Michael Bayer
banner
mbayer.bsky.social
Michael Bayer
@mbayer.bsky.social
"Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible." - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Pope Leo condemns "grave crimes" being committed against immigrants.

Significant, as violent immigration raids by heavily armed federal agents here in the Pope's hometown of Chicago have increased dramatically over the past couple of weeks.

www.reuters.com/world/pope-l...
October 23, 2025 at 6:27 PM
While Dean of Cornell Law, Peñalver helped establish the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic, providing legal aid to both documented and undocumented immigrants.

www.lawschool.cornell.edu/academics/ex...
Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic - Cornell Law School
www.lawschool.cornell.edu
October 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
As President of Seattle University, new Georgetown President Peñalver referred to climate change as an "existential threat" and committed the university to take concrete action based on Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si'

www.seattleu.edu/who-we-are/l...
Deepening Our Leadership on Sustainability and Environmental Justice
As I said in my remarks at inauguration in September, the existential threat that is climate change is one of the three great challenges we face as a society.
www.seattleu.edu
October 15, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Georgetown University names Eduardo Peñalver, a former Dean of Cornell Law, Supreme Court clerk, and President of Seattle University, as its next President.

www.georgetown.edu/news/49th-pr...
Eduardo Peñalver Named 49th President of Georgetown University - Georgetown University
Eduardo M. Peñalver, the president of Seattle University and former dean of Cornell Law School, will be the next president of Georgetown.
www.georgetown.edu
October 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
On this day 10 years ago, Pope Francis delivered an historic speech to Congress.

He issued a sweeping prophetic challenge for the U.S. to live up to its ideals, words that are even more urgent today.

Full text:
www.vatican.va/content/fran...
September 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
10 years ago this week, Pope Francis addressed the UN. He called for radical action to protect the environment, end global conflicts, and build societies that protect the civil rights of all persons, particularly the poor and vulnerable.

Read the full text here: www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...
September 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Few have ever embodied the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi as did Fr. Mychal Judge.

He gave winter coats to people living on the streets.
He ministered to individuals suffering from AIDS.
He campaigned for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace..."
September 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
On Sept. 10, 2001, Fr. Mychal Judge—Franciscan friar and Chaplain to the NY Fire Department who gave his life ministering to first responders in the WTC—delivered his final homily

"God needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us."

Lord, make all of us channels of your peace
youtu.be/KVUYG2VqCHA?...
Last Homily of FDNY Father Mychal Judge Killed on 9/11, First Victim of the Terror Attacks.
YouTube video by The Catholic Connect Foundation Inc.
youtu.be
September 10, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Pacem in Terris remains—sadly—deeply relevant today, and it is well worth meditating on how it might form our collective national conscience in the U.S. about issues like war, poverty, economic development, human rights, and the arms race.

www.vatican.va/content/john...
Pacem in Terris (April, 11 1963)
Encyclical, Pacem in Terris, John XXIII, social doctrine, worker question, social, politics, peace, human rights, aid for women
www.vatican.va
August 6, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"Nuclear weapons must be banned," wrote Pope John XXIII in his sweeping, prophetic encyclical, Pacem in Terris ("Peace on Earth") in 1963.

Like many of the bishops attending the Second Vatican Council, Pope John had seen war firsthand, serving as a chaplain in WWI.

www.vatican.va/content/john...
August 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Today—August 6th—marks the 80th anniversary of the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

During a 2019 visit to Japan, Pope Francis called for "a world without nuclear weapons" and condemned their use as "immoral."

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/n...
August 6, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Pope Leo delivered a remarkable address this morning on the Church's role in facilitating genuine dialogue around technology, labor, capital, politics, and pressing challenges facing the world.

www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
To the members of the "Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice" Foundation (17 May 2025) | LEO XIV
Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to the members of the "Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice" Foundation, 17 May 2025
www.vatican.va
May 17, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Pope Leo's address to the College of Cardinals:
- Confirms choosing name in honor of Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum
- Calls for Church to respond to "another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence"

www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
Address of the Holy Father to the College of Cardinals (10 May 2025) | LEO XIV
Address of the Holy Father to the College of Cardinals, 10 May 2025
www.vatican.va
May 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Pope Leo XIII ushered in the modern era of Catholic Social Teaching with his encyclical, Rerum Novarum, on the Dignity of Work and the Rights of Laborers in 1891.

Pope Leo XIV choosing that name is significant!

www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891) | LEO XIII
Encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII, 15 May 1891
www.vatican.va
May 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM
"Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share in your Master's joy!"

I hope and pray that we may be able to carry forward Pope Francis' clarion moral voice for true justice and lasting peace.
April 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I will happily send you baked treats

Also, I am going to begin trying this "sharing is caring" strategy with my Jesuit friends who post about woodworking projects
November 18, 2024 at 5:37 PM
Really hoping they find a way to work Simon the Devious in one last time
November 16, 2024 at 12:18 AM
Glad you're here!
November 14, 2024 at 6:02 PM
2025 is the 60th Anniversary of Gaudium et Spes—the Church's Constitution for existing in an age of world wars, economic inequality, global migration, threats to human rights, and more

One thing Catholics could do would be to lead study groups at the local level
www.vatican.va/archive/hist...
Gaudium et spes
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word: Gaudium et spes
www.vatican.va
November 14, 2024 at 4:55 PM
Glad you're here!
November 14, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Thanks for putting this together -- didn't realize so many folks had joined!
November 14, 2024 at 4:40 PM
It is important—necessary even—to step away from the doom scrolling and draw strength from those who carried the work of justice forward during dark times.
November 13, 2024 at 11:11 PM
Today is the Feast of Mother Cabrini—she combatted vicious anti-immigrant sentiment and took on powerful churchmen and political leaders on her way to establishing hospitals, orphanages, & social agencies across the Americas

Highly recommend streaming the movie: athome.fandango.com/content/brow...
November 13, 2024 at 10:56 PM
I've only been on here for a few days, but honestly I cannot recommend it enough.
November 12, 2024 at 11:48 PM