Five Things to Remember on Jan. 15

1.    National Vocation Awareness Week began Sunday. This week we’ll have guest posts by young priests and religious. Here’s the second vocation post, by Father Michael Duffy of St.Kilian’s Parish in Farmingdale, New York  

2.  Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Domestic Policy Committee, has signed on with Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, a coalition to confront America’s gun violence epidemic and to rally support for policies that reduce death and injury from gunfire. Among policies the coalition supports: 1. Requiring every person who buys a gun to have passed a criminal background check.  2. Prohibiting ownership of high capacity weapons and ammunition magazines by civilians.  3. Making gun trafficking a federal crime. Organizations in the coalition include U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Catholic Health Association, Catholic Charities USA, Conference of Major Superiors of Men and Pax Christi USA.

3.  President Obama is promising movement on immigration reform. Here’s what USCCB recommends: 1) path to citizenship for the undocumented; 2) preservation of family unity as cornerstone of immigration system; 3) worker program for unskilled workers to enter legally, but with protections;  4)  restoration of due process protections for immigrants; and 5) policies addressing the root causes of migration, such as economic inequality and persecution.

4.   American Girl and Barbie dolls are wearing Catholicschool uniforms. 

5. God loves you.