By Mike Schut
We all know not to talk politics, sex and money in polite company. But what if such conversations are intimately connected to the Gospels, to Jesus’ life and teachings?
Let’s take three examples. First, say you read, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” quoted by Jesus as the second greatest commandment. Or, second, Matthew 25, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Or, third, simply consider how Jesus consistently stood up for society’s marginalized.
If we start there, then when we talk about whether or not policies or a politician’s priorities express love for neighbor or support “the least of these,” then while the context may be political, the guiding set of values is the Gospel.
When I talk to the Franciscan Sisters I work with in Little Falls, we always start and end with those guiding Gospel values.
And then, like their predecessors have for over a century, the sisters interpret those Gospel teachings by carrying out works of charity like feeding the hungry or caring for the sick; and by supporting acts of justice which, it’s arguable, means protesting polices that create the conditions where more people go hungry or lose their healthcare.
In that light, Sisters Speak Out, a recent prayer and public witness for immigrants and a just economy in Washington, DC, was not political. It was practicing the Gospel.
‘Sisters Speak Out’
On June 24, as the Senate debated Trump’s massive reconciliation bill, over 200 sisters and their allies, representing fifty-six women religious congregations, gathered on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol to assert those Gospel values. Among those gathered were three of us from the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls — a sister, a Franciscan Associate, and myself, a staff person.
We were there to pray and to witness to the fact that the current administration’s big budget bill, which has now been signed into law, will:
- Cut $841 billion from Medicaid. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, those cuts will cost over 10 million Americans their healthcare. In Minnesota alone, over 101,700 people will lose Medicaid coverage, according to the Catholic Health Association.
- Cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) by nearly $300 billion; more than 7 million people would see their food assistance terminated or cut substantially.
- Benefit the richest fifth of Americans: those with annual incomes of $120,390 or more will see an average benefit of $6,055. The poorest fifth of Americans will, in contrast, lose an estimated $560, largely due to the impacts of the Medicaid and food stamp cuts.
These are the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in our nation’s history. Along with these cuts, the bill provides for a massive increase in spending for deportation without due process which results in cruel family separation practices.
While the administration claims to target criminal actors in its immigration sweeps, Immigration and Customs Enforcement data “released June 16 indicates fewer than 10 percent of those taken into custody since October 2024 have been charged with violent crimes, and more than 75 percent had no record other than traffic or immigration offenses.”
The voices of Catholic sisters
Catholic Sisters have been at the forefront of serving vulnerable communities through ministries of healthcare, education, and social services. Their voices carry a special moral authority. Let’s hear from two of the sisters who participated in Sisters Speak Out.
Sister Barbara Battista, a Sister of Providence who helped organize the event, said:
“There is a reason why my/our vows as consecrated religious people are public. By virtue of those public vows we are committed to speaking up, speaking out, standing up for everyone and every aspect of creation. Wherever and whenever human and other-than-human aspects of creation are threatened, we must act. Right now, our federal government is actively creating hierarchies of power and privilege that are in direct contradiction to the Gospels. Those Gospels call us to be on the side of those pushed aside and or threatened with racial or economic injustice.”
Sister Gloria Haider, a vowed member of the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, felt drawn to travel to DC. She said, “During prayer I had been reflecting on how the Gospel calls me to prayer and action for the poor and most vulnerable in our country. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to publicly speak out against the slow erosion of our democracy and the immoral policies of the federal government.”
The voice of the US Catholic bishops
Significantly, on July 3, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, released a statement strongly echoing the words of Sisters Speak Out. The archbishop said, “The final version of the [reconciliation] bill includes unconscionable cuts to healthcare and food assistance, tax cuts that increase inequality, immigration provisions that harm families and children, and cuts to programs that protect God’s creation. The bill, as passed, will cause the greatest harm to those who are especially vulnerable in our society . . . People will lose access to healthcare and struggle to buy groceries, family members will be separated, and vulnerable communities will be less prepared to cope with environmental impacts of pollution and extreme weather.”
When sisters and bishops are saying the same thing, perhaps we can all agree: this isn’t politics we’re arguing, this is the Gospel we’re hearing.
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Mike Schut serves as Director of Integral Ecology for the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls Minnesota. His dad grew up on a diversified dairy farm 6 miles from Maple Lake. Reach out to Mike if interested in presentations or workshops: mschut@fslf.org.
Above photo: People participate in a demonstration sponsored by Sisters Speak Out about immigration and the economy June 24, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (OSV News photo/Leslie E. Kossoff)