Catholic Church

By Michael Katz, Newsmax – President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will halt federal funding to cities and states that have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal aliens beginning next month… “Starting Feb. 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens” Trump said… The DOJ has designated 11 states and the District of Columbia, three counties and 18 cities as sanctuary jurisdictions based on policies that impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations. …

Patriot Post – “It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.” —George Washington (1789)

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 1:29-39 – 29 And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. 32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door. ….

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – The University of Notre Dame plans to install as director of a university-wide institute a scholar who has described laws prohibiting abortion as “violence,” “sexual abuse” and “trauma” and has linked efforts to end abortion to white supremacy… “Abortion access is freedom-enhancing, in the truest sense of the word,” states a column in Salon co-authored by Susan Ostermann, an associate professor of global affairs at Notre Dame, in May 2022, shortly after a draft decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade was leaked. …

By Amira Abuzeid for EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – Reacting to Bishop Michael Martin’s Dec. 17, 2025, pastoral letter announcing the impending abolishment of altar rails and kneelers in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, 31 of the diocese’s priests have signed a letter to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts containing a set of questions, or “dubia,” related to the matter… the priests directly question “whether a diocesan bishop may prohibit the use of kneelers to assist members of the faithful who, of their own accord, wish to receive holy Communion kneeling.”

By Mary Rose, Catholic Vote – The Trump administration this week announced it will not renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali nationals, so they must leave the U.S. by March 17, the expiration date for the extension the Biden administration granted… The decision, confirmed by White House and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials Jan. 13, follows through on President Donald Trump’s signaling in late 2025 that he would end TPS for certain groups as part of a broader effort to scale back humanitarian immigration programs.

Fr. Kevin Drew, Catholic Exchange – Christmas isn’t just one day, but rather a season—a season that started with Evening Prayer on December 24th and ends on the feast of the Baptism, which was this last Sunday. Within that season there is an octave, from December 25th to January 1st, which mystically is the same day stretched out into eight. Since 1970, January 1st is a holy day of obligation for Mary, the Mother of God; for centuries before that, January 1st was the feast of the circumcision, as Christ was circumcised on the 8th day.

By Donald DeMarco, Crisis Magazine – Ash Williams is an abortion doula, which is to say she is a person who provides support for women before, during, and after their abortions. She is transgender and refers to herself with male pronouns. She has had two abortions herself and has a forearm tattoo depicting a tool used in the abortion procedure… Abortion, for Williams, in her words, is a “type of birth.”… Notre Dame University found her situation intriguing enough to invite her to deliver a “reproductive justice” talk. Her talk drew an audience of approximately 105 listeners… Here is a jigsaw puzzle in which none of the pieces fit into any other piece.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – In a high-profile case before the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Samuel Alito left a left-wing attorney scrambling with a series of simple questions about biological sex… Alito asked Kathleen Hartnett, who represented the trans-identifying male challenging the Idaho law (Lindsay Hecox), about some “basics” regarding biological sex and rules governing it. He began by probing whether Hartnett believed that “a school may have separate teams for a category of students classified as boys and a category of students classified as girls” …

By  Raymond Kowalski, OnePeterFive – We often hear or read a word or phrase or we listen to a piece of music and we absorb it immediately without thinking.  As Catholics, we have filters — defenses, really — that block or at least alert us to problematic messages. But some problematic messages slip through easily. I now realize that they were designed to make us think we know their meaning when in fact they mean considerably more or even something else entirely. Over time, the hidden meaning becomes our belief and our faith is eroded.