Iraqis hope papal visit can help unify country's diverse communities
- Mar 2, 2021
Just as the political and criminal fallout has continued over the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by people seeking to halt the Electoral College certification of President-Elect Joe Biden’s win in the November election, the fallout has extended to job losses for those who have been identified as taking part in the siege.
Like many across the country, Father William Gurnee and Father Gary Studniewski watched in horror as a rioting mob stormed and ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, attempting to disrupt Congress at it certified the Electoral College vote of President-elect Joe Biden.
Now that the dust has started to settle after the protest-turned-riot at the Capitol Wednesday that left four dead, Catholics continue to condemn the violent acts that took place and look for answers on ways to bridge the divide in the United States.
In a Dec. 22 op-ed column in The Washington Post, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington said the archdiocese’s recent lawsuit against District of Columbia’s COVID-19 restrictions on houses of worship was a “last resort” to “protect the free exercise of religion in the nation’s capital.”
Four Catholic churches sit within 2 miles of the White House. As vice president, Biden attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington’s tony Georgetown neighborhood, where the nation’s only other Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, frequently went to Mass before his inauguration.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Washington, has modified the current pandemic limits on gatherings at houses of worship in the District to 25 percent of capacity and no more than 250 people.