HEROES
Vice President JD Vance
Vice President JD Vance has rapidly emerged as a leading Catholic voice in American politics, championing faith, family, and morally ordered freedom in an era of cultural upheaval.
A staunch pro-life advocate, Vance participated in the 52nd annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January. “It is a blessing to know the truth, and the truth is that unborn life is worthy of protection,” he told the marchers, vowing that the White House would unwaveringly support the pro-life cause and bolster American family life.
“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country,” the vice president said at the March for Life.
Vance has played a key role in bringing Catholic social teaching into public discourse, openly emphasizing that his worldview is deeply shaped by Catholic tradition.
“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” he said in a recent interview with FOX News.
“It’s a very Christian concept,” he remarked. He later explained that his remarks were a reference to the Catholic concept of the ordo amoris, the proper order of loves, articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Border Czar Tom Homan
Trump Border Czar Tom Homan in January spoke up on behalf of the most vulnerable, including those who have been violently victimized as a result of failures to enforce the laws put in place to defend the innocent.
Some of those arrested and deported during the first week of the new administration “were murderers,” Homan told an interviewer. “Some of them were rapists. Some of them raped a child.”
In a 2020 episode of The Catholic Current with Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ, Homan explained that he approaches border security from a humanitarian perspective.
“Securing the border not only saves lives in this country,” he said, “it saves lives of the most vulnerable people that are enticed to come to this country with promises that can’t be kept.”
In the latter half of January, a viral video captured Homan confronting an illegal migrant accused of child sex crimes.
“Let’s take him in, process him, and lock him up,” Homan instructed ICE officers on the scene.
“Every sexual predator we arrest means more safe children,” Homan remarked.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ
Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, in January once again proved himself to be among the most tenacious defenders of the unborn in public life.
The Catholic congressman made our list of heroes in 2023 “for warning lawmakers about the plan to reauthorize an AIDS relief program to promote abortions and gender ideology abroad,” as CatholicVote reported at the time.
President Joe Biden and his allies in Congress pushed hard in 2023 for a reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that expanded the program to cover “sexual reproductive health, rights and services,” without any protections against funding for abortions overseas.
Not everyone listened, but Smith sniffed out and warned everyone about the pro-abortion ploy, helping to achieve a pro-life win by attaching an amendment to PEPFAR against the promotion of abortion.
This January, Smith’s worst suspicions were proved justified. An investigation found that the Biden administration had allowed PEPFAR funds “to be used for abortions in Mozambique,” CatholicVote reported.
“Frankly, it’s not a surprise to find that they are performing abortion with U.S. taxpayer dollars,” Smith stated. “Their denials over the years have rung hollow in the face of their aggressive promotion of abortion and collaboration with some of the largest international abortion providers.”
And Smith has no intention of letting up. He vows he will hold hearings on the scandal and “continue to fight to protect the sanctity of life and ensure that U.S. foreign assistance is used to save lives, not end them.”
ZEROES
Georgetown University
In a total betrayal of Catholic teaching, Jesuit-founded Georgetown University in January rejected the steadfast warnings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) against what Pope Francis calls “gender ideology.”
Specifically, Georgetown Law Center promoted the false claim put forward by President Biden that the failed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) should now be considered “the law of the land” by courts nationwide.
The USCCB has again and again pleaded with lawmakers not to advance the ERA, warning that it would amount to an attack on religious freedom.
A 2021 USCCB factsheet pointed out that the ERA could expand traditional protections against sex discrimination to include “gender” and “sexual orientation” – effectively making it illegal for Catholic institutions to uphold Church teachings against the tenets of the LGBTQ movement.
Also in January, Georgetown continued to build a campus culture totally unmoored from Catholic teaching by hiring a “transgender studies” expert.“Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic University in the United States, is hiring a transgender studies professor for its Women’s and Gender Studies Program and Department of English, prompting some criticism,” The College Fix reported. “The new position comes after the private, Washington D.C.-based institution began allowing ‘gender-inclusive’ dorm options last fall.”
Immigration Attorney Barbara Graham
In a viral video distributed by Catholic Charities, Graham instructed illegal immigrants on how to avoid law enforcement.
“You do not need to speak to the immigration authorities or answer any questions if you are asked where you were born or how you entered the United States,” Graham says in the video. “You may simply refuse to answer or remain silent if you choose.”
In the midst of morally fraught and delicate discussions about the humanitarian crisis at the border, Graham earns a January “zero” from us for making a mockery of the Church’s true teachings on immigration and the common good.
