: Convergent, 2019).
[3] Dorothy Day, The Reckless Way of Love: Notes for Following Jesus, edited by Carolyn Kurtz (Walden, NY: Plough Publishing House, 2017).
