The following is a Vitality email sent March 13, 2026. To sign up for Vitality, click here.

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Growing up Catholic in the 1990s, I loved the songs and traditions of church. Our church had an engaging, creative pastor who encouraged strong questions.

When I was in grade school, a group of nuns once visited church. They talked about social problems, and they talked about poverty. I don’t remember much of what they said, but I remember how they said it. They were fiery. They were unapologetic.

And at the end of mass, they stood in the church atrium, handing out buttons. I went up and got a button. It said: “If you want PEACE, work for JUSTICE!” 

As a child, holding the button, I thought: Isn’t that just a little too angry?

As I grew older, though, the button became a wake-up call. It showed me that sometimes being angry was the right choice, even in a church community that valued harmony. My prayers could rail against evil or beg for change in human systems, even when those systems seem immovable.

Prayer in Writing

In 1995, Toni Morrison offered a speech, parts of which were later published as an essay. She warned that human evil can erode a society, step by step. She named that this degradation happens incrementally. Her essay is titled “Racism and Fascism.”

Morrison said that “It takes one step, then another, then another” for a society to stop seeing people as people.

The first step could be to “Construct an internal enemy, as both focus and as diversion.” Then, people in power they may “Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing …the utterance of overt and coded name-calling and verbal abuse.” One step, and then another. They may “discredit or expel [artists] that challenge” the demonization, or refute the deification of a revered leader.

Does this sound familiar?

Morrison wrote those words before the advent of the internet. She wrote them when Bill Clinton was president and while Michael Jordan was playing basketball. For me, Morrison’s words are a wake-up call.

She predicted that fascism may “Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare for, budget for and rationalize the building of holding arenas for the enemy – especially its males and absolutely its children.”

Morrison’s words challenge me to look unflinchingly at evil. I would say that her writing, her visionary power, and her powerful commencement address are forms of prayer. They help me to identify the tools of hatred and demonization, just like the nuns did when I was a child.

Prayer in Solidarity

Recently, Friends General Conference joined a coalition of 57 faith-based groups as a plaintiff in new litigation. FGC joined this lawsuit because we believe Executive Order 14160 will put children at risk of being stateless. We affirm the importance of birthright citizenship as part of our faith. One of the plaintiffs, the Hindu American Foundation, says: “Families face uncertainty in establishing roots and passing down their traditions.”

The plaintiffs include people who are Jewish, Muslim, Quaker, Latino, Hindu, Baptist, Unitarian Universalist, and Episcopalian. They also include more than a dozen groups of Catholic nuns.

This coalition is one of many standing up against hate, and hate has a lot of money right now. But if the nuns of my childhood have taught me anything, they have shown me that prayer is always a good move. Prayer revives. Prayer opens doors. Prayer can act in ways that are not visible to me. And as Elaine Emily once said: “If you don’t know what to do, sit in worship for awhile.”

I ask you to consider prayerful support of activists, lawyers, writers, and artists as one way to support democracy at this time.

Johanna Jackson

Communications Coordinator