March 8-9, 2025
Dear parishioners,
With the flurry of activity at the White House in the past couple of months, it has been difficult for many people to keep up with everything that has been happening. While I will never use a bulletin article to comment on purely partisan matters, it is sometimes worth taking inventory of the current events that specifically pertain to different elements of our Catholic faith. In particular, I want to highlight just a few recent executive orders from the Trump administration that pertain to the Church’s moral doctrine, and keep you informed of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) responses to these executive orders.
First, one of the Trump administration’s recent initiatives was to end the taxpayer funding of abortions- both those performed in the United States and those performed around the world with U.S. funding. To accomplish this, some recent executive orders have reestablished the enforcement of the Hyde amendment, and also reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy.
Our own Bishop Daniel Thomas serves as the chairman of the USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities. In this capacity, Bishop Thomas issued the following statement: “We gratefully applaud the decision to end taxpayer-funded abortion.” Further, he stated, “A significant majority of Americans oppose being forced to support abortion through their tax dollars. I am grateful for the strengthening of policies that protect us from being compelled to participate in a culture of death, and that help us to restore a culture of life at home and abroad.” Bishop Thomas also noted that, “It is important and encouraging to see the United States again taking leadership in affirming the right to life and fundamental place of the family on the global stage where many pressures can be arrayed against these values.”
A second item worth mentioning is the Trump administration’s recent executive orders which recognize only one’s unchangeable biological sex as one’s true identity. To this end, the executive order that probably received the most media attention was the one titled, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” As one would expect, this order was welcomed by the U.S. bishops. Bishop Robert Barron- chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth- and Bishop David O’Connell- chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education- issued a joint statement. In it, they state: “We welcome the President’s Executive Order that protects opportunities for women and girls to compete in sports safely and fairly.” Further, they add that, “Consistent with the Catholic Church’s clear teaching on the equality of men and women, we reaffirm that, in education and in sports as elsewhere, policies must uphold human dignity. This includes equal treatment between women and men and affirmation of the goodness of a person’s body, which is genetically and biologically female or male.”
Indeed! As the bishops above mention, these executive orders are most welcome because they defend the dignity of every human being. As the Catechism of The Catholic Church explains, “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. […] In creating [mankind] male and female, God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity” (CCC n. 2333-2334).
It is important to note that the bishops mentioned above, as well as the USCCB as an organization, are in no way trying to endorse a political party. Nor are they trying to say that they are endorsing every decision that the Trump administration has made.
In next week’s article, I will highlight two other issues that have recently found their way into executive orders, and I will also include the U.S. Bishops’ response to those.
Blessings,
Fr. Ammanniti
