“No Kings” Demonstrations, the Pope Praying

  

“No Kings” Demonstrations, the Pope Praying

On June 14, 2025, a few million U.S. people participated in the “No Kings” demonstrations in multiple places to indicate the people of the U.S. in 1776 chose to have a democracy with three branches and a constitution, not a king.  In the U.S. the principals of democracy are being eroded. Principals of respect for U.S. law and international law are not being upheld.  The vulnerable are suffering and immigrants are being denied their rights under international law.  All this violates Catholic Social Teaching that emphasizes respect for human dignity.  

Various groups came together to host “No Kings,” among them the Women’s March. In the week before the demonstration, 50,000 people participated in the online Nonviolence Training provided by the Women’s March.  What a valuable and powerful thing for the future of our country---ideas and methods based on Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Jesus ideas especially in Matthew 5.

In Travis Park in San Antonio, Texas, Sr. Martha Ann Kirk and Sr. Jean Durel had a table of art supplies for young people who might like to create for Artistic Bridges.  This is a global education project in many languages to build healing, understanding, and unity among 4- to 18- year old’s of the world which was initiated by Sr. Martha Ann and is hosted by the Charter for Compassion.  Young people in six countries are participating so far and their exhibit books can be seen online and copies were there printed out including the latest pictures that Jude of Hebron, Palestine, gave to Sr. Martha Ann when she had a lovely visit to their home in May.

Approximately 2,000 people were in the park and on the march through the streets of downtown San Antonio.  Many speakers participated and Sr. Martha Ann wrote a dramatic piece and did pantomime and dance assisted by Rev. Julie Rowe and Sarah Davis. This is the text:

Reader 1: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms that 16 million more people will be uninsured as a result of the House-passed budget bill.

And, new research from the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Public Health show that more than 50,000 people will die each year from these attacks on Medicaid, SNAP, and the Affordable Care Act.

Reader 2: Do you mean more than 50,000 people will die each year from these attacks on Medicaid, SNAP, and the Affordable Care Act?

Reader 1: More than 50,000 people will die each year from these attacks on Medicaid, SNAP, and the Affordable Care Act.

(Song copies were given to participants to sing as this was danced.)                                                         

“Hold on to Love” by JesseManibusan  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtrbxIW7bRo

 Verse 1. There is a place for the sadness. Hold on to love. There is a season of gladness. Hold on to love.  When pain and confusion seem endless, hold on to love. We cultivate healing through kindness. Hold on to love.                                                                                                                                                               

Refrain: Hold on to love. Hold on to love where hope is found. Hold on to love where joy abounds. Hold on to love where grace and mercy's overflowing. Hold on to love.

Verse 2. When terror and fear overwhelm us, hold on to love.  Courage and faith will sustain us. Hold on to love. When violence seeks to destroy us, hold on to love. Acts of compassion restore us. Hold on to love.  Repeat Refrain.

Verse 3. When hatred is used to divide us, hold on to love.  Wisdom and truth reunite us. Hold on to love. When prejudice poses as freedom, hold on to love. Dignity means “all are welcome!” Hold on to love.   Repeat Refrain.  Hold on to love.

Reader 2: Catholic Relief Services helps our sisters and brothers all over the world because we are one human family.  The White House has proposed cuts to international assistance.  These mean the lives of millions will be significantly impacted.

Reader 1: It means cuts to long-term opportunities: education, livelihoods and safer communities.  It means cuts to lifesaving necessities: water, food and shelter.

The administration terminated all but two of Catholic Relief Services school lunch programs,

leaving nearly 800,000 children without their only meal starting in July. 

Reader. 2: Leaving nearly 800,000 children without their only meal starting in July.

Reader 1: Leaving nearly 800,000 children without their only meal starting in July.

(Sung and danced) Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness                                     https://katesutherland.ca/track/1753051/only-love-can-do-that  

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
- Eleanor Roosevelt. Music from Woodlandy Dandies "If I Were a Tree" by Kate Sutherland  

 

With faith, hope, and love, let us like the prophets announce the beautiful dreams for the future and not get trapped in despair and anger. With all God’s global family we unite in love compassionately caring for each other.  

   

Also on June 14, new Pope Leo XIV, spoke online to a U.S. audience in the stadium in Chicago, his home town and to the world.  According to the Chicago Sun Times, he said:   “It’s a pleasure for me to greet all of you gathered together in White Sox park on this great celebration as a community of faith,” Pope Leo said in his opening remarks. “I want to both express my gratitude to you and also encourage you to continue to build up community [and] friendship as brothers and sisters in your daily lives, in your families, in your parishes, in the archdiocese and throughout the world.”    

In Chicago, Cardinal Cupich also used the occasion to speak out about immigration and the treatment of undocumented people in the U.S.

“It is wrong to scapegoat those who are here without documents,” Cupich said during his homily. “For indeed, they are here due to a broken immigration system. And it is a broken immigration system which both parties have failed to fix.

Cupich encouraged those gathered to look to the undocumented and find qualities they share in common.

“So many of the undocumented have for decades been connected to us,” Cupich said. “They are here not by invasion, but by invitation — an invitation to harvest the fruits of the earth that feed our families; an invitation to clean our tables, homes and hotel rooms; an invitation to landscape our lawns; and yes, even an invitation to care for our children and elders.”

Cupich said that by looking for connections instead of differences, people can “respond to this moment and thus reclaim our calling to live as authentic persons in the image of divine persons.”