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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.”

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.

‘Real sanctions, real consequences’ are needed for countries on religious freedom watchlist

“It has been disappointing to see how seldom a CPC designation has resulted in real consequences for those responsible for religious freedom violations,” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Chairman Stephen Schneck told CNA. / Credit: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Public Hearing/Screenshot

Washington D.C., Feb 5, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Placing countries that violate religious liberties on a watchlist of the world’s worst offenders is not enough to prevent future violations, according to a panel discussion at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit held in Washington, D.C., this week. 

The Tuesday afternoon panel, “Rallying Behind the CPC Designation: Enhancing Collaboration for Greater Impact,” discussed the limitations of the State Department’s tool for combatting global religious persecution: the country of particular concern (CPC) designation.

United States Commission on International Religious (USCIRF) Chairman Stephen Schneck explained: “The CPC designation really only works as an instrument for naming and shaming.” 

“Real sanctions, real consequences on the ground in some practical way of effectiveness — that’s just not there in the way that the CPC designations currently work,” Schneck said. “We need to change the CPC designation in such a fashion that it has actionable consequences on the ground.”

Since the United States adopted the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the State Department has issued annual reports designating countries of particular concern. The designation is reserved for countries with “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious liberty, such as torture and other types of inhumane treatment, prolonged detentions, abductions and disappearances, and other flagrant denials of life, liberty, or security of persons.

According to the USCIRF chairman, many countries that receive a CPC designation can “largely ignore” it through waivers that have been put in place for diplomatic geopolitical reasons.

“There needs to be something — whether a waiver is applied or not — that has meaningful consequences for these countries, regardless of the larger geopolitical situation in the world and U.S. foreign policy, and so forth,” Schneck said. 

He further suggested application of the Global Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law that allows the government to issue sanctions against religious freedom violators at an individual rather than national or statewide level so as not to cause economic suffering to those already experiencing religious persecution in those countries. 

Piero Tozzi, staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, called for the State Department to exercise more comprehensive oversight over countries it designates as CPCs. He also suggested its officials receive more training on how to recognize religious freedom violations. 

“Sometimes they see the world and they think the rest of the world has the same secular outlook that they do,” Tozzi said, explaining that if State Department officials are not trained to recognize religious persecution, issuing a designation and holding countries accountable becomes more difficult. 

Tozzi gave the example of the persecution of Christian farmers by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. He said that some at the State Department had incorrectly described it as a land resource dispute brought on by climate change.

The Biden administration notably left Nigeria off its CPC designation list despite its own reports highlighting the violent persecution of Christians taking place in the country. 

St. Louis Archdiocese rebukes pastor’s comments opposing ban on transgender treatments

St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in St. Louis, Missouri. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

St. Louis, Mo., Feb 5, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of St. Louis this week distanced itself from comments a local pastor made in opposition to proposed legislation that would extend the state’s ban on transgender procedures for minors.

Missouri bans the provision of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors for purposes of “gender transitions.” The law took effect last summer and was subsequently upheld in court in the fall, but the law is currently due to expire in August 2027. Missouri lawmakers, amid a contentious debate, are currently considering bills that if passed would make the law permanent.

Father Mitchell Doyen, pastor at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in north St. Louis City, testified during a Missouri House committee hearing Feb. 3 that the “bills which you contemplate today are dehumanizing our brothers and sisters.”

“I have had the privilege of knowing and befriending transgender youth and adults and their parents and their friends and their brothers and sisters. I have listened to their stories and the stories of their doctors and their counselors. Their desire to live fully human, authentic, grace-filled and gifted lives in our community is a profound blessing for us,” Doyen said.

“I believe in a loving God who has fashioned each human person as a unique reflection of God’s love in the world. I am not afraid to imagine a world more profound than male and female. And I trust the parents, the families, the doctors, the counselors — all who love our trangender youth — to make these decisions more than [I trust] you.”

In a statement shared with CNA Wednesday, the Archdiocese of St. Louis said Doyen “was speaking on his own behalf, and his comments did not accurately reflect Church teaching.”

The Catholic Church teaches that the human person is an intrinsic unity of body and soul, and that the body is a gift to be received, respected, and cared for. The U.S. bishops reiterated in 2023 that surgical or chemical interventions that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of the body into those of the opposite sex represent a rejection of the “fundamental order of the human body” as being “sexually differentiated.”

“The Catholic Church consistently reaffirms the compassion and inherent dignity of all men and women, including those who experience gender dysphoria. We do not discriminate against anyone based on how they identify or what they believe,” the statement from the archdiocese reads. 

“However, our pastoral care and support of individuals who identify as transgender does not mean that we condone chemical treatment or surgical procedures that are designed to alter the appearance of one’s gender. The Church has been consistent on this issue, and any suggestion to the contrary is a misrepresentation.”

St. Josephine Bakhita Parish, which is historically African American, was formed from a merger of three former parishes that came into effect in October 2023. The parish played a prominent role last summer as an official stop for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimages as part of the National Eucharistic Revival.

‘I don’t think the Church has anything to say’

Speaking prior to Doyen at the hearing on Monday was Guillermo Villa Trueba, a lobbyist with the Missouri Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops. He said the Church supports the bills because they would continue to protect minors from procedures that “based on a false understanding of human nature” are designed to attempt to change a child’s sex. 

Minors are not capable of giving true informed consent to procedures that can lead to infertility and lifelong dependence on transgender medications, Villa Trueba noted, quoting Pope Francis in Laudato Si on the importance of “learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning.”

“Young people struggling with gender dysphoria are loved by God and possess the same inherent dignity that all persons do. They deserve help that heals rather than harms. Using puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for the purpose of gender transition can and will only inflict harm and cause suffering,” Villa Trueba said. 

During the hearing, Republican State Rep. Brad Christ, a fellow Catholic, probed Doyen about what he described as a “disconnect” between Doyen’s testimony and Villa Trueba’s. 

“I’m not saying ‘change Church teaching.’ But I don’t think the Church has anything to say about these bills. It’s too intimate among the lives of families,” Doyen replied.

“[The] Church teaches chastity. [The] Church teaches the dignity of the human person. The Church teaches the value of the sacrament of marriage and the beauty of a love between man and woman that reveals God’s love in the world. All of that is true. But why then, because all of that is true, do we have to say that nothing else can be true? It’s a lack of imagination, and it’s really a failure to trust God’s promises to us,” the priest continued.

Spokane bishop urges voters to oppose bill that forces priests to break seal of confession

null / Credit: Roman023_photography/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 5, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly is urging Catholic voters in Washington state to oppose a proposed law that would order priests to violate the seal of confession in cases where child abuse is revealed during the sacrament. 

The bill, proposed in both houses of the state Legislature, would amend state law to require clergy to report instances of child abuse with no exemption for instances where the abuse is learned during the sacrament of penance. 

2023 version of the proposal offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned “solely as a result of a confession.” The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out.

State Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, told the Washington State Standard that the proposal was “a hard subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views.”

“I also know far too many children have been victims of abuse — the Legislature has a duty to act,” she argued.

Canon law stipulates that any priest who deliberately violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated. This week, Daly stressed his opposition to the measure, assuring the faithful that clergy “are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail.” 

“The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane,” the bishop said.

Daly noted that the Diocese of Spokane devotes considerable resources to child safety and holds “a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse.”

The bishop said the diocese would follow the legislative process around the bill. He called for prayers “that our legislators will create sound law” that respects freedom of religion in the U.S. 

“I strongly encourage the Catholic faithful of eastern Washington to call our state representatives and respectfully ask them to vote against this measure,” Daly wrote. 

This is not the only recent effort to order priests to violate the seal of confession in an effort to combat child abuse. 

A bill proposed in Montana earlier this year proposed to “eliminate clergy exemption in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect.” 

Clergy “may not refuse to make a report as required ... on the grounds of a physician-patient or similar privilege,” the Montana bill said. That measure stalled at committee in January. 

In May 2023 Delaware legislators proposed a bill requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of reporting sexual abuse. A similar law was proposed in Vermont around the same time. Both bills failed to advance in their respective legislatures.

Citing ancient Church teachings, Vance prioritizes religious liberty at IRF summit

U.S. Vice President JD Vance addresses the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2025. / Credit: Migi Fabara/EWTN News

Washington D.C., Feb 5, 2025 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance cited both ancient Christian teachings and America’s Founding Fathers as he vowed that the Trump-Vance administration will deliver on its religious liberty commitments during a speech to the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit Wednesday morning.

“Religious freedom flows from concepts central to the Christian faith,” Vance said at the Feb. 5 speech to hundreds gathered at the annual summit in Washington, D.C.

Those Christian tenets, according to the American vice president, are “the free will of human beings and the essential dignity of all peoples.”

“We find its foundational tenets in the Gospels themselves with Christ’s famous instruction to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s,” Vance said. “Early Christians, of course, suffered greatly and unfortunately many Christians still suffer today at the hands of oppressive state power.”

The vice president referenced a letter that ancient Church historian and apologist Tertullian wrote to Scapula, a proconsul of Carthage, in the early third century about the persecution of Christians and the importance of religious liberty.

“It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions,” Tertullian wrote. “One man’s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion — to which free will and not force should lead us.”

Vance noted that Tertullian’s writings influenced Thomas Jefferson, the third American president, and that Tertullian’s writings remain in the Library of Congress.

“This is the legacy that has guided America’s political principles from the founding to this very day,” the vice president added. “We remain the world’s largest majority Christian country and the right to religious freedom is protected by the people for everybody whether you’re a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, or [have] no faith at all.”

Vance noted that the principle of religious freedom was so vital to the founders of the country that it was included as a protection in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

‘Expanding’ religious liberty in Trump’s second term

Vance promised attendees that during President Donald Trump’s second term, the administration will not only restore the religious freedom protections he supported during his first term but also intends on “expanding” those protections further.

On the domestic front, the vice president said the administration will continue its work from Trump’s first administration to preserve the conscience rights of hospital workers and faith-based ministries, remove barriers for religious organizations and businesses to contract with the federal government, and combat antisemitism. 

Vance also noted that Trump is working to end the weaponization of the federal government against religious Americans and halt government censorship. “You shouldn’t have to leave your faith at the door of your people’s government, and under President Trump’s leadership, you won’t have to,” Vance told the assembled gathering.

On the subject of U.S. foreign policy, Vance referenced the American military response to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which was intended to protect Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in the Middle East. He spoke about the plight of Iraqi Christians and the work that is needed to advance religious freedom in every part of the world, saying there is “more to do” to secure those rights.

Vance said the new administration will recognize “the difference between regimes that respect religious freedom and those that do not.”

The vice president also gave credit to Trump for halting federal funds to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that he asserted are “dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe.”

“Our administration believes we must stand for religious freedom, not just as a legal principle, as important as that is, but as a lived reality both within our own borders and especially outside [of our borders],” the vice president assured.

“I pray that together we will be able to better protect the dignity of all peoples as well as the rights of all believers to practice their faith to the dictates of their conscience,” Vance said.

The speech came on the second day of the IRF Summit, which kicked off on Tuesday with a panel that discussed some of the speakers’ hopes for religious liberty protections in Trump’s second term.

Some of the speakers expressed optimism about the administration’s commitment to religious liberty, but some also expressed concerns about the federal freeze in grants for certain NGOs abroad, some of which are meant to promote religious liberty in other countries.

In conjunction with the launch of the summit, the partners that organized the summit published a seven-page paper that outlined certain priorities. These included reassessing foreign grants to ensure religious liberty is a priority and restoring the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with a prioritization for religious minorities.

Our Lady of Martyrs in New York officially declared a national shrine

The coliseum style church at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs. / Credit: Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 4, 2025 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has confirmed that the Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, which encompasses the village where Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil, and Jean de Lalande were martyred and where St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born, has officially been named a national shrine.

On Jan. 27 the USCCB informed Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, the nonprofit corporation that owns the shrine, that it could carry the “national” designation after requesting the title in August 2024. 

The shrine’s chairman, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany, said in a statement: “We are delighted that the bishops have confirmed what the faithful have long instinctually known: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs is our home for the cultivation of holiness here in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.”

The shrine received its national title after bishops approved that it aligns with the USCCB’s standards, “Norms for the Designation of National Shrines,” including being “dedicated to promoting the faith of the pilgrims by centering on a mystery of the Catholic faith, a devotion based on authentic Church tradition, revelations recognized by the Church, or the lives of those in the Church’s calendar of saints.”

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. Credit: Ryan Amann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. Credit: Ryan Amann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies and a board member of Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, said the shrine is a place where all Catholics are confirmed in the missionary dimension of the Christian life. 

“As Pope Francis repeatedly teaches us, we Catholics do not just have a mission but are a mission. We have been entrusted by Jesus Christ with the completion of his saving mission on earth,” Landry said in a statement

Because of its association with four great saints and heroes of the faith, Landry said the shrine “probably is, after the tabernacles that adorn our churches and the souls of newly baptized babies, the holiest place for Catholics in the country.”

For her part, Julie Baaki, executive director of the shrine, commented that “our national shrine is a haven where pilgrims come to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world as well as for growth in courage for any trials we face as we try to live lives of virtue, grow in faith, and try to pass it along.”  

The church on the grounds of the shrine was built in 1930 and can seat over 8,000 people, the largest capacity of any church building in the Western Hemisphere. The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs will begin its 2025 season on May 3 and will remain open through the feast day of the North American martyrs on Oct. 19.

Tennessee bishops welcome ‘landmark’ school choice voucher program

Credit: Bill Chizek/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 4, 2025 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

Tennessee Catholic bishops on Monday lauded the passage of legislation establishing Tennessee’s first-ever universal school choice program, which is set to fund more than 20,000 scholarships to private schools.

Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act of 2025, which was passed on Jan. 30, will fund 20,000 scholarships, half of which are income-restricted. The passage of the act shortly followed the Trump-Vance administration’s executive order last week instructing federal agencies to expand school choice.

The Education Freedom Act provides $7,000 scholarships to enable students to attend private schools while also increasing funding for public schools. It sets aside bonuses to be awarded to public school teachers for excellence, increases K–12 facilities funding, and the legislation promises that school district funding won’t decrease due to disenrollment.

The Tennessee Catholic Conference applauded the Education Freedom Act in a Feb. 3 statement.

“This landmark legislation reflects our shared commitment to ensuring families that every child, regardless of background, has access to an education that nurtures their potential and supports their families’ unique needs,” the statement read. “In addition to supporting family choice in education, the new law includes provisions to support public schools across the state with significant funding for facility maintenance and expansion as well as financial bonuses for public school teachers.”

The act sets aside nearly $146 million for the Education Freedom Scholarships as well as a little more than $198 million for teacher bonuses. It also sets aside $77 million in funding for K–12 facilities and $2.7 million for administration costs.

The program builds off of a previous pilot program in which Tennessee had expanded school choice via an education savings account pilot program in several counties.

“We thank Gov. Bill Lee for his leadership in the area of family choice in education,” the statement continued. “The education scholarships already in place in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville are making progress educating students looking for opportunities not available in public schools. This new program will make options available across the state.”

The expanded school choice program will kick off in the 2025-2026 school year with 20,000 scholarships available for Tennessee students. Half of the vouchers are set aside for students with disabilities, students who are already eligible for the existing ESA program, and eligible families whose household incomes are under the threshold of $173,000 for a family of four. 

In the 2026-2027 school year, the bill would remove these income restrictions altogether, providing universal eligibility for all Tennessee students, but would prioritize currently enrolled students, low-income students, and public school students. The program will expand to meet demand, adding 5,000 universal eligibility scholarships each year that three-quarters of the available scholarships are awarded. Scholarships are applied to private school tuition and fees first, but the remaining funds may be used for other approved education-related expenses. 

Tennessee Rep. John Ray Clemmons, an outspoken opponent of the act, criticized the program, saying it was designed to “primarily benefit wealthy families.”

But Lee said he believes in increasing access to private schools while improving public schools. 

“I’ve long believed we can have the best public schools and give parents a choice in their child’s education, regardless of income or zip code,” Lee said in a Jan. 30 statement. 

Notably, the act does not require a private school “to alter its creed, practices, admission policies, hiring policies, or curriculum in order to accept recipients” of the scholarships. 

The legislation “does not expand the regulatory authority of this state” to further restrict private schools beyond what is required for the program to function. This is especially important for Catholic schools that often maintain archdiocesan-level requirements for their policies. 

For instance, Catholic preschools in Colorado took legal action after they were unable to participate in Colorado’s Universal Preschool program due to the program’s policy requirements.

The Tennessee Catholic Conference noted that “Catholic schools have long been dedicated to serving the common good by providing an education that values not only academic excellence but also the holistic development of students.” 

“Rooted in faith and guided by the principles of compassion, justice, and respect for human dignity, Catholic schools focus on the needs of students and families, striving to form individuals who will contribute positively to society,” the statement continued.

“The Education Freedom Act aligns with our mission to create an environment where all children can thrive, offering families more flexibility and access to the educational opportunities that best fit their values and aspirations,” the statement read. “We believe this law will help foster a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape, empowering parents to make choices that reflect their children’s needs and supporting schools in their efforts to provide the highest quality of education.”

“As Catholic schools continue to serve Tennessee communities, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the common good, working together with families, educators, and policymakers to ensure a future where every child can succeed in both faith and learning,” the conference concluded.

Religious freedom advocates at IRF Summit outline hopes for Trump’s term

Panelists at the International Religious Freedom Summit discuss religious freedom hopes for President Donald Trump’s second term on Feb. 4, 2025. From left to right: Moderator Brett Scharffs, director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University. Panelists: David Beasley, former executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Programme (2017-2023); Annie Boyajian, co-president of Freedom House; Scott Flipse, director of policy and media relations for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the International Religious Freedom Summit

Washington D.C., Feb 4, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

Two weeks into Donald Trump’s second presidency, religious freedom advocates are urging the new administration to prioritize the promotion of religious liberty globally in its foreign policy agenda over the next four years.

The International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit kicked off Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., with a panel discussion on how foreign aid, deterrence measures, and strong relations with foreign leaders can promote peace, security, and religious freedom throughout the world.

Several hundred people from dozens of countries who represent many religions are attending the conference to discuss ways in which faith leaders, lawmakers, and others can end religious persecution. 

The conference’s speakers will include Vice President JD Vance, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, faith leaders from various religions, and religious freedom advocates. 

The major faiths represented at the conference include Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. Several smaller faiths who face persecution, including members of the Baha’i faith, the Yazidi faith, and the Falun Gong religious movement, also have a strong presence at the summit.

“[We are at] a moment of tremendous challenge and a moment of tremendous opportunity,” Annie Boyajian, the co-president of the human rights group Freedom House, said during the opening panel.

Boyajian was joined on the stage by Scott Flipse, the director of policy and media relations for the Congressional Executive Commission on China, and David Beasley, the former director of the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

Boyajian expressed cautious optimism about the new administration, saying Trump “did a tremendous job” on religious freedom during his first term as president. However, she also conveyed her concerns about the White House freezing grant programs from the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“A lot of programs benefiting religious freedom and folks of all faiths have been … put on hold,” Boyajian said.

Boyajian urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “not to throw the baby out with the bathwater” when reassessing State Department grants and to expedite the review of paused grants that have religious liberty implications, emphasizing: “Lives really are on the line.”

“It is incumbent on us to help protect others who are targeted,” she said.

During the panel discussion, Flipse, the panel’s China expert, shared his confidence in Trump’s pursuit to “be a peacemaker” and argued that the defense of religious liberty is directly connected to the president’s security and peacemaking goals.

“[Creating] social stability between religious groups in places where there is conflict,” he said, helps “create paths for peace.”

Flipse underlined the importance of staffing the State Department, emphasizing “getting people into positions who know what your priorities are … [and] what common sense in foreign policy is going to look like.”

Similarly, Beasley, of the U.N.’s World Food Programme, said officials “can’t just come down with a hammer” when negotiating with foreign leaders who restrict religious liberty, adding: “You’ve got to have time to touch the heart.”

Beasley spoke about his negotiations with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and Houthi leaders in Yemen when leading the World Food Programme, saying many of those leaders are “victims of their own propaganda a lot of the times” but that “respecting [their] religion” and appealing to religious leaders in their faith to discourage religious persecution is an effective strategy. 

“I can’t tell you how many problems we’ve solved by just respecting someone else [and by giving] them a chance to be heard,” Beasley said. 

However, he also said using deterrents like the threat of cutting off aid can also push leaders to scale back religious liberty persecution.

The IRF Summit gathers representatives from some 90 U.S. and international partner organizations, including The Catholic University of America, the Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom International, and In Defense of Christians.

In conjunction with the 2025 summit, the partners also published a seven-page paper that listed some of the organizers’ top priorities for the Trump administration.

They urged the administration to guarantee humanitarian funds are targeted toward religious communities under persecution and to restore the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with a prioritization for religious minorities. They also requested that the White House use foreign aid to promote religious freedom and impose stronger sanctions on governments that violate religious liberty.

The organizations also jointly called on the Trump administration to closely watch religious freedom in Syria as the country establishes its new government after rebels ousted former President Bashar al-Assad. They also urged close monitoring of religious freedom in Iran.