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Trump at National Prayer Breakfast announces task force to end anti-Christian bias

President Donald Trump participates in prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the The Fellowship Foundation at the Washington Hilton on Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a new Department of Justice task force dedicated to fighting anti-Christian bias.

During remarks delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, Trump said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi would head the task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” and halt “all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government.”

According to Trump, Bondi and the commission will “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and ... move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”

“While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares,” he said. “And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God.”

Trump further announced that he plans to establish a new presidential commission on religious liberty as well as a White House faith office to be led by televangelist Rev. Paula White, his longtime adviser on religion. 

Also present at the event were several families of Israeli hostages who were taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. Trump addressed them, saying: “We are joined today by several brave families whose loved ones were taken hostage during the horrible Oct. 7 attack. We are keeping you in our hearts and our prayers. As president, I will not rest until every last hostage is returned.”  

Noa Argamani, a former hostage who was freed during a raid by Israeli forces over the summer, was also present at the event. Trump called her survival “unbelievable,” attributing her freedom to “the grace of God.” 

“Innocent civilians [that were] attacked on Oct. 7 were targeted for one reason: because they were Jews,” Trump continued. “They were murdered and kidnapped because of their faith, and these events remind us of how blessed we are to live in a nation that has thrived for two and a half centuries as a haven of religious freedom.”

The bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast has been split into two events since 2023 when a dispute between lawmakers and the event’s coordinators led to the establishment of a separate smaller event on Capitol Hill that is mostly attended by members of Congress and other government officials. 

Trump attended the Capitol Hill breakfast in addition to the main event, which was hosted at the Washington Hilton.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief,” Trump told lawmakers during his remarks on Capitol Hill, stating: “Let’s bring religion back, let’s bring God back into our lives.”

Pope Francis to take meetings at home while sick with bronchitis, Vatican says

Pope Francis meets with Eastern Orthodox priests and monks on Feb. 6, 2025, at his Santa Marta home in the Vatican instead of in the Apostolic Palace as planned. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis will hold the next few days of meetings in rooms at his Vatican residence while sick with bronchitis, the Vatican said Thursday.

“Due to bronchitis, from which he is suffering at this time, and in order to continue his activities, on Friday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, Feb. 8, Pope Francis’ audiences will be held at Casa Santa Marta,” the Feb. 6 message from the Holy See Press Office said.

The 88-year-old Francis’ meetings with an association of Italian midwives and with Eastern Orthodox priests and monks on Feb. 6 were also held at his Santa Marta home instead of the Apostolic Palace as planned. The pope also did not read aloud his prepared speeches for those audiences.

Due to the light illness, the day prior, the pope had an aide to read his catechesis at his weekly public audience in the Paul VI Hall.

On Sunday, Feb. 9, the pontiff is scheduled to preside over a Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the second special weekend of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope: the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Security Personnel.

Pope Francis also kept his schedule while remaining indoors when he had a cold right before Christmas. His Angelus prayer and message on Dec. 22, 2024, were livestreamed from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

The pope, who has been suffering from visible breathlessness during recent meetings, has more and more frequently declined to read his prepared remarks to audiences or opted to have the remarks read by a priest aide.

He has faced several health challenges in recent years, including knee problems requiring a wheelchair, respiratory infections, and a fall resulting in a forearm contusion.

Pope Francis praises midwives, OB-GYNs who welcome babies with ‘humanity’

Pope Francis greets members of the Interprovincial Order of the Profession of Midwifery of Catanzaro on Feb. 6, 2025, at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday encouraged midwives and OB-GYNs to carry out their mission not only with professional skill but also with “a great sense of humanity.”

The pope’s words were conveyed in a written speech handed out during an audience with an association of midwives and OB-GYNs from the southern Italian region of Calabria on Feb. 6.

With Francis suffering from bronchitis, the pontiff’s meetings on Thursday were held in halls at his Santa Marta residence rather than at the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican Press Office said Feb. 6 Francis would continue to hold his meetings at the Casa Santa Marta on Feb. 7 and 8 due to the illness.

Pope Francis greets members of the Interprovincial Order of the Profession of Midwifery of Catanzaro on Feb. 6, 2025, at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets members of the Interprovincial Order of the Profession of Midwifery of Catanzaro on Feb. 6, 2025, at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

“At a crucial moment of existence such as the birth of a son or daughter, one may feel vulnerable, fragile, and therefore most in need of closeness, tenderness, and warmth,” the pope said to the group of midwives and OB-GYNs.

“It does so much good, in such circumstances, to have sensitive and delicate people beside you. I therefore recommend you to cultivate, in addition to professional skill, a great sense of humanity, which confirms ‘in the parents’ souls the desire and joy for the new life, blossomed from their love’ (St. John Paul II, Address to Midwives, Jan. 26, 1980) and contributes to ‘assuring the child a healthy and happy birth.’”

The pope noted the loss of enthusiasm for parenthood in Italy and in other countries, where motherhood and fatherhood are no longer seen as “the opening of a new horizon of creativity and happiness.”

He also urged Christian midwives and doctors to use the “hidden but effective medicine” of prayer in their practices.

Whether it is appropriate to pray directly with patients or to offer a silent prayer in one’s own heart, prayer can “help strengthen that ‘admirable collaboration of parents, nature, and God, from which a new human being in the image and likeness of the Creator comes into being,’” he said, quoting Venerable Pius XII in a 1951 address to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives.

“I encourage you to feel toward the mothers, fathers, and children whom God puts in your path the responsibility to pray for them as well, especially in holy Mass, Eucharistic adoration, and simple, daily prayer,” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis urges all Catholics to be ‘missionaries of hope’ through prayer and action

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered for his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 5, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday released his message for World Mission Day 2025, encouraging all Catholics to be “missionaries of hope” who actively participate in the Church’s evangelizing mission through a “communion of prayer and action.”

“I urge all of you, children, young people, adults, and the elderly, to participate actively in the common evangelizing mission of the Church by your witness of life and prayer, by your sacrifices, and by your generosity,” the pope shared in his message.

The pope said he chose “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples” as the motto for the 2025 mission day, which will be observed this year on Oct. 19.

To continue Jesus’ “ministry of hope for humanity,” the Holy Father said each Catholic must first develop “a mature faith in Christ” that is nourished by prayer.

“Missionaries of hope are men and women of prayer, for ‘the person who hopes is a person who prays,’” the pope said, quoting Venerable Cardinal François-Xavier Van Thuan. “Let us not forget that prayer is the primary missionary activity.”

The Eucharist and the other sacraments, the Holy Father explained, are essential for Catholics to “draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit” to work with determination and patience in the “vast field of global evangelization.”

“In following Christ the Lord, Christians are called to hand on the good news by sharing the concrete life situations of those whom they meet and thus to be bearers and builders of hope,” the pope said. 

“Indeed, ‘the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts’ (Gaudium et Spes, 1),” he continued.

‘Missionaries of hope among all peoples’

In order to be builders of hope in both advanced and developing nations, the 88-year-old pontiff said the Church must recognize that Jesus Christ, the “divine Missionary of hope,” wants to speak to the heart of every man and woman and offer them salvation through his followers.  

“Christian communities can be harbingers of a new humanity in a world that, in the most ‘developed’ areas, shows serious symptoms of human crisis,” he said. “In the most technologically advanced nations, ‘proximity’ is disappearing: We are all interconnected but not related.”

In his message, the Holy Father decried how obsession with efficiency, materialism, ambition, and self-centeredness has created a culture of loneliness and indifference in wealthy nations. 

Expressing his special love for the poor, the pope said the Church’s missionaries must give particular attention to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.

“Often they are the ones who teach us how to live in hope,” the Holy Father said. “Through personal contact, we will also convey the love of the compassionate heart of the Lord.”

Referring to his papal bull for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Spes Non Confundit, the pope said Christians can be “signs of hope” through works of mercy such as visits to the poor, elderly, sick, and migrants.

‘Missionaries ad gentes’

The Holy Father also shared his particular gratitude for the work of Pontifical Mission Societies who “have gone forth to other nations to make known the love of God in Christ” and built new churches. 

“I thank you most heartily! Your lives are a clear response to the command of the risen Christ, who sent his disciples to evangelize all peoples (cf. Mt 28:18-20),” the pope said. 

“In this way, you are signs of the universal vocation of the baptized to become, by the power of the Spirit and daily effort, missionaries among all peoples, and witnesses to the great hope given us by the Lord Jesus,” he added.

Appeals court upholds dismissal of Notre Dame professor lawsuit against student newspaper

The University of Notre Dame. / Credit: Grindstone Media Group/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

An Indiana appeals court this week affirmed a prior ruling dismissing a professor’s defamation lawsuit against an independent student newspaper at the University of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame sociology professor Tamara Kay in 2023 sued the Irish Rover over reports that depicted her as supportive of expanding access to abortion, with Kay arguing the paper’s reporting misrepresented her views.

Kay filed the lawsuit over two articles that reported on the professor’s alleged pro-abortion activism, including her alleged efforts, documented by the Rover, to help students obtain both emergency contraception and abortifacients.

In part, Kay argued that a sign she placed on her office door proclaiming it to be a “SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL health care issues and access” was related to “student sexual assaults” and “did not pertain to abortion” as the Rover claimed.

The Rover, in response to Kay’s lawsuit, lodged an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) filing, a motion meant to prevent the use of courts and potential litigation to intimidate people exercising their First Amendment rights.

On Jan. 24, 2024, Judge Steven David of the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed the case under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP law, ruling that Kay’s defamation claim “fails as a matter of law.”

The “alleged defamatory statements were true, within the meaning of the law, not made with actual malice, did not contain a defamatory inference, and there were no damages that were causally linked to the Irish Rover articles,” David wrote in the ruling, concluding that “the statements in the articles were lawful.” Kay filed an appeal in February 2024. 

The appellate court decision, handed down on Jan. 30 by Judge Paul D. Mathias, states that the trial court “properly dismissed Dr. Kay’s complaint under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP statute.”

As evidence, Mathias said the Irish Rover submitted copies of the social media posts it referenced or quoted in its article, a transcript from a panel event on abortion bans Kay spoke at, as well as “articles published in 2022 and 2023 by (or co-authored by) Dr. Kay addressing access to abortion, and the burdens and negative effects of abortion bans.”

Mathias ruled also that it was reasonable for the Irish Rover’s reporters to conclude that Kay’s office door sign was addressing access to abortion and that she was offering assistance to students who needed information about procuring an abortion.

“The designated evidence established that, when the Irish Rover published the articles, the authors of those articles believed that the statements and opinions expressed in it were fair and reasonable and that, in writing the articles, the Irish Rover based its information on reliable sources, particularly as the source for most of the information was gleaned from Dr. Kay’s own statements, her social media, and publications,” Mathias wrote.

The Irish Rover acted in “good faith,” Mathias ruled, in part because the paper’s stated mission is to articulate and defend the Catholic character of the University of Notre Dame, and publishing articles about a faculty member whose views on abortion appeared contrary to the university’s position aligned with this mission. There was no evidence the newspaper asked the university to terminate Kay’s employment or encourage others to do so, he noted.

“The designated evidence established as a matter of law that the Irish Rover acted in good faith and in reasonable basis in law and fact,” Mathias wrote.

CNA attempted to email Kay for comment last year and again on Wednesday but received an automated notification that her Notre Dame mailbox was full.

Joseph DeReuil, who wrote one of the stories named in the suit, told CNA in 2023 that he was “not at all worried about the result of the lawsuit.”

“The Rover’s reporting simply brought her already public advocacy to the attention of the pro-life parts of the Notre Dame community, adding minimal context through her own statements to the Rover,” DeReuil said.

International Religious Freedom Summit examines religious persecution in the West

Panelists discuss religious persecution in the West at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2025. From left to right: Rabbi Emile Ackermann, a co-founder of Ayeka; Janet Buckingham, the director of global advocacy at the World Evangelical Alliance; Todd Huizinga, a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute; Alliance Defending Freedom International Legal Counsel Sean Nelson. / Credit: Tyler Arnold/CNA

Washington D.C., Feb 6, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Various religious freedom advocates flagged fresh indicators of persecution against Christians who live out their faith in Western liberal democracies during a breakout session of the 2025 International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C., this week.

“People being arrested because of their faith and living out their faith is coming at odds with an increasingly secular and progressive [society],” said Alliance Defending Freedom International Legal Counsel Sean Nelson, who moderated the Feb. 4 panel.

Nelson was joined on stage by Todd Huizinga, a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute focused on Europe; Janet Buckingham, the director of global advocacy at the World Evangelical Alliance; and Rabbi Emile Ackermann, a co-founder of Ayeka, the first Modern Orthodox Jewish community in France.

Nelson showed a brief five-minute clip that detailed stories of Christians facing persecution for speaking about or practicing their religious faith in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Malta — but panelists noted that the trend is widespread throughout Europe and North America.

The video referenced the hate speech charges brought against the former member of Finnish Parliament Päivi Räsänen for defending Christian teachings about homosexuality, which is now in the country’s Supreme Court. It also discussed Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested twice for praying silently outside of an abortion clinic in England, and Matthew Grech, who is facing charges in Malta for sharing his testimony about overcoming homosexual temptations and actions.

Huizinga said during the panel discussion that Christians in Western countries “face diametric disagreement … about many fundamental questions that societies must contend with” regarding social views in the highly secularized cultures that were once predominantly Christian.

One issue that has frequently caused tension between Christians and these governments, he noted, has been human sexuality because the belief that a family is built on the “exclusive union of one man and one woman” clashes with the concepts that “gender is fluid” and “sexuality is a human choice.”

The “misuse” of anti-discrimination laws in these nations, according to Huizinga, is “subjecting [Christians] to the threat of legal penalties for the full and free exercise of their faith.”

“The cases are too many to name,” he said.

Buckingham, a practicing lawyer in Canada, noted that the constitution in Canada guarantees a right to freedom of religion — but that courts have a mixed record on protecting religious liberty.

“It’s all about interpretation [of the law],” she said.

In Canada, Buckingham argued that courts often uphold an individual’s freedom of religion but that “collective” or “institutional” religious liberty has received fewer protections. As an example, she pointed to the Archdiocese of Montreal suing the government of Quebec for forcing its hospitals to provide euthanasia in a case that’s still ongoing.

“I’m concerned about the lack of robust protection [for collective and institutional religious beliefs],” Buckingham added.

Ackermann emphasized a need to differentiate between disagreement and discrimination. 

He referenced debates in France about Islam, arguing that a “critic of the religion of Islam” is not necessarily acting in a discriminatory way. However, he said that some secular “extremists” view “any display of religious [faith as indicating that person is] on the path of becoming a dangerous fundamentalist who wants to force their religion on others.”

Pope Francis, earlier in his papacy, referred to the discrimination against Christians in the West as a form of “polite persecution,” which is “disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress.”

“[Polite persecution is] when someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ’s name but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God,“ the pontiff said in 2016.

Building leaders in Catholic education: Miami Archdiocese partners with local university

The first round of graduates of the Catholic Educational Leadership Cohort pictured with Superintendent Jim Rigg (back, middle) and David Armstrong (back, right) at graduation celebration on Jan. 10, 2025. / Credit: Scott Gillig/St. Thomas University

CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Miami and St. Thomas University (STU) in Florida have collaborated on a unique program designed to train handpicked teachers, creating a “bench of new leaders” for Catholic education in the archdiocese. 

Jim Rigg, the superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Miami, developed the two-year, cohort-based master’s program in partnership with David Armstrong, the president of St. Thomas University, the archdiocesan university in Miami. 

“Given the critical importance of leadership, the STU program is helping to build our ‘bench’ of new leaders,” Rigg told CNA. “As principal and other administrative positions open up in future years, we will have a ready group of leaders who have been formed through a local program focused specifically on Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Miami.”

The archdiocese supports 65 schools serving more than 36,000 students, according to its website. Florida’s school choice program has made private school increasingly accessible to Floridians, making strong Catholic leadership all the more essential. 

The master’s program is a fusion of St. Thomas University’s educational master’s program with courses exclusively targeted toward mission and ministry. Students involved in the Catholic Educational Leadership Cohort — most of them handpicked by Rigg — receive scholarships to attend the program from STU and the archdiocese. 

“We came together to integrate the best of our respective organizations,” Rigg said. “We took the existing master’s in educational leadership program at STU and ‘baptized’ it, infusing each course with Catholic-focused content.”  

The select group of teachers obtains their master’s degrees with a partial scholarship from STU and another from the archdiocese, while they pay for a third of it themselves. In return, participants pledge to continue working in the archdiocese for a minimum three-year period after graduation.

The program includes “two entirely new courses focused exclusively on the mission and ministry of Catholic education,” Rigg said. Instructors include both STU professors and practitioners of Catholic education in the archdiocese.

Armstrong said the program is also infused with the ethical leadership program he established at STU.

“This program not only took advantage of our academic educational leadership program that we had — organizational leadership also — we’ve infused the ethical leadership component, which is in direct connection to our theology program,” Armstrong explained. “All these things [are] working together to create this program to help the archdiocese develop its future leaders in its faith-based schools.”

The president of St. Thomas University, David Armstrong (left), and the superintendent of Catholic schools, Jim Rigg (right), at the graduation celebration for the first Catholic Educational Leadership Cohort. Credit: Scott Gillig/St. Thomas University
The president of St. Thomas University, David Armstrong (left), and the superintendent of Catholic schools, Jim Rigg (right), at the graduation celebration for the first Catholic Educational Leadership Cohort. Credit: Scott Gillig/St. Thomas University

STU Provost Michelle Johnson-Garcia told CNA that the synergy is what makes the program unique and efficient. 

“We had a combination of our St. Thomas University faculty and some of the archdiocesan folks coming in as our faculty teaching in the program,” Johnson-Garcia told CNA. “So, they got the industry folks and the industry views, people in the classroom already doing it alongside our current faculty, which made it pretty unique and dynamic.”  

“What we look at when we’re building our programs is where there’s synergies in other programs that we can cross-collate courses,” she said. “That’s how we become more effective and more efficient at building our programs.” 

Rigg has noticed a need for strong Catholic leaders in the archdiocese. 

“Numerous studies have affirmed that the most important factor in determining the success of a Catholic school is the quality of the leadership,” Rigg said. “In my office, the Office of Catholic Schools, we are necessarily fixated on how we identify, recruit, onboard, and continuously develop the men and women who lead our schools.” 

“We feel that, if we have an effective leader in place, a Catholic school can realize its full potential to provide excellence in faith formation and academics,” Rigg said.

A growing program

The program has kicked off strong, with its first cohort graduating in December 2024. The second cohort began shortly after, beginning classes in early January. 

“The unique nature of this program emerged from its true partnership,” Rigg said. “I am not aware of a Catholic university and a diocese partnering as coequal partners to create such a program from scratch. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive!”

More than 40 candidates applied to the first cohort, and 14 were accepted, while the second cohort had more than 80 candidates interested, with 11 selected for the program, according to Rigg. 

Recent graduates are already in leadership roles in the area, Armstrong noted.

“They are creating that bench, as the provost said, of future leaders, and some of them have already been placed in leadership roles and assistant principalships and principalships,” Armstrong said. “So it’s working.”

Armstrong said he ultimately hopes to grow the program to support other archdiocesan leadership.

“One of the things that we need to talk about with our team is now that we’ve done it with our own archdiocese, how can we expand this to other dioceses around the state of Florida, then South Florida, then the state of Florida, and then our region in the country?” Armstrong said. “Because we believe this is a model that can definitely expand.”

Pope Francis highlights hope for fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

Pope Francis meets with elderly and sick people on his final day in Singapore on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, marking the conclusion of his 12-day, four-country apostolic journey to Asia and Oceania — the longest trip of his pontificate to date. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has chosen “Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Lost Hope” as the theme for the fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will be celebrated this year on Sunday, July 27. 

According to a statement from the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, the Holy Father wanted to highlight the hope of the elderly in the final stage of their lives.

These words, taken from the Book of Sirach, “express the blessedness of the elderly and indicate hope placed in the Lord as the way to a Christian and reconciled old age,” the statement explains.

In the context of the jubilee year, this day, established by Pope Francis in 2021, takes on a new meaning as it intends to be “an opportunity to reflect on how the presence of grandparents and the elderly can become a sign of hope in every family and church community,” according to the Vatican.

The Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life “renews to everyone Pope Francis’ invitation to celebrate the occasion in every diocese and to dedicate the celebrations of Sunday, July 27, to the elderly, promoting visits and opportunities for encounters between the generations.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Missouri diocese opens sacred music consultation process after hymn ‘bans’ rescinded

Credit: Igor Bulgarin/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, has opened a new yearlong “synodal” consultation process on sacred music after a now-rescinded decree from the bishop last fall banning certain hymns from Mass led to a flurry of debate in the diocese and elsewhere. 

In a late January letter, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight said the goal of the process is a new, permanent decree on sacred music with the goal of fostering unity among the people of the diocese and encourage greater participation in the liturgy in accordance with Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s document on the sacred liturgy. 

“My hope is that everyone in our diocese feels called to participate in the sacred music of our Masses and other liturgies. However, I recognize there can be obstacles that make it difficult or impossible for this to happen. For example, when the song is unfamiliar it can be hard to sing along. And when a song is in a language that is not our own, it can be even more challenging,” McKnight wrote. 

“Music composed by individuals who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse brings more significant obstacles. There is real concern about what is conveyed to our community — especially to survivors of abuse — when we continue to use the works of such composers.”

Just as important, the bishop continued, is the “doctrinal appropriateness” of hymns sung at Mass. 

“Music has a unique power to shape our understanding of the faith. The texts we sing must not only be lyrically and melodically beautiful but also theologically brilliant with depth of meaning, reflecting the magnificent truths of our Catholic faith,” he wrote. 

As part of the consultation process, Catholics in the Jefferson City Diocese are encouraged to fill out an online survey being conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), and attend one of a series of listening sessions taking place across the diocese beginning on Feb. 15. 

Information gathered from the surveys and listening sessions will help the diocesan Liturgical Commission formulate a draft of an updated official decree on sacred music in the diocese, the Catholic Missourian reported. 

“I believe that the Holy Spirit speaks through all members of the Church. It is essential that we listen to one another through honest dialogue where we can explore these difficult issues together and not simply by asserting one’s preferences. I invite each of you to participate wholeheartedly in this process, sharing your thoughts, experiences, and prayers,” McKnight wrote. 

Why is the consultation happening?

In his original decree last October, McKnight listed a dozen commonly used contemporary hymns that were to be “absolutely forbidden” in the diocese after Nov. 1, 2024.

The list included commonly-sung songs such as “All Are Welcome” by Marty Haugen, “God Has Chosen Me” by Bernadette Farrell, “Led By the Spirit” by Bob Hurd, and “Table of Plenty” by Dan Schutte. The decree also forbade the use of any music composed by David Haas, Cesaréo Gabarain, and Ed Conlin, specifically due to credible accusations of abuse against them.

In addition to laying out the banned hymns and composers, the decree laid out four Mass settings approved for use in the diocese and with which every parish should “become familiar.”

The decree was spurred by a set of 2020 guidelines from the U.S. bishops, “Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church,” which lays out criteria for evaluating whether hymns sung at Mass are accurately conveying the truths that Catholics believe. That document warned that hymns conveying an inaccurate or incomplete theology can distort Catholics’ understanding of key doctrines, particularly the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

After observing what he described as a “spirited discussion” in the media, on social media, and within his diocese following the original decree, McKnight wrote in a subsequent Nov. 5 decree that “it is now clear that an authentically synodal process of greater consultation did not occur prior to its promulgation.”

The original decree “sparked intense discussion both within our diocese and across national media and social networks,” McKnight commented in his most recent letter from January. 

“While this attention was not expected, it was inspiring to witness the passion and enthusiasm people bring to the conversation about sacred music in our Church. Whenever such fervor is present among the faithful, our Church provides us with a good way to respond — through a synodal process of discernment.”

Pointing to Pope Francis’ emphasis on “synodality” — the pontiff’s call for the whole Church, including laypeople, to collaboratively seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer, listening, dialogue, and openness — McKnight promised in November to order a new, “more comprehensive” process to determine which hymns are appropriate and which are not. 

The diocesan liturgical commission will be tasked with gathering feedback from musicians, music ministers, and “everyone else who has a perspective on the music used in liturgies across the diocese” by August 2025. The process will also involve the leaders of the diocesan chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, a membership organization for Catholic music ministers.

“Together, guided by the Holy Spirit, we can ensure that our sacred music remains a source of unity that uplifts our souls, deepens our faith, and brings us closer to the sacred mysteries we celebrate,” McKnight concluded.

Trump signs executive order keeping men out of women’s sports 

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. / Credit: The White House

CNA Staff, Feb 5, 2025 / 18:35 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump signed an order to keep men out of women’s sports on Wednesday afternoon in a move intended “to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports,” according to the order.   

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said as, surrounded by young female athletes, he signed the order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” 

“Under the Trump administration we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls,” Trump continued. “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”

The order rescinds funding from educational programs “that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”

In recent years, a growing number of women and girls have been harmed by the inclusion of men in women’s sports. For instance, Payton McNabb was 17 when she became partially paralyzed after a biologically male athlete spiked a volleyball into her face. McNabb has brain damage and paralysis on her right side and has difficulty walking without falling.

In recent years, women have begun to speak out against men competing in women-only sports. For instance, swimmer Riley Gaines and more than a dozen other female athletes filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) last year alleging that allowing men to compete in women’s competitions denies women protections promised under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.  

The executive order is based on Title IX, which bans discrimination based on sex in schools and was designed to protect women’s rights in higher education. The order notes that under Title IX, “educational institutions receiving federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports.”

Federal funding will be pulled from any schools that don’t comply. 

“If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and you will risk your federal funding,” Trump said. “There will be no federal funding.” 

The order is designed to “defend the safety of athletes, protect competitive integrity, and uphold the promise of Title IX,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Wednesday briefing prior to Trump’s signing of the order.  

The order also looks ahead to the Olympics, which will be held in Italy in 2026 and in Los Angeles in 2028. 

Last year’s Summer Olympics in France was peppered with controversies about requirements for participation in women’s sports when an Algerian boxer with male chromosomes defeated an Italian woman boxer in an Olympics boxing match after landing a devastating punch to the woman’s face in the brief 46-second fight.

The order instructs the secretary of state to “use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events to promote fairness, safety, and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone.”  

The order follows Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” that asserted that the federal government recognizes two sexes, male and female, and that those sexes are unchangeable and grounded in reality. In another executive order, Trump restricted transgender surgeries and treatments for minors.