Angelus News | January 12, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 1

NATION
■ Catholic women’s college reverses transgender admissions decision
St. Mary’s College, a Catholic women’s school in Indiana, will reverse a controversial decision to accept transgender
applicants.
The reversal came less than a month after the Nov. 27 email, which announced that the school’s board had approved a
new policy that would consider any applicants who “consistently live and identify as women.” The policy drew swift criticism,
including from Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, where the school is located.
“We believed it affirmed our identity as an inclusive, Catholic, women’s college,” read the Dec. 21 reversal email from
Katie Conboy, president, and board chair Maureen Smith. “It is increasingly clear, however, that the position we took is not
shared by all members of our community.”
A fatherly exception — Jean-Claude Duncan, a married father of nine and
former Methodist minister, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud,
Minnesota, Dec. 9, thanks to a little-known Vatican provision that allows for
some converted Protestant ministers to be ordained priests. Duncan is now one
of more than 150 married priests serving in the United States. He was received
into the Catholic Church in 2016, along with his wife and children. | CENTRAL
MINNESOTA CATHOLIC
■ Pro-life pregnancy centers
could lose federal funding
Pregnancy resource centers may be cut out of federal
funds under new regulations proposed by the White House.
The proposed rule would bar Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) funds — which total about $16.5
billion a year — from being used for pregnancy counseling
or other programs that apply only after someone is already
pregnant.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged
Catholics to petition the Biden administration to drop the
proposed change, which is currently in a period of public
comment. Conservative leaders have criticized it as politically
motivated.
“HHS does not cite any evidence that pregnancy centers
or others receiving TANF funding under alternatives to
abortion programs are unlawfully using federal funds for
non-TANF purposes,” read a public comment letter signed
by several congressional Republicans. “This suggests HHS
is targeting pregnancy centers for their pro-life mission rather
than for any kind of misuse of federal funds.”
■ Rome asks US for one more
round of synod listening sessions
Dioceses in the U.S. are being asked to hold another round
of listening sessions this year as part of the ongoing Synod
on Synodality.
The request from synod organizers in Rome was announced
by Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, who coordinates
the U.S. bishops’ synod process, in a Jan. 2 letter to
his fellow American bishops. Flores’ team is requesting that
each diocese hold two to three listening sessions regarding
the guiding questions posed by the synod secretariat.
The first question is: “Where have I seen or experienced Bishop Daniel Flores sits next to Pope Francis at the Synod of Bishops last year. | CNS/
VATICAN MEDIA
successes — and distresses — within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life
that encourage or hinder the mission?”
The second: “How can the structures and organization of the Church help all the baptized to respond to the call to proclaim
the Gospel and to live as a community of love and mercy in Christ?”
After the sessions are held, diocesan synod leaders will be invited to participate in a national working group to discuss the
outcomes.
“We all know time is short, but even modest efforts at the local level can bear much fruit,” wrote Flores to the bishops.
“Let us do what we can, as well as we can and trust the Lord to accomplish beyond what we can foresee.”
January 12, 2024 • ANGELUS • 5