<p>An Interview with A.M. &ldquo;Marty&rdquo; Stroud III</p>
<p>By ALEX MIKULICH, PH.D.</p>
<p>Glenn Ford was released from Angola&rsquo;s death row in Louisiana in 2014 after he spent 30 years there for a murder he did not commit. In a rare and unusual twist for any death penalty case, the former district attorney who prosecuted and gained Ford&rsquo;s conviction in Caddo Parish in 1984 apologized to Ford in 2015, just months before Ford succumbed to cancer on June 29. Sidney Garmon, director of the Louisiana Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and I had the privilege of interviewing A.M. &ldquo;Marty&rdquo; Stroud III on May 29, 2015, in his Shreveport law office. The following is an abbreviated and edited version of our conversation. A video series of the interview is available at the Jesuit Social Research Institute&rsquo;s YouTube page.</p>
<p><strong>How do you view the death penalty after Glenn Ford&rsquo;s release?</strong></p>
<p><strong>AMS:</strong> People say it is &ldquo;the system.&rdquo; Who is the system? It&rsquo;s just doing your job. I was a history major in college and I have studied the Nuremburg trials. One of the big defenses [by Nazi officials] was that they were &ldquo;just doing their job&mdash;just following orders.&rdquo; The judges in the Nuremburg tribunal universally rejected that defense. When you are dealing with issues of life and death, saying that you are &ldquo;just doing your job&rdquo; is not going to cut it. That is the problem with the death penalty system now. Glenn Ford spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, and no one takes responsibility. The [Louisiana] compensation statue is written in such a way that it is obscene. Nobody is held accountable for a [man] who spent 30 years on death row. They gave him a $20 cash card when he left prison. That is where the rub is. No one seems to care.</p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Mikulich.compressed.pdf">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<p><strong>What Ignatius had to say&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>by Fred Kammer, SJ&nbsp;</p>
<p>As we prepare to celebrate our national Thanksgiving holiday, who better to turn to than Ignatius of Loyola for a Thanksgiving insight that has both personal and public implications. &nbsp;Ignatius wrote this in a letter:</p>
<p>&quot;It seems to me in the light of the Divine Goodness, although others may think differently, that ingratitude is the most abominable of sins and that it should be detested in the sight of our Creator and Lord by all of His creatures who are capable of enjoying His divine and everlasting glory. &nbsp;For it is a forgetting of the gracious benefits and blessings received.&quot; [1]</p>
<p>As we gather around our family tables across the country, many of us will allude to the gifts we have received as individuals and families, as well as the freedoms pledged in our nation&rsquo;s foundational documents (but not yet fully realized for millions of us). &nbsp;We recognize that ingratitude is somehow beneath us, especially as we view the millions of the world&rsquo;s refugees, those dying in Middle East wars, the dead and wounded in recent Paris attacks, and hundreds of millions without enough to eat.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/3posj/2db120f280a721b815d514c4e8e23b44">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/USCRI Page 1.jpg" /></p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/USCRI Page 2.jpg" /></p>

<p><a href="http://wgno.com/2015/11/17/migration-expert-says-refugees-will-benefit-louisiana-and-will-replenish-the-american-dream/"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Sue WGNO.jpg" /></a></p>

<p><span>Posted by the Roundtable Association for Catholic Social Action on November 16, 2015:</span></p>
<p><em>The Roundtable is pleased to announce the 2016 Roundtable Harry A. Fagan Award Winner Fr. Fred Kammer. Please join us January 25, 2016 at the Omni Hotel in Washington, D.C. as we honor Fr. Kammer.</em></p>
<p><em>Fred currently serves as chair of the board of the Ignatian Solidarity Network. He has also had a long association with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps as a founder of JVC:South, a leader for over 30 &ldquo;Re-Orientation&rdquo; retreats and now as a JVC board member. He has a strong commitment to nurturing in young people a passion for social justice. In fact, most people who meet and work with Fred would describe him as a passionate, dedicated, smart, tireless advocate for the poor and marginalized, one who has been able to stay in this work for the long haul because he is so firmly rooted in his faith and his Jesuit vocation. He has been a leader and role model for many people in the Catholic Church and in the Catholic church and health care arena for many years. He would never seek this kind of honor, but I&rsquo;m sure it would mean a great deal to him to receive it at this time from peers at the Roundtable who I&rsquo;m sure he admires &ndash; and who cherish the contributions he has made to their work through his writing and his witness.</em></p>
<p>Original Post can be seen <a href="https://www.facebook.com/catholicroundtablesocialaction/posts/976218669083128?fref=nf">HERE</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>By Jed Lipinski, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune&nbsp;</p>
<p>The terrorist attacks in Paris last week raised concerns that Syrian civil war refugees arriving in Louisiana pose a security threat. The Islamic State group, which controls parts of Syria, claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Gov. Bobby Jindal responded with an executive order to block Syrian refugees from Louisiana. &nbsp;</p>
<p>To elucidate who these refugees are, why they&#39;re coming and what happens once they get here, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune spoke Tuesday (Nov. 17) with Sue Weishar, a migration specialist at Loyola University&#39;s Jesuit Social Research Institute. She is the former director of immigration and refugees for Catholic Charities in New Orleans, which is helping resettle Syrian refugees.</p>
<p><strong>Before a Syrian refugee arrives in Louisiana, what sort of screening process do they go through?</strong></p>
<p>Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. has built up a rigorous multi-layered security system for admitting refugees into this country. It&#39;s incredibly strict and time consuming; the process takes between 18 to 24 months. If there is any concern at all that someone meets the profile of a terrorist, they are simply not included. Out of millions of refugees from Syria, there are plenty of folks to choose from. They include widowed mothers with children.</p>
<p><strong>Who are the refugees who would be arriving here?</strong></p>
<p>Many of them are likely victims of the same terror that we are so appalled by. They may be professionals targeted and tortured by ISIS for their beliefs. They are, fundamentally, victims. But the Islamic State wants us to fear Syrian refugees so that we will refuse to take them in. Of course, after the Paris attacks, people have reason to make sure the screening process refugees pass through is efficient and thorough. As the leader of the free world, however, it&#39;s our responsibility to protect victims of terror.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/5_questions_for_a_new_orleans.html">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<h4>
Pope Francis&rsquo; Visit to U.S.</h4>
<p>by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.</p>
<p>After the &ldquo;Summer of Trump,&rdquo; when the immigration debate reached new lows for rancor and resentment, Pope Francis&rsquo; remarks on immigration during his six day visit last month to the U.S. were a welcomed call to compassion and solidarity.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He began his first speech in the United States, held at the White House on Wednesday morning, September 23, by immediately identifying himself with our nation&rsquo;s immigrant past: &ldquo;As the son of an immigrant family I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families,&rdquo; adding that, &ldquo;American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination.&rdquo;</p>
<p>During the motorcade on Constitution Avenue following his White House visit the pope was reminded how urgent the need for a just resolution to our nation&rsquo;s immigration crisis is to millions of American families. Seeing a five-year-old girl trying to get his attention, he waved her over. When she was lifted up to receive his kiss, Sophie Cruz handed the pontiff a letter she had written asking him to urge the President and Congress to pass immigration reform so her undocumented parents could remain in the U.S.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/ziogj/14010b8b9e1f9149c2e8e7a8e2e7188b">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<p>by Fred Kammer, SJ</p>
<p>Public Schools. New Orleans public education &ldquo;can claim the most dramatic before-and-after Katrina picture.&rdquo;[1] In the 1950s and 60s, whites fled integration to private and parochial schools. Middle-class blacks followed. The pre-Katrina system was 94% African-American with 73% qualifying for free and subsidized lunches. Orleans Parish public schools ranked 67th out of 68 Louisiana districts in math and reading. 62% of students attended schools rated &ldquo;failing.&rdquo;[2] Corruption was widespread. &nbsp;</p>
<p>A state takeover beginning pre-Katrina and post-Katrina &ldquo;reforms&rdquo; created the new Recovery School District to oversee 57 charter schools; and left &nbsp;the old Orleans Parish School Board to oversee 14 charters and operate five traditional schools. (The state board of education directly authorized four additional charters, and there is one independent state school.) The state fired over 7,500 public school teachers and paraprofessionals; most were African-American. [3] &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Preliminary results of this vast experiment show markedly better test scores and higher graduation rates and enrollment in postsecondary institutions.[4] Last year, New Orleans ranked 41st out of 69 districts.[5] Post-Katrina perceptions vary significantly: only 32% of blacks believe the mostly-charter system is better versus 44% of whites &ldquo;even though precious few whites attend the public schools.&rdquo;[6] &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The state has revoked or not renewed ten charters in ten years; five charter school boards voluntarily closed their schools.[7] The greatest challenge now is how to train, certify, and keep quality teachers in schools relying significantly on young and inexperienced teachers from &ldquo;alternative pathway programs such as Teach for America and TeachNOLA.&rdquo; [8] Teacher racial composition has changed from 71% black pre-Katrina to 49% in 2014.[9]&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/31p9i/707cfbbce84a194b08368a5bee8fb69b">MORE&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<p>By Fr. Sean Carroll</p>
<p>Originally appeared in: Politico Magazine&nbsp;</p>
<p>It is not every day that you receive a letter from Pope Francis.</p>
<p>I&rsquo;d written to the pope last fall asking him to visit our outreach center for recently deported migrants in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico as part of his visit to the United States. Our student volunteers at Lourdes Catholic School in Nogales, Arizona, who also wrote to the pope, hoped beyond hope that he would respond.</p>
<p>Pope Francis did not disappoint. Last January, a letter arrived from the Vatican. The man many call the Migrant Pope answered us, praising the students for their work with migrants. He said, &ldquo;These young people, who have come to learn how to strive against the propagation of stereotypes, from people who only see in immigration a source of illegality, social conflict and violence, can contribute much to show the world a church without borders &hellip; a church that extends to the world a culture of solidarity and care for people and families that are affected many times by heart-rending circumstances.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While Pope Francis was not able to accept our invitation to visit, he will address Congress this week &mdash; the first pontiff to do so. What will he say about immigration? That&rsquo;s a question I&rsquo;ve asked myself dozens of times since I received his letter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/pope-francis-immigration">MORE&gt;&gt;&nbsp;</a></p>

<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JustSouth+Quarterly+Summer+2015.compressed.pdf"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JSQ Summer 2015.jpg" /></a></p>