Some labor strikes can be comfortably ignored by many Americans.

As the U.S. presidential race nears a Nov. 5 political reckoning, Catholic voters nationwide continue to ponder a host of pro-life issues — among them, Republican candidate Donald J. Trump’s stated support of in vitro fertilization and his proposed plan to widen its availability through federal government or private insurer coverage mandates.

Late Sept. 27 night, as the first photos and cries for help emerged after Tropical Storm Helene ripped through the North Carolina mountains, Father John Putnam texted his staff at St. Mark Church, in Huntersville: “There’s a great need for supplies for diapers, canned goods and water in the mountains. We have folks that can deliver on Sunday. Can we get a blast out?”

Multiple Catholic immigration advocates have spoken out this week against the Biden administration’s move to expand previously implemented asylum restrictions, with one opining that the decision shows “an alarming absence of moral compass.”

At the first and only debate Oct. 1 between Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice presidential nominees of their respective parties, the candidates sparred with each other on topics including abortion, immigration, gun policy relating to preventing school shootings, and democracy, with each one all the while seeking to defend his own running mate while critiquing his opponent’s.

Judge Robert McBurney of Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta ruled Sept. 30 that Georgia can no longer enforce its so-called “heartbeat law” on abortion, a six-week abortion ban that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Relief efforts are under way to help communities across western North Carolina reeling from the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene.

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, urged its supporters to speak out against what it called a “regressive” trend of five executions in five states in the span of one week.

In times of personal crisis, Catholics often turn to their parish priest for help. But in the Archdiocese of Newark, the clergy are doing more than lending a sympathetic ear.

Congress on Sept. 25 passed a temporary measure to keep the federal government funded into December, averting a shutdown before the Nov. 5 election.