Author: Emily Reimer-Barry

I wanna run I want to hide I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside I want to reach out and touch the flame Where the streets have no name. These are tough times for social justice folks. No matter the social justice issue you care most deeply about– food security for the poor, migrant justice, the Syrian refugee crisis, climate change, health care access, LGBTQ equality, transparency in campaign finance, and on and on– there seem to be daily news stories about how we are taking steps backwards on these issues. You may want to...

Francis Makes Migration a Key Issue Pope Francis is not the first pontiff to advocate for migrant rights, but it is an issue that he has made a priority in his papacy. In July 2013 Francis kicked off his papacy by traveling to Lampedusa, Italy, an island about 70 miles off the coast of Africa in the Mediterranean Sea. Lampedusa is known as a waypoint for migrants; the pope went there to highlight the perilous journey that so many migrants face, a journey faced by Jesus as an infant, a journey that has led to death for over 46,000...

Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace; here the love of Christ shall end divisions. All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. Marty Haugen’s All Are Welcome is one of my favorite hymns to sing at Mass. It presents a vision of an inclusive church community where prophets speak, where peace and justice meet, where the outcast and the stranger bear...