February 2025
HEROES
Vice President JD Vance
During his first full month as Vice President, Vance continued to witness to his strong Catholic faith.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Feb. 14th, he defended the rights of his fellow pro-lifers abroad.
“Concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in their crosshairs,” Vance stated.
He cited a recent case in which the British government charged an Army veteran “with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes.”
Less than a week later, Vance declared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC): “I believe the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith … is that the Son of God became man, He died, and then He raised Himself from the dead.”
“I think whether it’s fighting for the unborn or fighting for peace and security for our citizens, I want us to be the kind of society where my kids can grow up to be virtuous young people,” he added.
At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Feb. 28th, Vance led attendees in a prayer for the health of Pope Francis.
“I believe that the Pope is fundamentally a person who cares about the flock of Christians under his leadership, and he’s a man who cares about the spiritual direction of the faith,” the vice president said. “And if the Holy Father can hear us, I hope he knows that there are thousands of faithful Catholics in this room and millions of faithful Catholics in this country who are praying for him as he weathers his particular storm.”
All of these remarks truly demonstrate that for the second month in a row, Vice President JD Vance is one of our heroes.
Bishops who defended Church teaching on in vitro fertilization (IVF)
Bishop Robert Barron (Winona–Rochester), Bishop Daniel E. Thomas (Toledo), Bishop Michael F. Burbidge (Arlington)
Three bishops this past month issued especially powerful statements affirming the Catholic Church’s teaching against the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Bishop Robert Barron, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-life Activities, jointly wrote that IVF “ends countless human lives and treats persons like property.” IVF “cannot be the answer,” they stated.
“The IVF industry treats human beings like products and freezes or kills millions of children who are not selected for transfer to a womb or do not survive,” Bishop Barron and Bishop Thomas added in their statement.
Similarly, Bishop Burbidge wrote in a pastoral letter: “Unfortunately, and despite the good intentions and aspirations of many married couples, IVF is contrary to justice and remains replete with moral difficulties.”
“A great moral injustice of IVF is that many of the embryonic children brought about by the process will either be discarded, having been deemed undesirable, or frozen, having been deemed desirable but unnecessary,” he explained. “As practiced, IVF both creates life and destroys life.”
State Del. Matt Morgan, R-MD, Chairman of the Maryland Freedom Caucus
The Maryland Freedom Caucus – a group of conservative lawmakers led by Catholic state Delegate Matthew Morgan, R-MD, spearheaded the successful effort to derail HB380, a far-left state bill dubbed the “Condoms for Kindergarteners Bill” by its opponents.
Per a Feb. 28th press release from the Caucus, the defeated legislation would have “allowed condoms and other birth control to be dispensed via vending machines in nursery, elementary, middle, and high schools.”
The Caucus also stated in the release that the bill would have stripped “away parental rights and expose[d] children to inappropriate content at an unthinkably young age.”
After he led the charge to bring down HB380, Morgan set his sights on another far-left anti-parent Maryland bill, HB161.
Per a press release, HB161 “mandates gender ideology and sexuality education standards in Maryland classrooms–without allowing parents to opt out.”
Morgan said his caucus is “not done yet.”
“HB161 is still alive, and we need every Marylander to stand up and fight back before it’s too late,” the Catholic delegate stated.
Honorable Mention
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Feb. 10th visited communities in western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee that were devastated by Hurricane Helene last year.
“The damage is immense but we are going to work together, federal and state, to make massive repairs,” said Duffy, a Catholic husband and father of nine.
Honorable Mention
Venerable Father Emil Kapaun (1916-1951)
In late February, Pope Francis advanced the cause for canonization Father Emil Kapaun, an American military hero – elevating him to Venerable.
Father Kapaun “served as an army chaplain during World War II and the Korean War,” CatholicVote reported. “He was captured in Korea and died as a prisoner of war in the Pyoktong Prison Camp.”
ZEROES
The National Catholic Reporter
A Feb.13th op-ed published in the left-wing National Catholic Reporter (NCR) attacked the Catholic faith of Vice President JD Vance – one of this month’s heroes.
The article ridiculed Vance’s invocation of ordo amoris, a centuries-old Catholic theological concept born from the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, as “sophomoric” and “Hillbilly theology.”
Vance converted to the Catholic faith in 2019 and his family hails from working-class roots in rural Appalachia.
In response to the op-ed, CatholicVote Vice President Josh Mercer wrote: “To throw Vance’s status as a convert to the Catholic faith back in his face, and to conflate it also with his class background, is just the opposite of the kind of Catholic witness that Pope Francis has called for and which I know most of our bishops want to cultivate.”
