Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Keynote speakers at “The Beauty of Truth: Navigating Society Today as a Catholic Woman” conference, held Jan. 9-10, 2026, in Houston (left to right): Erika Bachiochi, Mary Eberstadt, Angela Franks, Pia de Solenni, and Leah Sargeant. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the University of St. Thomas

Jan 18, 2026 / 10:26 am (CNA).

This past week, nearly a quarter of U.S. states sued the federal government for defining biological sex as binary, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for and against legally allowing males to compete against females in sports, and a Vatican official called surrogacy a “new form of colonialism” that commodifies women and their children.

These are just the latest legal and cultural effects of a “mass cultural confusion” surrounding the meaning and purpose of the human body, and particularly women’s bodies, according to Leah Jacobson, program coordinator of the Catholic Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

On Jan. 9–10, the program sponsored a symposium titled “The Beauty of Truth: Navigating Society Today as a Catholic Woman,” which brought together a group of Catholic women who have used their gifts of intellect and faith to serve as what Jacobson calls an “antidote” to the “chaos and confusion” of the cultural moment.

The speakers presented on a wide range of topics concerned with the beauty, truth, and necessity of the Church’s teachings on human sexuality in many realms.

‘Every act is an act of human subtraction’

In one of the first talks, writer Mary Eberstadt argued that the question “Who am I?” became harder to answer due to the widespread use of the birth control pill, which has led to huge increases in abortion, divorce, fatherlessness, single parenthood, and childlessness. These effects led to a reduction in the number of people in an individual's life, which, she argued, resulted in widespread confusion over gender identity and the meaning and purpose of the body.

While she acknowledged that not everyone has been affected equally, “members of our species share a collective environment.”

“Just as toxic waste affects everyone,” she said, the reduction in the number of human connections “amounts to a massive disturbance to the human ecosystem,” leading to a crisis of human identity.

“The number of people we can call our own” became smaller, she said. “Each of these acts is an act of human subtraction,” Eberstadt said. “I’m not trying to make a point about morality, but arithmetic.”

Eberstadt also attributed the decline in religiosity to this decline in the number of human connections modern people experience.

“The sexual revolution subtracted the number of role models,” she said. “Many children have no siblings, no cousins, no aunts or uncles, no father, yet that is how humans conduct social learning.”

“Without children, adults are less likely to go to church,” she said. “Without birth, we lose knowledge of the transcendent. Without an earthly father, it is hard to grasp the paradigm of an earthly father.”

‘A love deficit’

“Living without God is not liberating people,” she continued. “It’s tearing some individuals apart, making people miserable and lonely.”

When the sexual revolution made sex "recreational and not procreative, what it produced above all is a love deficit,” Eberstadt said.

At the same time, secularization produced “troubled, disconnected souls drifting through society without gravity, shattering the ability to answer ‘Who am I?’”

“The Church is the answer to the love deficit because Church teachings about who we are and what we’re here for are true,” she said.

She concluded with a final note on hope, saying “it is easy to feel embattled, but we must never lose sight of the faces of the sexual revolution’s victims,” she said, “who are sending up primal screams for a world more ordered than many of today’s people now know; more ordered to mercy, to community and redemption.”

The Church’s teachings were ’truly beautiful’ but 'very, very hard to live'

Erika Bachiochi, a legal scholar and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who teaches a class for the graduate program, shared her experience as a mother of seven who tried to live according to the Church’s “difficult” teachings.

As her children began to arrive at “a breakneck pace” and each pregnancy was “a bit of a crucible,” Bachiochi said being a mother was “very hard” for her, partly due to wounds from her youth (among other troubles, her own mother had been married and divorced three times), and partly because of a lack of community.

Echoing Eberstadt’s “arithmetic” problem, Bachiochi described having very few examples of Catholic family life and a very small support system.

Bachiochi said she believes God heals us from our wounds through our “particular vocations,” however.

Of motherhood, she said: “I think God really healed me through being faithful to teachings that I found quite hard, but truly beautiful. I was intellectually convinced by them and found them spiritually beautiful, but found them to be very, very hard to live.”

“Motherhood has served to heal me profoundly," she said, encouraging young mothers to have faith that though it might be difficult now, there is an “amazing future” awaiting them.

“It’s really an incredible gift that Church has given me ... the gift of obedience,” she said.

She also said by God’s grace, she was given an “excellent husband” and has found that “just as the Church promises, that leaning into motherhood, into the little things, the daily needs, the constant requests for my attention, has truly been a school of virtue.”

The Catholic Women’s and Gender Studies Program is a new part of the Nesti Center for Faith and Culture at the University of St. Thomas, a recognized Catholic cultural center of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond. | Credit: Katie Yoder/EWTN News; photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Washington

Jan 18, 2026 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Virginia Catholic bishops on Friday spoke out against an abortion amendment that would remove state protections for unborn children, calling the measure “extreme.”

The Virginia General Assembly passed a proposed amendment that would add a fundamental right to abortion to Virginia’s constitution, if voters approve it this November.

The proposed abortion amendment would establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”

Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond called the move “shocking to the conscience,” noting that lawmakers quickly moved the proposed amendment through both chambers in the early days of its 60-day session.

“The extreme abortion amendment, which will proceed to a referendum for voters to decide later this year, would go far beyond even what Roe v. Wade previously allowed,” the bishops said in the Jan. 16 statement. “It would enshrine virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no age restriction.”

The bishops cautioned that the amendment would “severely jeopardize Virginia’s parental consent law, health and safety standards for women, conscience protections for health care providers, and restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions.”

“Most tragically of all, the extreme abortion amendment provides no protections whatsoever for preborn children,” the bishops continued.

“Most importantly, human life is sacred,” the bishops said. “The lives of vulnerable mothers and their preborn children must always be welcomed, cared for, and protected.”

“Parental rights and the health and well-being of minors must be defended,” the bishops said. “So too must religious liberty. No one should ever be forced to pay for or participate in an abortion. Health and safety should be enhanced, not diminished.”

In addition, the bishops urged Virginia voters to oppose a measure that would repeal a 2006 provision defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The bishops also expressed support for a measure that would restore voting rights to those who have completed prison sentences.

“We will be deeply engaged in the work of helping to educate voters on these proposed amendments and will fight the extreme abortion amendment with maximum determination,” the bishops concluded.

The joint statement followed a statement by Burbidge, who on Jan. 15 urged Catholics to “to pray, fast, and advocate for the cause of life” amid the “looming threat” of the abortion amendment.

“Prayer opens our hearts to God’s wisdom and strengthens us to act with courage and charity,” Burbidge wrote. “Fasting makes reparation for sin and reminds us that true freedom is found not in self-indulgence but in self-gift. Advocacy allows us to bring our convictions into the public square with respect, clarity, and perseverance.”

“Our response as Catholics — and as citizens committed to justice — must be rooted in faith, truth, and love,” he continued.

Burbidge also reminded Catholics of the mercy of the Church. 

“It is essential to reaffirm a truth that lies at the very center of the Church’s pro-life mission: The Church is a loving mother,” Burbidge continued. “To any man or woman who carries the pain, regret, or sorrow of participation in abortion, know this clearly — you are not alone, and God awaits you with love and mercy. The Church desires to walk with you on a journey of healing and hope.”

“May we together pray fervently, act courageously, and serve generously,” Burbidge said. “May our witness help build a culture in Virginia — and beyond — that recognizes every human life as sacred, every person as beloved, and every moment as an opportunity to choose life.”

A woman receives a baby shower at her local church through Embrace Grace. | Credit: Embrace Grace

Jan 18, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Amy Ford was 19 years old when she found herself with an unplanned pregnancy. Scared and thinking her life and dreams were over, she attempted to get an abortion but was unable to go through with it.

Ford and the baby’s father turned to their church for support and received none. The experience led her to create Embrace Grace, a nonprofit that provides support and community through local churches for pregnant mothers in need.

The story behind the ministry

Ford told EWTN News that she thought “my life was over, my dreams were over, that my parents were going to hate me.” She said she thought she would end up homeless.

“The father of the baby felt the same way and we just thought we could have an abortion and maybe that’s a quick fix and we’ll just deal with the consequences of a broken heart later. And even though we grew up knowing abortion was wrong, we just kind of went into this mode of trying not to feel anything,” Ford recalled.

So, she went to an abortion clinic. As the nurses explained what they were going to do during the procedure, Ford began to hyperventilate and passed out. She was told she was “too emotionally distraught” to make a decision and that she could go back to the abortion clinic another day.

As she walked into the waiting room, she told the baby’s father that she was still pregnant. At that moment, the two decided they would keep the child. The high school sweethearts knew they wanted to get married one day; they just didn’t expect to have a child before marriage.

The two went to an evangelical pastor whom they knew personally to ask him if he could marry them.

“He said, ‘No, I’m sorry, because you sinned I will not bless this marriage,’” Ford shared.

The couple found another pastor to marry them and got married when Ford was 16 weeks pregnant. They tried going back to their church after that but it was “the elephant in the room” — others changed how they interacted with them and they decided to stop attending church for a period of time.

Ford and her husband welcomed their son — who is now 27 years old and also works in the pro-life movement — and have been married for 27 years, welcoming three more children after their firstborn.

Helping women

Looking back at her experience, Ford felt called to help women who found themselves in these situations, not sure where to go, and weren’t aware of the resources available to them. So she started a small group at her church for women who were experiencing an unexpected pregnancy.

Ford admitted that back then she didn’t know what a pregnancy center was or what the pro-life movement was.

“If someone would have said, ‘I work in the pro-life movement,’ I would have assumed that meant picketing because that’s the only thing the media shows,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what a pregnancy center was even when I started Embrace Grace, the group. I didn’t know anything about it. So, I never thought, ‘I’m starting a pro-life group.’ That wasn’t even on my mind. I just wanted to start a small group for women that have unexpected pregnancies.”

In 2008 Ford hosted her first group, which was made up of three women who met at a local church in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. After meeting for 12 weeks as a group, “they didn’t even seem like the same person by the end of it,” Ford recalled.

“They had completely transformed. They were empowered as women to be the moms that God created them to be.”

After the first group, Ford held another Embrace Grace session, and another and another. With each passing session, more and more young women were attending and slowly more and more churches were getting involved.

Today, Embrace Grace is in over 1,200 churches across the country — mostly in evangelical, Baptist, and Catholic churches.

A woman who joins an Embrace Grace group goes through a 12-week curriculum that aims to help her experience healing and remind her of who God made her to be as a daughter of God and a mother. Additionally, the church hosting the group throws each woman a baby shower.

Embrace Grace also has two other programs: Embrace Life and Embrace Legacy.

Embrace Life is a 20-week program that teaches the women more practical skills in terms of parenting, the newborn phase and postpartum, how to manage finances, and more. Embrace Legacy is a 12-week program aimed at new or single fathers.

Ford hopes that Embrace Grace serves as a tool of “courage and the bridge to get them actually going to church and raising their kids in the church and being a part of a spiritual family.”

The nondenominational nonprofit also works in partnership with local pregnancy centers that are within a 30-mile radius of a church that hosts an Embrace Grace group by giving them what they call “Love Boxes” to give women who find out they are pregnant and are seeking support. The Love Box contains a onesie with the words “Best Gift Ever,” a book called “A Bump in Life” — which contains 20 testimonies from women who chose life — a journal, a handwritten letter encouraging a new mother, and an invitation to join the local Embrace Grace group.

“Because most pregnancy centers have sonogram machines, that means they’re medical, which means they have HIPAA laws that they have to abide by. So, they can’t just give the church the girl’s name,” Ford explained. “So these Love Boxes are kind of a way, another touch, for the mom to find out more … and that there’s a church that wants to walk alongside you.”

Embrace Grace recently reached a milestone by giving out 150,000 Love Boxes since its launch in 2018.

Looking ahead, Ford’s goal is to be in 23,400 churches. If that number sounds specific, that’s because it is. By using different tools, Ford and her team concluded that if they want every woman who finds herself in an unplanned pregnancy to be able to turn to a church for support, Embrace Grace needs to be in “23,400 churches strategically placed around the United States … so that no mom would ever have to walk alone.”

“We are just putting it out there, trying to partner with as many churches as possible, so that we can make that happen,” she said. “That is our big dream. That that’s what the world would look like — that no mom would have to walk alone and that she would have a church to turn to in her local area.”

“I believe in leading Embrace Grace, we have front-row seats to miracles.”

Father Travis Moger on the day of his ordination alongside his son, Mark; wife, Amelia; mother; and daughter, Maddy. | Credit: EWTN News screenshot

Jan 17, 2026 / 11:00 am (CNA).

Father Travis Moger has been a Catholic priest for just nine months, and his journey to ordination was a unique one. A former Baptist pastor and Navy chaplain, he was ordained in May 2025 in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, seven years after he, his wife, and his son entered the Catholic Church.

“I didn’t come into the Church in order to be a priest; God used prayer to draw me to the Catholic Church,” Moger told EWTN News reporter Julia Convery.

During a military campaign as a Navy chaplain, Moger; his wife, Amelia; and his son, Mark, all separately began to feel the call toward Catholicism. While Moger was away, his wife had begun attending RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which is now called OCIA — the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults).

Father Thomas Falkenthal, Moger’s former Navy chaplain supervisor, witnessed the seeds being planted in Moger’s heart.

“He was connecting with the liturgy. The Catholic Mass was certainly far from his tradition. I could tell it was touching him,” Falkenthal shared with Convery.

“He didn’t realize it, but all the way back home in the United States his wife, Amelia, was going to RCIA and preparing to join the Catholic Church. So when he came home from that deployment, they both had something to share with each other. Now I think that’s an amazing movement of the Spirit to keep that couple so close," Falkenthal said.

“It was definitely a God thing definitely to draw her towards the Catholic Church,” Moger added.

After a five-year journey of study and conversion, Moger, his wife, and his son were received into the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday 2018.

“I entered the Church not knowing if there would be a path to the priesthood for me,” Moger shared.

Bishop Mark Brennan of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston explained that Pope Francis eventually granted Moger a dispensation from the usual requirement of celibacy for the Catholic priesthood, allowing him to be ordained a priest.

The bishop also pointed out that he believes having a desire for a family is a trait that makes a good priest.

“When I was a vocations director, I always looked for would this man make a good husband and father? If he would, then he’d probably make a good priest,” Brennan said.

Moger also highlighted this trait as one that allows him to have a unique perspective into his now-spiritual fatherhood.

“There’s something about being able to bring a child into the world and then nurture them and you’re fully invested in another person. And I think that experience does inform the way you look at spiritual fatherhood and the way you look at God’s fatherhood,” Moger said.

Moger’s son, Mark, told EWTN News that his father’s newly found spiritual fatherhood has brought a “deeper spirituality” into their family.

Maddy Cordle, Moger’s daughter, added: “I’ve had the privilege of watching his conversion from the beginning — same with my mom and my brother —and I just got to watch how it brought them so much closer to each other in their marriage, together as a family, but also really, really strengthened their relationship with God.”

“To him there’s nothing more important than the impoverished and the cast aside. That’s his charism and you’ll see it throughout his ministry,” Mark added.

Despite his unconventional journey to the priesthood, Moger sees it as the result of saying “yes” to God.

“God honors it when we start moving in the direction that he’s leading us, trusting that he’s going to work it out,” he said.

Scene from the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. | Credit: “EWTN News in Depth”/Screenshot

Jan 17, 2026 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Catholic clergy and lay people reported a stronger devotion to the Eucharist after the National Eucharistic Revival.

This week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released the report for the National Eucharistic Revival Impact Study. Done in collaboration with the National Eucharistic Congress corporation and Vinea Research, the study surveyed nearly 2,500 lay Catholics, clergy, and Church staff during the summer and fall of 2025.

The online survey asked questions about revival promotion, participation, and impact one year after the initial National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress. The price tag of the Eucharistic congress was more than $10 million, organizers said.

“Never in my tenure of working for the Church have I seen such deep impact,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, in a press release. “The fruits of the National Eucharistic Revival are real, lasting, and will continue to shape the life of the American Church for years to come.”

The revival, sponsored by the USCCB, launched in June 2022 with the mission to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist.”

The three-year initiative, which concluded in 2025, included the 10th National Eucharistic Congress and the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in 2024 and 2025.

In a Jan. 16 interview on “EWTN News In Depth,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens, chair of the National Eucharistic Congress, said he was “extremely heartened” by the results of the study.

“I had a sense that the revival had a big impact on people and especially on our Church,” he said. “But it was great to see that confirmed by the data and to see some of the actual statistics.”

Impact on clergy members

Of 249 clergy members of priests and deacons surveyed, 49% reported feeling “more encouraged’ since the revival began. Specifically, 38% said they feel “somewhat more encouraged” and 11% said they feel “significantly more encouraged.”

Nearly half, 48%, said they feel “more comfortable encouraging others to share their faith.”

The research found the revival “refocused clergy on the Eucharist,” with the majority reporting changes to their pastoral approach since 2021. The report found that 70% of clergy reported a stronger “focus on the Eucharist in teaching [and] ministry,” and 69% said they have a stronger “emphasis on evangelization and outreach.”

Clergy also reported personal advancements with their relationship with the Eucharist. More than half (51%) said their “time spent in personal adoration” is stronger now than it was in 2021.

“I was so grateful when I saw that priests found it encouraging. They were encouraged by this opportunity to focus on the Eucharist,” Cozzens said. “I know so much more preaching and encouragement about Eucharistic devotion happened in our parishes during this time.”

“If our priests are encouraged and they’re drawing closer to Jesus in the Eucharist, that’s going to help our people so much, and it’s going to help our Church so much,” he said.

Impact on lay Catholics

Among 1,758 of the lay Catholics surveyed, 874 were labeled as “national participants” who attended the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, National Eucharistic Congress, or both.

“We wanted Catholics to come together and to experience more deeply a profound love for Jesus in the Eucharist, and then from that, to be sent out on mission,” Cozzens said. The study “showed that anyone who attended one of our National Eucharistic Pilgrimages or National Eucharistic Congress said they were 50% more likely to do outreach, to share their faith, to do some act of service.”

“I think the thing that most stood out to me is that we accomplished our goal,” he said. “Our goal was really to bring about a missionary conversion of Catholics.”

Another 425 of lay Catholics were “local participants” who took part in local processions, small groups, and revival-specific Holy Hours. Most (83%) of the laypeople surveyed who participated at the national or local level said their “overall level of faith” is stronger now than it was in 2021.

The other 459 laypeople surveyed were “nonparticipating contacts” who did not participate in any revival activities. Most came from the USCCB’s newsletter distribution list and they were aware of the revival but not involved. Even though they did not directly participate, 79% reported their “overall level of faith” was stronger following the revival.

When asked to compare their faith practices with those in 2021, lay Catholics overwhelmingly reported praying more, attending adoration more frequently, and going to confession more often.

The research took a deeper look at how lay Catholics’ faith evolved, examining the changes in the level of “importance” of faith-related activities over the last three years. The greatest growth in importance was observed in volunteering and spending time in Eucharistic adoration.

In 2021, 57% of lay national participants reported “spending quiet time in Eucharistic adoration” was “very important” or “extremely important” to them. Following the revival, the number had jumped to 76%. There was also an increase for local participants with a rise from 65% to 82%. Among those who did not directly participate, there was the largest increase from 49% to 69%.

Continuing to spread the ‘fire’

The bishops have confirmed that the country’s second National Eucharistic Congress of the 21st century will take place in 2029.

“As we continue to strengthen the core of our faith and those people who are committed, and they begin to draw closer to Jesus from Eucharist, what the study showed is that they get on fire, and then they start to spread that fire,” he said.

“It’s the way Jesus worked himself. Jesus certainly did preach to crowds, but most of the time he spent with his 12 apostles and with those people who were with him. Because if he could convert and strengthen them, then they could go out and convert the world,” he said.

“I think that’s really the goal of the whole Eucharistic movement that we have now is strengthening those people so that they can become the witnesses that we’re called to be,” he said.

Credit: David Gyung/Shutterstock

Jan 17, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

An artificial intelligence (AI) marketplace launched by a business professor at The Catholic University of America seeks to offer products and services in a venue consistent with the social teachings of the Catholic Church — it is called Almma AI.

Lucas Wall, who teaches finance at the university and has led several entrepreneurial ventures, began building Almma AI in mid-2023. The marketplace facilitates transactions for AI-related products, allowing people to upload their creations to be purchased or, in some cases, used for no charge.

The types of products that can be offered on the marketplace include Large Language Models (LLMs) — similar to ChatGPT and Grok — along with AI prompts, personas, assistants, agents, and plugins.

Although other marketplaces exist, Wall told EWTN News that Almma AI is designed to ensure the average person can “benefit from this new revolution that is coming” by selling or purchasing products in the marketplace.

“With most technological revolutions and changes, there are only a handful of people who make fortunes,” Wall said.

Almma’s mission statement is “AI profits for all,” and Wall said it is meant to “help people monetize their knowledge.” He said the marketplace can “build bridges across cultures” because people anywhere can access it, and “allows people to make solutions for their neighbors or for their parishes.”

Almma does not exclusively offer Catholic-related products, but it does block the sale of anything that is immoral or could provoke sin, which Wall said was another major contrast with other AI marketplaces.

“I want to be part of the group of people who help innovation meet morality,” he said.

Among the examples of problems within larger AI companies, he noted, are the development of artificial romantic chatbots and the creation of erotica and artificial pornographic images and videos. He also expressed concern about AI consultation in end-of-life care.

“I refuse to believe we don’t have enough imagination as a Catholic community and the courage to build something better,” Wall said.

AI and Catholic social teaching

Wall said the development of Almma AI was “responding to the call of Pope Francis that he very clearly outlined in [the 2025 doctrinal note] Antiqua et Nova” and also took inspiration from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

In Antiqua et Nova, the Vatican holds that the development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human.” It teaches that AI should be used to serve the common good, promote human development, and not simply be used for individual or corporate gain.

That note builds on the framework provided in Rerum Novarum, which expressed Catholic social teaching in the wake of the industrial revolution. At the time, Pope Leo XIII emphasized a need to seek the common good and safeguard the dignity of work when many laborers faced poor working conditions.

“Wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner,” Leo XIII writes. “... If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income.”

Wall said Almma AI follows those guidelines by “trying to help people earn a decent living and keeping their dignity.” He added: “If you want to monetize a skill, we have the tools for you.”

When the current pontiff Leo XIV chose the name “Leo,” he said he did so to honor Leo XIII, who “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.” He chose the name, in part, because AI developments pose “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” Leo XIV explained.

Leo XIV has spoken at length about AI. This includes warnings about anti-human ideologies, the threat to human connections and interactions, and concern about the displacement of workers. However, he has also highlighted the potential benefits of AI if used to advance humanity and uphold the dignity of the human person.

Wall welcomed continued guidance from the Vatican, saying the Church has “moral foundations … beyond what anyone in secular society can point at.” He expressed hope that Leo XIV will author a document similar to Rerum Novarum that addresses the changes AI is bringing about to the global economy

“I pray daily for it,” Wall said.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Aug. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Jan 16, 2026 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

U.S. bishops and Catholic pro-life organizations will be watching to see if President Donald Trump’s health care plan includes pro-life language.

Trump has faced criticism over the past week from pro-life activists after he urged Republican lawmakers to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment when negotiating extensions for health care subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act.

Trump’s health plan, outlined in a four-point memo, will be negotiated with Congress over whether to include the strongest possible pro-life protections and prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. The Hyde Amendment, long included in federal spending bills, prevents tax dollars from being used on elective abortions.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has urged Congress to uphold the Hyde Amendment amid the negotiations, saying: “Authentic health care upholds the dignity of all human life, and health care policy must not violate this dignity.”

Health initiatives

The White House published a one-page memo that details some of the president’s priorities for the health care plan, although details have yet to be released. There was no mention of the Hyde Amendment in the 827-word memo.

According to the White House, the plan focuses on four issues: lowering drug prices, lowering insurance premiums, holding big insurance companies accountable, and maximizing price transparency.

“You’re going to get a better deal and better care,” Trump said in a video message. He urged the Republican-controlled Congress to take swift action to draft and pass legislation to achieve these goals.

To lower drug prices, the memo states Congress should allow more medicine to be sold over the counter and codify the administration’s recent deals with drug companies that require them to sell medicine in the United States at rates that are comparable to other developed countries.

According to the memo, the plan would lower health care premiums by providing health care subsidies directly to Americans rather than to insurance companies and support a cost-sharing reduction program to lower the most common Affordable Care Act premiums by more than 10%.

The plan would seek to hold insurance companies accountable by forcing insurance companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons in “plain English” that is easier to comprehend and by requiring them to publish the percentage of their revenues that are paid out in claims compared with overhead costs and advertise the percentage of insurance claims they reject.

According to the White House, the plan would improve transparency by requiring that insurance companies prominently display their pricing and fees to prevent surprise medical bills.

“Instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first, our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket,” Trump said. “The government is going to pay the money directly to you. It goes to you, and then you take the money and buy your own health care.”

Catholic Health Association reacts

At least one Catholic health group has welcomed some of the priorities included in the plan. The Catholic Health Association of the United States generally aligns with Church teaching but has faced criticism for its stances on issues such as abortion.

Sister Mary Haddad, RSM, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, which represents numerous Catholic hospitals, said in a statement that the organization welcomes the initiative.

“We welcome the administration’s engagement in the vital work of expanding access to quality, affordable health care,” she said. “Ensuring that individuals and families can obtain the care they need is central to the mission of Catholic health care.”

Haddad asked Congress and the administration to advance a bipartisan deal on the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which narrowly passed in the House with broad support from Democrats and only a little support from Republicans. A key point of contention was the Hyde Amendment, which was not included in the House-passed version and could complicate the Senate negotiations.

“Renewing them would immediately ease financial pressures on households while helping ensure people maintain their health coverage,” Haddad said. “We will continue to work with the administration and with Congress to strengthen health care access for communities across the country.”

Staten Island, New York | Credit: John McAdorey/Shutterstock

Jan 16, 2026 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

The New York Police Department (NYPD) says it will increase officer presence at local churches after several crimes committed at Catholic parishes on Staten Island.

Several Catholic churches on Staten Island have been vandalized or attacked in recent weeks, including a robbery and a violent incident during a morning Mass in which two police officers were injured.

State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton called for increased police presence at churches in the area after the incidents. At a Jan. 15 press conference, local leaders including NYPD Staten Island Borough Commander Melissa Eger said police presence would be heightened at churches across the borough.

Eger said at the press conference that none of the incidents indicated that the Catholic churches had been targeted due to religion, describing the crimes as “acts ... of opportunism and theft" as well as one incident involving a mentally ill person.

“That said, any incident, especially a disruption of service that occurs at any house of worship, generates serious concern from our community and we know that,” the commander said.

Scarcella-Spanton said at the press event that “nobody should feel unsafe where they are praying.”

Addressing the Catholic community, she said: “I just want you to know that we stand with you.”

“We’re going to be making sure that this issue is highlighted, because I think it’s important to bring light to the fact that this has happened now four times,” the state senator said.

Also at the press conference was Father Jacob Thumma, the pastor of both St. Ann’s Church and St. Sylvester’s Church, both of which were the site of recent criminal incidents.

Referring to the incident at St. Ann’s on Jan. 9 where a man violently disrupted morning Mass and injured two responding officers, Thumma said the altercation “highlights an urgent societal concern — the need for enhanced services and compassionate care for those suffering from mental illness.“

“We must continue to invest in mental health resources that support families [and] provide timely interventions before crises occur,” the priest said.

He further called on the public “to join us in prayer for the individual involved in this incident, that he may receive the healing he needs, [as well as for] for the injured police officers and their families.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance. | Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jan 16, 2026 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to speak at the 2026 March for Life Rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23.

Vance, who is the nation’s second Catholic vice president, will join Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, among other speakers at the 53rd annual pro-life event, organizers said.

“Vice President Vance is grateful to the tens of thousands of Americans who travel to the National Mall each year to speak out in support of life and looks forward to joining them for the second consecutive year,” a spokesperson for the vice president told EWTN News.

Vance will be attending and speaking at the event for the second time as vice president. He spoke at the March for Life in 2025 where he delivered his first public remarks in the leadership position.

Addressing the crowd at the 2025 march, Vance said becoming a father helped to solidify his convictions that “an unborn life is worthy of protection.”

“You remind us that the March for Life is not a single event that takes place on a frigid January day,” he said to the crowd. “The March for Life is the work of the pro-life movement every day from this point forward,” he said.

“We will be back next year,” he said.

While President Donald Trump will not be attending the 2026 March for Life in person, he told EWTN News’ White House correspondent Owen Jensen on Jan. 16 he will address the crowd through a “beautiful” prerecorded message.

“And they’re going to play it,” he said. “And those are great people. I want to tell you they’re great people,” Trump said about attendees.

While the president will deliver the virtual message, the Trump administration is receiving backlash from pro-life activists following his claim that Republicans need to be “ flexible” with the Hyde Amendment and the reinstatement of funds to Planned Parenthood.

When asked about the Hyde Amendment, Trump said “you’re going to hear about it” in the message.

Vance is set to deliver his remarks at the pre-march rally at 11 a.m. on Jan. 23. The March for Life is scheduled to begin after the rally.

Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Jan 16, 2026 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, expressed gratitude that the Department of Homeland Security is easing visa restrictions for religious workers and called for passage of a bill to address visa backlogs.

“This rule change provides some much-needed relief!” Fernandes said in a statement released Jan. 15. “We take comfort in knowing that sacramental and pastoral care will not be disrupted in our parishes, schools, hospitals, and prison ministries.”

Under the rule, religious workers in the country on R-1 visas would no longer be required to reside outside of the U.S. for a full year if they reach their statutory five-year maximum period of stay before completing their green card applications.

Fernandes said 21 priests and 13 sisters who hold R-1 visas and work within the diocese would have been affected in the absence of the rule change.

“While R-1 religious workers are still required to depart the U.S., the rule establishes that there is no longer a minimum period of time they must reside and be physically present outside the U.S. before they seek readmission in R-1 status,” according to a DHS statement about the Jan. 16 publication of the rule in the Federal Register.

Legislative fix

Fernandes said: “I encourage all of the faithful to press for a permanent legislative fix and to support the Religious Workforce Protection Act.” The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, would extend R-1 nonimmigrant visa status beyond the usual five-year limit and waive the one-year foreign residency requirement for those who left the U.S., allowing them to stay and serve their communities while waiting for green cards. Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, introduced a House version of the bill.

Fernandes thanked Carey; Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, for their efforts to support the legislation. Moreno, he said, “intervened personally to work for the rule change.”

“The impact of our international priests and religious across the United States is pivotal in helping us build a civilization of love, assisting in the growth of the virtues of solidarity and fraternity, and providing the sacramental and pastoral needs of our people, an increasingly diverse group from around the world,” Fernandes said. “I urge you to continue to push for the passage of the Religious Workforce Protection Act with your representatives and ask for your continued prayers for all clergy and religious throughout our diocese and around the world, while offering prayers of gratitude for our civic leaders and for our priests and religious who continue to serve the members of our community.”

Kaine introduced the measure in April 2025 with support from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jim Risch, R-Idaho. The bill would modify rules to allow religious workers to bypass a requirement to be strictly tied to their original job while waiting for green cards.

“Faith communities across America — including my own parish in Richmond — depend on foreign religious workers and suffer greatly when these dedicated members of their congregations are forced to leave the country due to no fault of their own,” Kaine said. “This interim final rule from DHS is a step in the right direction and will reduce hardships to temples, churches, mosques, and other religious communities throughout the U.S.”

“Now it’s time for Congress to take the next step and pass the Kaine-Collins-Risch Religious Workforce Protection Act to further streamline the bureaucratic process for foreign-born pastors, priests, rabbis, nuns, imams, and other religious workers to continue their work here in the United States,” he added.

“I joined Sens. Kaine and Risch in introducing the Religious Workforce Protection Act when I noticed Maine parishes where I attend Mass were losing their priests because their R-1 visas expired while their EB-4 applications were still pending. I saw this issue creating a real crisis in our state. We urged the previous administration to fix this issue, but the problem went unaddressed — until today,” Collins said. “We will continue working to pass our legislation to provide full and lasting relief to religious workers and the communities they serve in Maine and across the country.”

“Idaho’s religious communities and their beloved clergy are central to our right to worship. That’s why I proudly introduced the Religious Workforce Protection Act,” Risch said. “The Trump administration’s action aligns with our efforts to ensure Idaho’s religious workers can stay in the U.S. and continue serving their congregations while their visas are processed. I will continue working with Sens. Collins and Kaine to pass our legislation and ensure none of Idaho’s religious workers face the threat of leaving the communities they love and serve so faithfully.”