Marcus Mescher

“The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they're gonna live.” -Pete Hegseth There is no version of Christianity that can defend this. Rebuke it, in the name of Jesus… the Prince of Peace.

I encourage you to read my statement, “A Call to Conscience” archchicago.org/en/statement/-…

Lord have mercy on us, sinners

I wake up to Trump and Israel bombing Iran… hitting a girls elementary school, and now 53 little girls are dead. That should be the headline, because that’s the reality. Grown men start a pointless war, while little girls pay the price.

This PSA is being released today by survivors of Epstein’s child rape trafficking in anticipation of Ghislaine Maxwell’s closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee Monday and AG Bondi testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday:

Racist caricatures have always circulated in American life. What makes this a crisis is that it came from the presidency—the office that symbolically represents the entire nation. 1/

Righteous anger—expelling the filth and corruption without harming anyone and getting killed for it.

It’s heartbreaking to see Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who model such compassion, courage, and solidarity — executed in the street by federal agents. And then for officials in the White House to lie to the American people only heaps more evil upon evil. nytimes.com/2026/01/25/opi…

On MLK Day, @revdrbarber reminds us that we honor Dr. King by reaching down into the blood, picking up the baton, and continuing to carry the work forward.

A cartoon about my father from the 1960s. At the time he was assassinated, a poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in the United States. Today, his message has been distorted by many who would have hated him then, but evoke him now to deter justice and truth. #MLKDay #MLK #TheKingCenter #HistoryMatters #ReThinkKing

.@CardinalBCupich, @CardinalJWTobin, and Cardinal McElroy call for a “genuinely moral foreign policy” in which “military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy.” nytimes.com/2026/01/19/us/…

If people refuse to make room for others — like the poor, children and the stranger — then they also refuse to make room for God, Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated the birth of Jesus. bit.ly/4q4G6nw

There's supposed to be a ceasefire in Gaza. So why do Gazan children continue to be killed? nytimes.com/2025/12/24/wor…

Travel writer Rick Steves was at his home in Edmonds, Washington, when he learned a local community center for homeless residents was set to close. Within a few weeks, Steves bought it. “I really take ‘love your neighbor’ seriously,” he said. wapo.st/48VY4CA

A Guatemalan man has become the first person to die in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas. His wife of 25 years was deported from the same camp without a chance to see her dying husband. theguardian.com/us-news/2025/d…

Merry Christmas!

The Holy Family is still among us here and now, in the faces of the refugee, the migrant, the oppressed, the stranger, the unhoused, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35, Merry Christmas.

“The officers treated us terribly. They used obscenities and insults against us. When we asked for necessities of life, they would insult us or ignore us. They often laughed at detainees and made light of our suffering,” one detainee said. americamagazine.org/politics-socie…

The Holy Family is the “archetype of every refugee family." Since this has been in the news, here are some papal writings on Jesus, Mary and Joseph as migrants and refugees: “The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt, is the archetype of every refugee family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, living in exile in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are, for all times and all places, the models and protectors of every migrant, alien and refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by want, is forced to leave his native land, his beloved parents and relatives, his close friends, and to seek a foreign soil.” Pope Pius XII, “Exsul Familia Nazarethana” (1952) “The pastoral care of migrants has always attracted the motherly attention and the solicitude of the Church. In fact, it has never ceased throughout the centuries to help in every way those who, like Christ in exile in Egypt with the family of Nazareth, were compelled to emigrate to lands far away from their country.” St. Paul VI, “On the Pastoral Care of Migrants” (1969) "May Mary, the 'Silence' in which the 'Word' became flesh, the humble 'handmaid of the Lord' who knew the tribulations of migration and the trials of solitude and abandonment, teach us to give witness to the Word who became Life among us and for us." St. Pope John Paul II, “Migration and Inter-Religious Dialogue” (2002) “In this misfortune experienced by the Family of Nazareth, obliged to take refuge in Egypt, we can catch a glimpse of the painful condition in which all migrants live, especially, refugees, exiles, evacuees, internally displaced persons, those who are persecuted.” Pope Benedict XIV, “The Migrant Family” (2007) “To Mary, the Mother of all humanity, and to Joseph, her most chaste spouse, who were both refugees together with Jesus in Egypt, I entrust each one of you, your families, those who take care of the vast world of young migrants in various ways, the volunteers and pastoral workers that are by your side with their willingness and friendly support.” Pope Benedict XVI, “Young Migrants” (2008) “As a child, Jesus himself experienced migration for, as the Gospel recounts, in order to flee the threats of Herod, he had to seek refuge in Egypt together with Joseph and Mary.” Pope Benedict XVI, “Minor Migrants and Refugees” (2010) “Jesus, Mary and Joseph knew what it meant to leave their own country and become migrants: threatened by Herod’s lust for power, they were forced to take flight and seek refuge in Egypt." Pope Francis, “Migrants and Refugees: Towards a Better World” (2013) “I entrust you to the Virgin Mary, Mother of migrants and refugees, and to Saint Joseph, who experienced the bitterness of emigration to Egypt.” Pope Francis, “Migrants and Refugees Challenge Us. The Response of the Gospel of Mercy” (2015) Image: @KLICONS