FEBRUARY 14, 2025
mississippicatholic.com
White House suggests it will strip funds from Catholic Charities BY KATE SCANLON
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The White House Jan. 28 sought to clarify what would and would not be impacted by a directive to freeze federal financial assistance programs and suggested it would seek to strip federal funds from nongovernmental organizations including Catholic Charities as part of its effort to enforce its immigration policies. Catholic Charities USA urged the Trump administration to reconsider the freeze of the funds in a Jan. 28 statement. A judge temporarily blocked the freeze the same day. The White House budget office ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, which could impact trillions of dollars in government spending and halt public programs that affect millions of Americans, according to a memo from that office. These orders could impact Catholic entities that rely on such grants. In her debut press briefing as White House press secretary Jan. 28, Karoline Leavitt said “this is not a blanket pause on federal assistance in grant programs from the Trump administration,” arguing “individual assistance” will not be impacted, listing “Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits” as examples. “It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dol- Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. walk into a temporary humanitarian respite center run by Cathlars,” she said, arguing the directive was to combat
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olic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in McAllen, Texas, April 8, 2021. (CNS photo/Go Nakamura, Reuters)
March for Life puts pro-life vision that welcomes babies, supports families in focus BY MARIA WIERING
(OSV News) – “Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vice President JD Vance told a cheering crowd at the 52nd National March for Life Jan. 24. “I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to wel-
come them into the world and eager to raise them,” he said. “And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world, and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are, here at the March for Life.” In his first public appearance following Inauguration Day, Vance was the final speaker at the annual march’s two-hour rally preceding attendees’ walk from the Washington Monument grounds to the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Other speakers included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike John-
son, R-La. It is the first time both leaders of Congress’s chambers attended a March for Life. While most speakers – policymakers and pro-life advocates – spoke specifically about making abortion “illegal and unthinkable” in post-Dobbs America, Vance championed a pro-family vision that not only rejected abortion, but also supported raising children. Noting his own three young children, Vance, who is Catholic, said, “The task of our movement is to protect innocent life. It’s to defend the unborn; and it’s also to be pro-family and pro-life in the fullest
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Annual Report insert View the diocese annual report in this special insert
World Marriage Day 6 Couples around the diocese celebrate marriage
Youth 14 Youth photos from around the diocese