Copy Desk Daily, July 20, 2020

Our team of copy editors reads and posts most of what you see on the websites for National Catholic Reporter, Global Sisters Report and EarthBeat. The Copy Desk Daily highlights recommended news and opinion articles that have crossed our desks on their way to you.

Fr. Clete Kiley, in an appreciation for Georgia Rep. John Lewis, writes: "We are a poorer nation today for the passing of John Robert Lewis. And yet, we are richer for his pointing us toward the Beloved Community — and for calling us in our fractured times to be a nation at peace with itself."

'Our most tragic time': Felician Sisters bear loss of 13 sisters to COVID-19: Before the pandemic, 65 Felician Sisters lived together, worked together and prayed together at the convent in Livonia, Michigan. In one month — from Good Friday, April 10, to May 10 — 12 of them died of COVID-19. Eighteen other sisters at the convent had the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Then, a sister who had initially survived later died from the illness' effects.

As Dan Stockman reports, "in the United States, the 13 Felicians lost in Livonia may be the worst loss of life to a community of women religious since the 1918 influenza pandemic. And in many ways, because of the restrictions in place to prevent a return of the virus, sisters' grieving has yet to begin."

Caravan of Indianapolis Catholics protest policy on trans students: Christopher White reports that "the July 11 'Rally for Equality Caravan' attracted more than 100 vehicles, which parked across from Indianapolis' Catholic Center for a socially distant gathering. Participants remained in their cars while a mix of former Catholic school teachers and area advocates spoke on a nearby stage and called for Archbishop Charles Thompson to roll back the newly implemented policies that they argue fail to treat LGBT individuals with respect and compassion."

Bishop McElroy's hopeful vision for a church transformed: San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy recently ordained new auxiliary Bishop Ramon Bejarano. Michael Sean Winters calls McElroy's homily "a tour de force, not only for its spiritual insights, but for its connections of those insights with the crises facing the nation today."

A tale of two seasons studying in the US as a Nigerian sister: Rita Akin-Otiko shares her experience at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and St. Louis University in Missouri.