Texas Catholic Voice September 2026

We are thankful for Governor Greg Abbott’s actions which resulted in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ resolution of a Medicaid hospital-payment dispute that was withholding an estimated $27 million per day from Texas hospitals. In a Sept. 14 letter, the bishops had requested CMS “to take immediate action to come to an agreement with the State of Texas on how Texas can finance Medicaid hospital payments,” warning that withheld payments would adversely affect children and rural communities.

As pastors, the bishops know firsthand how much Texas’ most vulnerable residents rely on Texas hospitals for their very survival. Losing access to care due to lack of funding is unconscionable.

Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons before 2030

A federal judge has ordered the state of Texas to provide air conditioning for all its prisons by Dec. 31, 2029. High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled, and only slightly more than one third of Texas prisons are fully air conditioned. “In the face of clear evidence of risk — including ongoing injuries, deaths, and suffering every summer — Director [Bobby] Lumpkin’s failure to enact a meaningful, committed plan to install air-conditioning on the timeline that TDCJ has repeatedly indicated is possible is deliberate indifference,” the judge wrote in his 150-page order.

Care for "even just one of these children"

National Migration Week is culminating with the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 27. 

For more than 45 years, the U.S. Catholic Church has celebrated National Migration Week (NMW) by reflecting on its history as an immigrant church and the ways in which the country has been enriched by generations of immigrants, including the many Catholics who have adopted this land as their own. Its connection to the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) demonstrates the U.S. Church’s solidarity with the universal Church. Pope Leo XIV has chosen “Even just one of these children” as the theme for this year’s WDMR, which is also the theme for NMW.  

In his message for this year’s WDMR, reflecting on Matthew’s Gospel, the Holy Father observed how even one child calls each of us “to open our eyes and heart to a profound listening to his or her story, fears and dreams, overcoming that detachment which reduces the human person to a statistic that does not directly concern us.” At the same time, he underscored the need to safeguard their fundamental rights, among them the rights to life and full development. 

Ahead of NMW, Texas Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, stated: 

“Our Church in this country and beyond has a long, inspiring history of caring for migrant and refugee children—from the days of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini and her sisters sheltering many orphaned immigrant children when few others looked their way to today’s diocesan charities providing them and their families with vital support. We owe much gratitude to the law enforcement officers, social workers, pastoral staff, and caregivers who dedicate themselves to their safety and well-being. As we see protections for this population being undermined in various ways, including prolonged stays in detention and decreased access to legal representation, we urge governments and communities to ensure a high level of care rooted in their God-given human dignity. This requires promoting family unity and reunification whenever possible.”  

Amid heightened social tensions regarding immigration, Catholics across the country are invited to reflect on how our faith is calling us to respond to this most vulnerable group within the context of migration.