Religious groups were among those weighing in on this week’s presidential debate. The Interfaith Alliance expressed disappointment with what it saw as “the further coarsening of political language, incivility, and degradation that emerged in many of the exchanges.” The Christian group Bread for the World was disappointed by a lack of attention to hunger and poverty and urged the candidates to talk about those issues in the upcoming debates.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of New York announced this week that both the candidates will appear with Cardinal Timothy Dolan at the annual charity Al Smith dinner on October 20th.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine visited a megachurch in Orlando and met with Latino evangelical leaders. Switching between English and Spanish, Kaine recalled his time as a Catholic missionary in Honduras:

Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia): “I really learned about the power of faith from my friends in El Progresso, Honduras. Faith, family, hard work. Basic valeros Americanos.”

On the Republican side, several religious supporters of Donald Trump were at the Capitol this week to push a new bill before Congress that would allow houses of worship to endorse political candidates. Trump has repeatedly called for such a measure.

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council: “Government bureaucrats should not be bouncers at the doorway of freedom of speech and the freedom of religion.”

Also in Washington, a coalition of faith-based prolife activists kicked off a 40-day, 18,000 mile-long national bus tour to mobilize people to their cause. Leaders said they wanted to call attention to the issue of abortion before the election.