Bishop Joe S. Vasquez Archives

Winter storm halts nearly everything but Texas hospitality

Feb 24, 2021

The Burton family from Lake Charles, Louisiana, were on the way home from a New Mexico skiing vacation when the worst winter storm in recent Texas history brought the state to a perpetual halt.

By Ricardo Gandara

2020 census is counting on religious leaders to promote participation

Feb 22, 2020

Realizing that many people are hesitant to fill out the upcoming census, the U.S. Census Bureau is calling on religious leaders to help promote it.

By Carol Zimmermann

In 2019, Supreme Court’s docket runs gamut of high-profile issues

Dec 5, 2019

2019 was a busy year for the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Carol Zimmermann

Bishops listen to grim landscape of policy on the immigration front

Nov 13, 2019

In a wide-ranging report on immigration Nov. 12, U.S. bishops heard a grim landscape facing immigrants and refugees trying to find shelter in the United States. But they also heard of the wide network of Catholic organizations trying to help, even as they, too, face challenges.

By Rhina Guidos

All eyes on Texas governor as calls grow to halt execution

Nov 9, 2019

Texas governor Greg Abbott is facing calls to stop the execution of Rodney Reed, who is set to die this month for a 1996 killing despite new evidence that even a growing number of Republican legislators say raises serious questions about his guilt.

By Paul J. Weber

Refugee advocates decry Trump administration’s plan to cut refugee cap

Sep 29, 2019

Refugee advocates are opposed to the decision announced by the Trump administration Sept. 26 that it plans to admit no more than 18,000 refugees in the next fiscal year, the lowest number since the resettlement program was created in 1980.

By Carol Zimmermann

Admitting fewer refugees ‘runs counter’ to U.S. values, say USCCB leaders

Sep 14, 2019

A proposal to reduce the number of refugee admissions to the United States to fewer than 30,000 “would be wholly counter to our values as a nation of immigrants,” said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chair of the bishops’ Committee on Migration.

By Catholic News Service

Migrant children will suffer most under new detention rule, says bishop

Aug 27, 2019

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee said Aug. 23 he sees “heartbreaking consequences for immigrant children” in a final rule issued by the Trump administration that allows the federal government to hold immigrant children in family detention indefinitely.

By Catholic News Service