Posted on 01/17/2025 21:35 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Pro-life demonstrators listen to President Donald Trump as he speaks at the 47th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2020. Trump was the first U.S. president to address in person the country’s biggest annual gathering of pro-life campaigners. / Credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Jan 17, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).
As President-elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day approaches, leaders of the pro-life movement are highlighting important policies and sharing their hopes and expectations for the new administration.
While the Trump-Pence administration is remembered for its role in overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump was criticized by many for pledging during his campaign to veto an abortion ban and for his support of in vitro fertilization.
Nevertheless, pro-life advocates and policy experts are hopeful that the new administration will take concrete actions on behalf of the unborn in the post-Roe landscape.
Pro-life advocates and policy experts are hopeful that the Trump-Vance administration will undo Biden-era pro-abortion policies that fund or subsidize abortion both domestically and abroad.
Taxpayer funding of abortion giant Planned Parenthood totalled $1.6 billion from 2019–2021, averaging $533 million per year according to a 2023 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Pro-life advocates “hope the Trump administration will be even more aggressive in their efforts to cut taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood,” Michael New, professor at The Catholic University of America and senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, told CNA.
“DOGE,” the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is seen by some leaders as an avenue for cutting funding to abortion providers.
“Defunding Planned Parenthood should be one of the items recommended by DOGE as a great way to reduce the federal budget deficit and removing a highly objectionable organization from government funding,” said Joseph Meaney, past president and senior fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Noah Brandt of Live Action called on Trump to “defund Planned Parenthood for every taxpayer dollar it receives.”
“During its last reported year, Planned Parenthood committed 392,715 abortions, killing an average of 1,076 preborn babies every day, nearly 45 every hour, and one every 80 seconds,” Brandt told CNA.
Addressing funding for abortion providers internationally is another high priority for pro-lifers. The Mexico City Policy, which Biden rescinded early on in his term, prevents the federal government from funding abortion providers abroad. Pro-lifers hope Trump will quickly restore this policy.
“One of the most important policies to restore is the Mexico City Policy that restricts U.S. international aid recipients to entities that do not provide or advocate for abortion,” Meaney told CNA.
Pro-life policy experts also highlighted the importance of regulating the abortion pill to protect women’s health.
New suggested that Trump’s FDA should require medical professionals to report complications arising from chemical abortions, a requirement dropped in 2016.
Alison Centofante of Americans United for Life — a policy-oriented pro-life advocacy group — called for an evaluation of the safety of the chemical abortion pill regimen by implementing the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) on the abortion pill.
“These commonsense safety regulations, which were recklessly removed by the previous administration, are vital to protecting women,” Centofante told CNA. “Without REMS, women are at higher risk of life-threatening complications such as hemorrhage and infection as well as being left without proper follow-up care.”
“Ensuring that the abortion pill is regulated with appropriate safeguards is critical to upholding medical standards and protecting women’s health,” Centofante said.
Melanie Israel, a visiting fellow at the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family for the Heritage Foundation, said it is important to show people “just how unsafe these pills are.”
“It gives us additional tools to be able to convince people who are on the fence that we need to be doing more to protect women and girls from those drugs,” Israel said.
Pro-lifers also called for an end to telemedical chemical abortions where the pills are received by mail, citing safety concerns. The new administration, Live Action’s Brandt said, should “curtail the deadly abortion pill, revoke its illegitimate approval, and immediately end dangerous tele-med chemical abortions.”
Many pro-life advocates hoped the upcoming administration in a post-Roe America would implement more pro-family policies.
Live Action’s Brandt called on the administration to “work to make America the most welcoming country for raising a family by supporting policies like expanding the child tax credit.”
“For the first time since Roe was overturned, we are hopeful to see a federal administration that prioritizes mothers and their unborn children,” AUL’s Centofante added.
Centofante advocated for “preferential treatment to mothers and families at all stages” by the new administration as well as “practical resources to help women carry their pregnancies to term.”
In the post-Roe landscape, the new administration can look to policies that help families flourish.
“Because we do want people to feel empowered to choose life,” Heritage’s Israel said. “We don’t want people to feel that they need to have an abortion, that that’s their only option; that they need to go to great lengths to travel to another state or to order pills from some sketchy online pharmacy overseas.”
“We’re interested in turning to these other ways of, how do we truly help families flourish? How do we help people feel that they can provide for a family and raise a family?” Israel said.
Pro-life advocates highlighted the bioethical concerns surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment that involves the lab creation of a large number of human embryos — most of which are never brought to term.
Meaney of NCBC — a leading Catholic voice in bioethics — said that educating people on the bioethical concerns surrounding IVF is “a very high priority for pro-life groups.”
“This technique is not a harmless or beneficial solution to infertility,” Meaney said. “It is a horrific practice that results in the death or permanent freezing of upwards of 90% of the human embryos conceived in labs. In many countries, more children die from IVF than from abortion every year.”
Trump has been criticized by pro-life leaders for his promise to make IVF more widely available.
Israel noted that Europe has much “more robust” policies in place for IVF, while in the U.S. “it’s more a Wild West of policies.” She advocated for research into “some of the alternative protocols with restorative reproductive medicine.”
Centofante added that she hoped the new administration “will recommission the President’s Council on Bioethics to guide ethical policies on emerging biomedical issues.”
Pro-lifers also highlighted the importance of having pro-life personnel.
Leadership in the Cabinet positions across departments, Centofante noted, is “critical in ensuring the protection of long-standing pro-life statutes … which prevent taxpayer funding from being used for abortion.”
The Trump administration’s staff appointments are a key concern for pro-life advocates, especially at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The HHS plays an important role in abortion-related issues as it manages regulations protecting conscience rights for medical professionals and federal funding for abortion providers.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the pro-choice former Democrat nominated for the role of secretary of the HHS, recently came out in support of pro-life policies. He pledged to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, end domestic funding for abortion, and reinstate conscience protections for health care providers. Former vice president Mike Pence, however, urged senators to oppose the RFK Jr. appointment over his stance on abortion.
At the Department of Justice, pro-life leaders are hopeful that Trump’s attorney general pick Pam Bondi will end the prosecution of pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
At her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Bondi vowed to end the weaponization of the FACE Act against pro-life activists.
Live Action’s Brandt called on the upcoming administration to “pardon every unjustly imprisoned peaceful pro-life activist, including Joan Bell, Bevelyn Williams, Lauren Handy, and others, who are unjustly prosecuted and imprisoned by the current DOJ.”
“If confirmed as attorney general, she is not going to stand for the FACE Act being used to unevenly target pro-lifers,” Israel noted. “That’s an example where it really matters to have that pro-life presence throughout the administration, not just one agency.”
Posted on 01/17/2025 20:05 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Women demonstrate for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1978. / Credit: Unknown photographer|Flickr|CC BY 2.0
CNA Staff, Jan 17, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).
Legal experts on Friday criticized President Joe Biden’s apparent attempt to unilaterally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), with scholars dismissing the move as “unserious” and a “stunt.”
The president on Friday morning proclaimed that the ERA — a long-debated constitutional measure that abortion advocates have said could help legalize abortion nationwide — is “the law of the land.”
Biden’s declaration appeared to carry no legal weight. U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan — who is officially charged with entering an amendment into the Constitution upon its ratification — has said the amendment failed to make the congressional deadline of June 30, 1982, set by Congress.
Shogan said she “cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment” and that it “cannot be certified as part of the Constitution.”
The amendment holds that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” It was first proposed over a century ago in 1923.
Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, argued that the statement was a “stunt” that carried no legal force.
Pointing to Biden’s awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and his pardoning of his son Hunter Biden, George said that with the ERA declaration the president has “pile[d] disgrace upon disgrace on himself” in the waning days of his administration.
“Of course, Biden’s declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified is of no legal effect,” he said. “It’s nothing more than one man’s idiosyncratic (and, I strongly suspect, insincere) opinion.”
Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network and a former Supreme Court clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, said the pronouncement was “typical of how [Biden] has operated.”
“It’s an unserious attempt to rile up extremists in his base on his way out the door,” she said, arguing that the declaration was “legally meaningless and indefensible.”
“Everyone from Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg to the National Archives has acknowledged that the amendment ratification deadline expired in 1982,” she said.
She pointed out that the amendment’s expiration occurred “so long ago that Biden was still the junior senator from Delaware.”
In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, which nominally cleared the necessary threshold of three-fourths of the states needed to amend the U.S. Constitution. But shortly afterward Ginsburg told an audience at the Georgetown University Law Center that Virginia’s vote had come “long after the deadline passed.”
“I’d like it to start over,” the justice, who died in September of that year, told the audience.
On Friday the National Archives office reiterated the amendment’s dead-letter status. The office in a statement to CNA pointed to its earlier statement on the amendment deadline’s expiration, which occurred more than 40 years ago.
“This is a long-standing position for the archivist and the National Archives. The underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed,” the office said.
Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of the religious freedom nonprofit the Conscience Project, argued that Biden’s declaration was motivated by both LGBT and abortion politics. She pointed to the White House’s earlier redefinition of federal sex discrimination rules to include “gender identity.”
“Biden’s announcement has nothing to do with advancing the interests of women and girls in America,” she told CNA. “Instead this is nothing other than a brazen attempt to inject gender ideology and abortion into the Constitution.”
The U.S. bishops, meanwhile, have expressed concern over the ERA. In a March 12, 2021, letter, the bishops urged members of Congress to vote against eliminating the deadline for the amendment, with the prelates citing the amendment’s possible advancement of abortion and gender ideology.
“If the ERA were intended to have a more limited scope, it is unclear why federal and state law, which already forbids sex discrimination in so many areas, is not already adequate to that task,” the bishops said, pointing out that courts “generally do not construe constitutional provisions to mean nothing or to add nothing to the law.”
What happens next regarding the measure is unclear. An administration official told media on Friday that the archivist’s role in amending the Constitution is “purely ministerial,” suggesting that the White House might believe the archivist’s refusal to publish the amendment is immaterial.
Robert George, meanwhile, said Biden’s apparent effort to unilaterally ratify the amendment was “sad to see.”
It “speaks poorly of a man holding the office of president of the United States,” George said.
Posted on 01/17/2025 16:30 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
President Joe Biden at the White House on Aug. 28, 2023. / Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Jan 17, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).
President Joe Biden on Friday proclaimed that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — a long-debated constitutional measure that some critics have argued could legalize abortion nationwide — is “the law of the land,” a declaration that appeared to carry no legal weight but which could set off a protracted political and legal fight for the incoming Trump administration.
The amendment holds that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” It was first proposed over a century ago in 1923. It has been championed by advocates in the decades since and has been ratified by numerous states.
Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in 2020, nominally clearing the necessary threshold of three-fourths of the states needed to amend the U.S. Constitution.
But U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan — who is officially charged with entering an amendment into the Constitution upon its ratification — has said the amendment failed to pass the congressional deadline that was set by Congress of June 30, 1982.
The archivist stated that she “cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment” and that it “cannot be certified as part of the Constitution.” Shogan was appointed to the role by Biden in 2022 and confirmed in 2023.
In his statement on Friday, Biden made no mention of the archivist’s earlier refusal to publish the amendment.
“The American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized that the Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment,” the president said in his statement.
“I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution.”
“In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex,” Biden added.
It is unclear what, if any, legal weight the declaration carries.
In addition to the assertions of the archivist, in a 2020 opinion Steven Engel — at the time the U.S. assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel — said the ERA resolution “has expired and is no longer pending before the states.”
Pro-abortion advocates have argued that the ERA could be used as a means of forcing states to legalize abortion.
Smith College Professor Carrie Baker wrote in 2022 that the ERA could serve as “an avenue for shoring up women’s rights, especially reproductive rights,” specifically that it “could provide a new basis for abortion rights in the United States.”
Heritage Foundation legal fellow Thomas Jipping, meanwhile, in 2023 argued that the “ERA-abortion connection” has been established for decades and that “the groundwork has already been laid” to use it as a pro-abortion measure.
Posted on 01/17/2025 15:40 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Participants at the OneLife LA walk in Los Angeles on Jan. 21, 2023,. / Credit: Stefano Garzia
Los Angeles, Calif., Jan 17, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ annual OneLife LA event will go on this weekend despite the wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles, albeit with a modified program and focus.
While previously the event was a walk through the streets of downtown Los Angeles concluding at L.A. Historic Park, the combination of unhealthy air and the demand such an event has for local law enforcement meant a new plan was needed this year. So earlier this week archdiocesan officials announced the event would be held entirely in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
“The 2025 OneLife LA is not only an opportunity to focus on ‘womb to tomb’ life issues but is our chance to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much from the fires that have devastated Los Angeles,” said Michael Donaldson, senior director of the Office of Life, Justice, and Peace for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and organizer of OneLife LA. “It is our chance to show not only that human life is sacred but to honor fire victims and let them know we care.”
Organizers are uncertain of how the fires will affect attendance; the 2024 OneLife LA drew 6,000. (The cathedral seats over 4,000.)
Participants are invited to gather beginning at 1 p.m. local time. Partner groups such as 40 Days for Life and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will man tables outside the cathedral to greet and share information with visitors.
A speaker and performance program will commence at 2 p.m. A focus will be testimonials from victims of the fires and reflections on the most vulnerable negatively impacted by the fires.
The event culminates at 5 p.m. with an annual Requiem Mass for the Unborn celebrated by Archbishop José Gómez at 5 p.m. The theme of the day will be “Let Us Stand Up Together in Hope.”
Among the featured speakers are Jennifer and George Magallon of Altadena whose home was destroyed in the Eaton fire. George is a contractor and apartment owner; the pair lived in a home on a large lot in a community backing up to the Angeles National Forest. It was their “dream home,” George said, and a place where they regularly welcomed family and friends.
On the evening of Jan. 7, Santa Ana winds were blowing up to 100 mph and local authorities turned off the power to reduce the possibility of sparking fire. The Eaton fire began nonetheless, and the Magallons gathered up what possessions they could and fled.
George and his neighbors did what they could to douse their homes with water beforehand, but by the early morning hours the water pressure had slowed to a trickle.
Meanwhile, an “orange rain” of burning embers fell on the neighborhood. Everything burned in the early morning hours of Jan. 8. When the Magallons were able to return, they discovered their once prosperous neighborhood now “looked like the surface of the moon.”
While devastated by the loss, the couple has pledged to rebuild and plans to stress to the OneLife LA attendees how their Catholic faith has been key to their emotional and psychological well-being during the ordeal. Jennifer pointed to one sign of hope: When they returned to the ruin of their home one object stood unscathed amid the rubble — an outdoor statue of the Blessed Mother.
“It gave us the inspiration we needed and the will to go on,” Jennifer said.
Visit www.onelifela.org to register as an individual or group or to sign up as a volunteer.
Nearly 400 miles to the north, the Walk for Life West Coast will begin at Civic Center Plaza in downtown San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 12:30 p.m. local time. The San Francisco event has an exclusive focus of ending abortion and stressing the harm it has had on women.
The day begins at 10:45 a.m. with a Silent No More Awareness Campaign led by Georgette Forney and Frank Pavone from Priests for Life, which includes testimonies from those directly harmed by abortion. From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. there will be an information fair with material offered by a variety of pro-life organizations.
The main event is a rally beginning at 12:30 p.m. followed by the walk at 1:30 p.m. Participants will walk 1.8 miles from the civic center to the Embarcadero.
The event is organized by Catholics and many who attend are parishioners and clergy from local parishes as well as students from Catholic schools.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone celebrates a Walk for Life Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral at 9:30 a.m. before the event; he is also a regular participant in the walk.
Rally speakers at the Walk for Life West Coast include Ryan Bomberger, Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, Kelly Lester, and Rev. Clenard Childress.
For additional information and to register visit www.walkforlifewc.com.
Posted on 01/17/2025 14:10 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: anthonyheflin/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 17, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).
Support for religious liberty among Americans grew over the past year in most categories, according to the 2024 Religious Freedom Index survey from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, published Jan. 16.
The sixth edition of the report found that religious freedom overall continues to grow with its religious freedom index hitting 70 out of a possible 100 — the highest score recorded by the organization and a two-point increase from the previous year. The survey polls Americans on a variety of religious liberty issues.
According to the survey, the category of “Religious Pluralism” had the highest support, scoring an 86 out of a possible 100. This subset measures how respondents view basic rights and the ability to live out one’s faith, especially when those practices are outside of the mainstream.
Other high-ranking categories were “Religious Sharing” at 72, which measures to what extent people should be free to share their beliefs with others, and “Religion in Action” at 70, which measures to what extent people believe a person’s faith should be permitted to be expressed in their public lives.
Some lower-ranking categories were “Religion and Policy” at 68, which measures how much people support religious freedom in law; “Religion and Society” at 67, which measures how much people believe religion should influence society; and “Church and State” at 58, which measures how much people believe government and religion should be able to intersect.
The report, which surveyed 1,000 adults, was released on National Religious Freedom Day.
“Americans drew a line in the sand in this year’sindex: Government doesn’t get to push people around for keeping the faith,” Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, said in a statement. “From coast to coast, we witnessed a groundswell of support for Americans to live out their faith in public, even when their beliefs cut against the grain.”
“Even in a time of deep division, most Americans still believe religion — and the freedom to practice it — is crucial to overcoming our disagreements,” Rienzi said. “As we celebrate Religious Freedom Day, we should take heart that our nation remains committed to forging a future where faith is a cornerstone of our culture.”
According to the survey, 77% of Americans either strongly or mostly support a parent’s right to opt their children out of public school curriculum about gender identity and sexuality if it violates their religious beliefs or they believe it is not age appropriate. Only 23% disagreed.
The survey also found that about two-thirds of respondents believe Massachusetts was wrong to reject a foster parent application from a Catholic couple because they adhere to Catholic teachings about marriage, sexuality, and gender. About one-third sided with the state’s decision.
On issues related to abortion, most Americans also took the side of religious liberty.
The survey found that 70% of respondents oppose government mandates that would force a religious employer to pay for abortions when abortion is against the organization’s beliefs. It also found that 70% of respondents believe health care workers with religious objections to abortion should not be forced to participate in abortion procedures.
According to the survey, 82% of Americans believe people should have freedom of religion at work, such as the right to wear religious clothing or not work on certain days. Another 63% of respondents said that people should have the freedom to practice their religion even if it creates an inconvenience for others.
The survey also found that 56% of Americans believe that religion is part of the solution to society’s problems and 44% believe religion is primarily part of the problem.
Posted on 01/17/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News - US)
Archbishop Nelson Pérez at his installation Mass on Feb. 18, 2020, at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. / Credit: Sarah Webb/Archdiocese of Philadelphia
CNA Staff, Jan 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
After the Archdiocese of Philadelphia found that 83% of baptized Catholics are missing from the pews in the archdiocese, Archbishop Nelson Pérez decided to launch a missionary outreach program in his archdiocese to “invite people home.”
The number of “missing Catholics” is based on Mass count attendance data compiled each year by the archdiocese. (The number relates only to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.)
Pérez is launching a 10-year missionary endeavor to bring Catholics back to the pews by implementing “missionary hubs” in many parishes in the area. The missionary hubs are designed to work with existing parishes and ministries by providing additional resources to minister to those who have left the Church.
Pérez said he does not want to “perpetuate this cycle” of “widespread parish closures” due to finances and number of priests — something many dioceses are facing in the United States.
“I want to begin to close this distance between many of our loved ones and the Church,” Pérez wrote in a pastoral letter earlier this month. “I want people to know that the Lord is still calling them, that they are of great worth, have a divine purpose, and an eternal home.”
Pérez recalled that one of the first questions he was asked when he became archbishop was “will you close parishes?”
“I didn’t come here to close parishes; I came here to build up the Church of Philadelphia,” Pérez said.
One strategy Pérez plans to employ is to provide parish life directors — deacons and consecrated or lay individuals who manage operations of a parish, allowing retired and senior priests to continue to minister to souls “without bearing the responsibilities of administration.”
The missionary hubs are designed to grow the Church by working with various existing Catholic ministries, reaching out to those not actively involved in the Church, and providing local community and resources. Ultimately, they are designed to bring people to Jesus through both the Eucharist and service to the poor, according to Pérez.
The large-scale initiative will be gradually “phased in over a 10-year period,” Kenneth Gavin, chief communications officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, told CNA.
“This process will require tailored approaches to be successful across the diverse five counties of the archdiocese,” he said. “We also want to allow sufficient time for people to learn more, discern their participation, and refine our efforts over time.”
The archdiocese hopes to make the approach sustainable over time. In terms of funding, Gavin told CNA that the initiative “will be primarily subsidized by private philanthropic funding secured over time and hopefully endowed for long-term sustainability.”
The missionary hubs are part of a large-scale initiative to renew the Church in Philadelphia, known as the New Way Forward.
“The archbishop recognizes the urgency of reaching out to the 83% of baptized Catholics not regularly practicing their faith while continuing to serve more effectively and efficiently the 17% who do attend Mass,” Gavin told CNA.
“This is the impetus of the New Way Forward in the Church of Philadelphia, a process to renew the local Church over the next 20 years and invite everyone to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ,” Gavin continued.
To reach the people of Philadelphia, Pérez advocates for a “pastoral change of heart.”
“I want to embark on a new form of pastoral planning by asking a new question: ‘Where does the Church need to be and how?’” Pérez said. “We need to inspire a pastoral change of heart that focuses on those who are absent.”
Pérez took inspiration from the “missionary disciples” Pope Francis wrote about in the 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), who are involved in the community and then go forth and “seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast.”
“We must be a community of missionary disciples focused on renewal, rebuilding trust, and inviting people to a relationship with Jesus Christ!” Pérez concluded.
Posted on 01/16/2025 22:15 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: GagliardiPhotography/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Jan 16, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).
Here is a roundup of recent abortion- and pro-life-related news.
Virginia Democrats advanced a proposal to enshrine abortion as a right in the state constitution earlier this week. The amendment would ensure a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” protecting abortion in the first two trimesters as well as in the third trimester with some restrictions.
Abortions are currently legal in Virginia through the second trimester. Abortions in the second trimester are allowed when the mother’s life is at risk, with the certification of three doctors. The proposed amendment would bring this number down to one doctor.
The measure passed narrowly in the House of Delegates 51-48. Virginia Republicans criticized the measure, calling it “extreme” and expressing concern that the amendment could supersede a current Virginia law requiring parental consent for abortions for minors. Democrats argued that the government shouldn’t be making decisions about women’s health care.
If approved again by the state House and Senate next year, the amendment would be on the ballot. The state follows the trend of many states voting on abortion laws following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Idaho Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday to raise Idaho’s voting threshold for statewide ballot initiatives. The bill would change current Idaho law, which requires 50% of the vote plus one to pass an initiative or referendum. The bill would increase the threshold to 60%, which state Rep. Bruce Skaug, who introduced the bill, argued would fix Idaho’s “broken” system and prevent out-of-state money from having as much sway in the state. In Idaho, residents can place and vote on laws on the ballot without the Idaho Legislature’s involvement.
The measure could affect future abortion amendments, which continued to crop up throughout the United States in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s overturn. In Florida, a pro-abortion constitutional measure failed to pass in the 2024 election, largely due to the high threshold of 60% for passing a constitutional amendment.
Amid the ongoing wildfire emergency, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ annual Catholic pro-life event OneLife LA is set to be held indoors at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels due to poor air quality and the need for law enforcement elsewhere in the city. The walking portion of the event has been canceled.
Instead, the event, beginning at 1 p.m. local time on Jan. 18, will be held in the cathedral’s plaza, with a speaker and performance program followed by the annual Requiem Mass for the Unborn in the cathedral. The event will also address the impacts of the recent L.A. fires and reflections on the impact of the emergency. The theme for the annual event is “Let Us Stand Up Together in Hope.”
OneLife LA typically draws thousands to downtown Los Angeles, where it begins with a prayer service followed by a walk to the Los Angeles State Historic Park, where attendees listen to speakers and musical performances. It is held near the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision as a West Coast parallel to the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., which is set to be held Jan. 24.
Posted on 01/16/2025 21:45 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
null / Credit: Ulf Wittrock/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 16, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
The American Humanist Association (AHA) filed a lawsuit to block West Virginia from awarding a $5 million grant to the College of St. Joseph the Worker — a Catholic trade college based in Steubenville, Ohio, that hopes to expand into the state.
St. Joseph the Worker, which offers a bachelor’s degree in Catholic studies and teaches trades related to construction, intends to use the grant to develop a construction company that would employ students in the northern part of West Virginia and expand its job training and education opportunities into the state.
The AHA, which is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of West Virginia, contends in its lawsuit that the grant violates the state constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion because it requires that taxpayers fund a Catholic college.
AHA executive director Fish Stark said in a statement that “no one should have to pay taxes to fund someone else’s religion.”
“Humanists believe deeply in the freedom of conscience, and this attempt to force West Virginia taxpayers to fund religious activity is an offense against the Constitution and common sense,” Stark added.
“As a former West Virginia resident, I believe ‘Mountaineers Are Always Free’ means your faith is your business — no one else, and certainly not the government, has the right to push it on you,” he said.
Secular humanism is a nontheistic philosophy that suggests humans can develop ethical codes absent of God or religion.
The lawsuit was filed against the West Virginia Water Development Authority, which is the agency that approved the grant to support economic development. In a statement provided to CNA, agency officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, adding: “Any comments … will be made in public court filings or other public disclosures.”
St. Joseph the Worker is not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the college could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
The lawsuit cites Article III of the West Virginia Constitution, which is the state’s Bill of Rights, to justify its lawsuit.
Section 15 of the article, which guarantees religious freedom, states that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry.” It further prohibits “any tax for the erection or repair of any house for public worship or for the support of any church or ministry.”
The lawsuit asserts the grant program from which St. Joseph the Worker would receive the funding — the Economic Enhancement Grant Fund — “is funded, in part, by appropriations levied against the taxpayers of West Virginia.” The grant was created with funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
“[The AHA] has been negatively impacted as a result of this violation, as their members have been required to fund and support a religious practice contrary to their shared beliefs and their constitutional right to freedom of, and from, religion,” the lawsuit asserts.
St. Joseph the Worker offers instruction in several trades: heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); carpentry; masonry; electrical; and plumbing. The proposed nonprofit construction company would employ students learning those trades to revitalize the region.
Some of the funding would also support St. Joseph the Worker purchasing training facilities in Weirton, West Virginia, which borders Steubenville, Ohio. It would also support partnerships with tradesmen and contractors in West Virginia to place apprentices there after graduation.
The college would also use the funds to expand recruitment and scholarship opportunities for prospective students in West Virginia.
Posted on 01/16/2025 17:10 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Esther Miller holds a picture and the released documents on Father Michael Nocita as victims and their supporters hold quilts bearing portraits of abused children while gathered outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2013. / Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Jan 16, 2025 / 12:10 pm (CNA).
Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) revealed in landmark survey results released this week that “dioceses, eparchies, and religious communities of men” have reported $5,025,346,893 in payouts related to minor abuse allegations since 2004.
Those payments include “settlements paid to victims, other payments to victims, support for offenders, [and] attorneys’ fees” as well as other costs, CARA said.
Though that massive sum has been paid out over the last two decades, the vast majority of the alleged abuse occurred much earlier, with 80% of the alleged crimes taking place in the 1980s or decades prior.
The findings come from two decades’ worth of annual surveys by CARA. The yearly survey collects “information about the allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons that had been reported to the dioceses and eparchies each year.”
The original survey was first commissioned in 2004 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The survey has polled about 200 dioceses and eparchies and approximately 220 religious communities of men over the course of the 20 years. Respondents in the survey were asked to categorize abuse allegations as “credible” or “unsubstantiated/obviously false” as well as “unable to be proven.”
Since 2004 respondents have labeled 16,276 allegations as “credible.” The majority of credible allegations were reported by dioceses and eparchies.
The survey noted that the number of credible allegations jumped by 46% in its second decade, which CARA said was attributable in part to “the greater number of large lawsuits and state investigations as well as the enactment by some state governments of temporary relaxations of statutes of limitations on crimes and lawsuits.”
The findings indicate that alleged abuse dropped sharply in the U.S. Church over the course of the 20th century into the 21st. “More than 9 in 10 of all credible allegations” were said to have occurred or began in 1989 or earlier, CARA said. Just 3% of the allegations were said to have taken place since 2000.
Eighty percent of alleged abuse victims were male, more than half were ages 10 to 14, and 20% were aged 9 or younger.
All told, the allegations involve a total of 4,490 alleged perpetrators, 95% of whom are priests and 4% of whom are religious brothers. An additional 1% of alleged abusers are deacons.
A full 86% of all alleged perpetrators were identified as “deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing” in the survey.
While dioceses paid out billions of dollars in responding to alleged abuse victims, Church officials have also outlayed huge sums to prevent further abuse over the past 20 years.
Respondents to CARA’s survey have reported a total of $727,994,390 in expenditures for child abuse prevention and safety, an average of about $36,000,000 annually.
Those expenditures include “safe environment coordinator and victim assistance coordinator salaries, tracking and other administrative expenses, training programs for adults and children, and background checks.”
The amount of money spent on abuse prevention has increased in recent years. In the first decade of the survey, dioceses reported $259,771,061 in safe environment expenditures; that figure jumped 80% in the second decade that the survey was taken, to $468,223,329.
In announcing the findings, CARA said the U.S. Church’s “effort to address the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and religious brothers and to implement safeguards to prevent future abuse is unprecedented by any nongovernmental organization and is the largest effort of its kind.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops first promulgated norms for addressing the sexual abuse of minors in the Church in 2002.
In its “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” the bishops’ body acknowledged that clergy sex abuse, as well as “the ways in which these crimes and sins were addressed,” have caused “enormous pain, anger, and confusion for victims, their families, and the entire Church.”
“As bishops, we have acknowledged our mistakes and our roles in that suffering, and we apologize and take responsibility again for too often failing victims and the Catholic people in the past,” the bishops wrote.
Posted on 01/16/2025 16:40 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Father Frank Mann is seen with President Donald Trump in an undated photograph. / Credit: The Tablet
CNA Staff, Jan 16, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).
A priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn who has been asked to pray at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump is describing the experience — which includes a personal friendship with the president — as “mind-boggling.”
Father Francis Mann is scheduled to deliver the closing benediction at Trump’s second inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.
The Brooklyn Diocese told CNA that Mann was unavailable for an interview. But in a Wednesday profile at the diocesan newspaper the Tablet, the priest described the distinction as an “indescribable honor.”
The retired diocesan priest, who was ordained in 1979, originally struck up what the Tablet called an “unlikely friendship” with Trump after he came across the gravesites of Trump’s parents in a Queens cemetery.
“It was slightly overgrown,” Mann told the Tablet. “I thought this shouldn’t be. This is a historic site. So, I went and bought a weed whacker and some decorations and fixed up the plot.” The priest then sent a photo of the graves to the president.
Several weeks later Trump personally called Mann to inquire about the photograph. Learning that the priest had done the work on his own volition, Trump said the two should “get together the next time he was in New York,” according to the Tablet.
After his loss in the 2020 election, Trump called Mann up and invited him to a meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan. The priest described the once and future president as “the nicest, most down-to-earth guy.”
“There are no airs about him. He has a great sense of humor. He’s a regular guy,” Mann told the Tablet.
The president and the priest have continued to stay in touch and to meet up, including at Trump’s summer residence in New Jersey as well as a dinner at the president’s country club. Trump subsequently endorsed “The Wounded Butterfly,” a children’s book written by Mann.
Trump also sought Mann’s advice on winning the Catholic vote in the 2024 election. The president-elect handily won over Catholic voters in his successful November bid for the presidency.
The Tablet reported that Mann intends to make the Jan. 20 benediction “personal” and that he “will be asking for a blessing for his friend, the president of the United States, the new vice president, and the country they will lead.”
“It’s taken me longer than I thought to process having been chosen to be such a significant part of the inauguration’s moment in history,” Mann reflected.
