Tag: Christianity

Within the first week of the new session of Illinois’ General Assembly lawmakers on Jan. 13 and 14 filed bills to set their state on a path to becoming the 12th jurisdiction in the United States to have a physician-assisted suicide law.

Ten states, including the District of Columbia, have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Along with Illinois, 17 other states have lawmakers proposing similar legislation.

The two identical bills submitted in the Illinois Senate and House called “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act” call for two doctors to ascertain that a patient has six months or less to live, and to evaluate the patient’s mental faculties and ability to self-administer the lethal drugs.

The proposed law, however, stops short of authorizing physician-assisted euthanasia, where the physician administers the medication prescribed to kill the patient.

In physician-assisted suicide, a physician prescribes lethal medication but the patient administers it.

However, the legislation states that the patient’s death under the act cannot be described as either suicide or murder. In fact, it states the actions described in the proposed act “do not, for any purposes, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, euthanasia, mercy killing, homicide, murder, manslaughter, elder abuse or neglect, or any other civil or criminal violation under the law.”

It also specifies the cause of death for the death certificate would be the original diagnosis of the patient — not that they took prescribed lethal drugs to kill themselves.

Catholic bioethicist John Haas said the ancient Hippocratic oath in its original form, which doctors traditionally have taken, involves a physician swearing not to give any poison — or counsel for it — to the sick.

“It’s broader than just a Christian teaching,” said Haas, the immediate past president of the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center, or NCBC. “It’s a humane teaching that we don’t kill those who are suffering. We help them. We work on curing them and healing them. And if that doesn’t work, we comfort them when they’re in their last days.”

The Catholic Conference of Illinois is opposing the assisted suicide legislation, advocating the state instead advance moral alternatives when it comes to end-of-life care.

“The answer is palliative care,” said Robert Gilligan, the conference’s executive director. He referred to health care focused solely on giving comfort and managing symptoms such as pain that cause suffering for someone with a serious or terminal illness.

“Fund more of that. Expand more of that. This is the way out of this,” he said.

Gilligan also said another pressing concern is “suicide contagion.”

“In other words, once a state says it’s okay to end your life, more people will do that,” he said.

The conference is trying to help lawmakers understand this risk.

But Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, the bill’s lead sponsor in the state Senate, said she was hopeful about the bill’s passage.

“I talked to my Senate members and we know … it polls at over 70% of the population (who) think it should be an option,” Holmes said.

According to a 2024 Gallup poll, 66% of Americans favor physician-assisted suicide “when a person has a disease that cannot be cured and is living in severe pain.” Another 71% supported physician-assisted euthanasia “if the patient and his or her family request it.”

Holmes, 65, who said she is Catholic but not practicing, shared that her father’s death, when she was a teenager, was part of why she became passionate about the bill after being approached by Compassion and Choices. The group lobbies to legalize physician-assisted suicide as “medical aid in dying.”

“My father died of lung cancer when he was 49. And I mean, it’s a horrendous way to watch somebody die. I mean, it’s horrible. It’s painful. There’s a lot of suffering,” she said.

But Gilligan, along with other Catholic bioethicists, pointed out that when states or countries enact assisted suicide laws, they almost always expand them and relax the initial criteria to cover a greater number of people.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at NCBC, said Oregon, Vermont, Washington state and Hawaii have all liberalized their laws beyond their initial restrictions. Lawmakers have pushed similar efforts in California and New Jersey.

Father Pacholczyk said that the Catholic Church can help people think through and see that the arguments for such laws are fundamentally flawed. But he also said the church has teaching that helps people bear through deep difficulties.

He noted that for Catholics, “hope is the inseparable companion of suffering.”

“Jesus endured the Cross, which was fruitful, precious and redemptive. But no one can support just the cross alone,” he said. “Suffering, accompanied by the warming reality of hope, offers us strength in the recognition that our earthly pains will indeed pass, and yield to eternal joys.”

He said, “This remarkable combination of hope and suffering unchains the human spirit. Such hope is central to the life of every follower of Christ.”

Cherkasy, Cherkasy Province, Ukraine, January 31, 2025

From the attack on the Cherkasy Cathedral in October. Photo: religionnews     

Police in the Ukrainian province of Cherkasy have decided to bring charges against the clergy and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church who attempted to defend their Archangel Michael Cathedral from a violent takeover in October.

Meanwhile, those who caused severe bodily harm to a number of people, Ukrainian Hierarch Appeals to Patriarch Bartholomew Following Brutal Church AttackOn October 17, one of the bloodiest takeovers took place in Cherkasy, when the schismatics seized the Archangel Michael Cathedral and violently attacked His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy, as well as Orthodox clergy and parishioners.

“>including His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy, and desecrated the holy place with the use of weapons, continue to walk free.

“The bloody massacre orchestrated by OCU-hired militants at the UOC’s Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy has shocked the world. The blood and tears of dozens of injured Orthodox Christians cannot be washed from the hands of these raiders and criminals,” writes the First Cossack Telegram channel.

“They have decided to cleanse themselves of the horror they perpetrated during the assault. And they chose the most shameful and cynical means to do so.”

So far, at least four people—two priests and two laymen—have been officially notified of suspicion for hooliganism. According to the channel, investigators are trying to expedite the cases. The case against Fr. Roman Gorkavenko, who is alleged to have used pepper spray against the violent invaders, has already been sent to court, and he has been placed under nighttime house arrest.

The Orthodox Christians face from 3 to 7 years imprisonment.

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York, as a national shrine for pilgrims, the sanctuary announced Jan. 30.

A spokesperson for the U.S. bishop conference did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

The site, once known as the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, encompasses the former Ossernenon village where Jesuit priests Sts. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande were martyred in the 1640s. It is also where convert St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656.

It opened in 1885 and was administered for most of its history by a succession of Jesuit U.S. provinces, it said in the announcement. In 2017, the nonprofit Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs Inc. transferred ownership of the shrine to Friends of Our Lady of Martyrs, a nonprofit corporation chaired by Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany, New York.

“We are delighted that the bishops have confirmed what the faithful have long instinctually known: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs is our home for the cultivation of holiness here in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico,” Bishop Scharfenberger said in a statement.

“The inspiration of the martyrs in my upstate New York backyard was foundational to my own early calling to the priesthood,” he added. “To this day, I go to the Shrine as a pilgrim to refuel in prayer for God’s outpouring of graces in my daily decisions and the lives of the faithful people the Church has entrusted to me.”

Julie Baaki, executive director of Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, said, “Pope Francis has said that there are more Christian martyrs in the world today than in the early Church.

“Our National Shrine is a haven where pilgrims come to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world as well as for growth in courage for any trials we face as we try to live lives of virtue, grow in faith and try to pass it along,” Baaki said.

“As a wife and mother,” she added, “I see the fruits of my prayers to the Martyrs in everyday family life, and a superabundance of graces in the testimonies of faithful who visit. Even before this new designation, our Shrine has drawn multitudes from across the country to upstate New York to learn from the faith of the martyrs and Saint Kateri.”

Msgr. Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA and a board member of Friends of Our Lady of the Martyrs, underscored the shrine’s emphasis on mission and encouraged people to visit the shine to “experience its enormous spiritual riches.”

The shrine is, he said, “because of its association with four great saints and heroes of our faith, probably is, after the tabernacles that adorn our Churches and the souls of newly baptized babies, the holiest place for Catholics in the country.”

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs will begin its 2025 season May 3 and remain open until the feast day of the North American martyrs Oct. 19, the announcement said. 2025 is the centenary of the North American martyrs’ beatification.

Buenos Aires, January 31, 2025

Photo: iglesiaortodoxaserbiasca.org     

The St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Buenos Aires celebrated its slava, or patronal feast, on Sunday January 26.

The local Serbian Orthodox hierarch was unable to attend, but the local Antiochian hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Santiago, and the local Russian hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Leonid, came to celebrate the feast, reports the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Buenoes Aires, South America, and Central America.

Many faithful from different communities were present to pray to the Lord and celebrate the holy illuminator of the Serbs, St. Sava.

Photo: iglesiaortodoxaserbiasca.org     

In his homily, Met. Santiago emphasized St. Sava’s extraordinary life journey, highlighting three key aspects: his remarkable personal sacrifice, his family’s transformation, and his nation-building legacy. Born a prince with wealth and authority, St. Sava chose to renounce everything for a life dedicated to God. His spiritual influence extended to his own father, who became a monk under his son’s guidance. After his father’s death as a saint (evidenced by myrrh-streaming relics), St. Sava used his father’s relics to reconcile his quarreling brothers and unite the Serbian people. Beyond establishing the Serbian Orthodox Church, St. Sava helped build Serbia as an Orthodox nation, leaving a spiritual and cultural legacy that continues to strengthen the Church today.

Then, Met. Leonid spoke and congratulated Abbess Maria, saying: “In the Epistle reading, we heard that God gave different gifts to each one: To some He gave the gift of prophecy, to others the gift of teaching. So today we congratulate Mother Maria on the slava of the monastery of which she is abbess, and we pray to God to give her the gift of leadership, of directing this monastery so that with God’s help there will be more monastic vocations in it.

After the Liturgy, the “St. Sava Academy” was held, with various readings about the Holy Hierarch, followed by a festive lunch.

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Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of the spiritual classic “Man’s Search for Meaning,” wrote:

“Dostoevsky said once, ‘There is only one thing I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.’ These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom — which cannot be taken away — that makes life meaningful and purposeful.”

Catholicism is tailor-made to make us worthy of our suffering: past, present, and future. Whether our transmission just went out, or our house just burned down, we’ve been welcomed into and united with the suffering of Christ, which is to say the suffering at the heart of all mankind: the lame, the blind, the leper, the poor in spirit.

A dear East Coast friend, an infectious disease doctor and deacon who often works with the poor called me last week to commiserate about the LA wildfires. “I fear for the trauma of the people in the mostly wealthy communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena,” he observed.

“The poor are used to staggering losses,” he continued. “I often hear things like ‘My mother was just sentenced to 20 years in prison,’ or ‘We’ve been evicted again,’ or ‘My diabetic sister’s other leg has to come off.’ ”

“But the wealthy” — my friend knows because he’s wealthy himself — “are used to being in control. We fix things with money. So to have so complete and sudden a loss, compounded by the thousands of people who lost their homes — the emotional effect, it seems to me, will be staggering.”

Everyone who lives or has lived in LA has felt the wound of the wildfires. The wound to those of all demographics who lost their homes (not to mention the many who lost their lives) is simply unfathomable.

Not a paperclip — no papers. Not a coffeemaker, not a cup to drink from. Not a beloved shelf of books, a toothbrush, a family keepsake, a dog dish, a favorite jacket, a familiar view out of the window from which you may have gazed during morning prayer for decades. The beauty, the sight lines, the treetops, the streets down which you walked, and drove, and dreamed: for many, all gone.

A sense of security and stability shattered. The old-growth Southern California landscape, the visual reminders of a lifetime of memories: up in smoke.

Without engaging in the blame game, one Scripture verse has rung especially true: “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you” (Daniel 3:38).

The moral backbone seems to have come, among other places, from the firefighters, first responders, and debris removers. The reassuring solidarity has been modeled by the innumerable neighbors, friends, and volunteer brigades who by all accounts have offered shelter, set up donation centers, organized clothing and food drives, instituted fundraisers, opened their wallets, shared their tables, beds, hearts, and prayers.

If this ghastly tragedy has shown us anything, it may be the extreme limitations, and folly, of political infighting. When your house is burning down, do you care who the willing-to-risk-his-or-her-life firefighter voted for? When your neighbors’ house is burning down, do you withhold your compassion because they belong to the opposite party?

The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and flames spread with the same neutrality. Can we offer the same heart, open to all, when we start to rebuild?

I am not worthy — “No soy digno” in Spanish — we say before receiving the Eucharist. “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”

I am not worthy — and I may or may not still have a roof — BUT. “I am not worthy but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” My soul, my heart, my nerves. Perhaps never have so many in the city of Los Angeles needed so much healing, on so many levels.

And if we pray to be worthy of our sufferings, may we also be worthy of our joys: however small at the moment for so many; however and whenever they may come.

When a Benedictine monk takes final promises, with his hand on the altar he repeats this phrase: “Uphold me, Lord, according to your word, and I shall live; let not my hope be put to shame” (Ps. 119:116).

Let the emblem of the 2025 wildfires be not the streets reduced to ashes, the faltering leadership, the smoldering embers of beloved homes, businesses, and schools.

Let the emblem be the object unearthed from the smoldering rubble of Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades: a tabernacle housing the body of Our Lord: intact, unharmed.

Nikolaevsk, Alaska, January 31, 2025

Fr. Nikolai (left) is leading his parish in Alaska into ROCOR. Photo: Church of the Nativity, Erie, PA     

Old Believer parishes in Alaska and Oregon are joining the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

His Grace Bishop John of Caracas and South America, who ministers to ROCOR’s Old Rite parishes, made an announcement concerning the new parishes during a visit to the Old Rite Church of the Nativity in Erie, Pennsylvania on January 26.

For decades, the Erie parish was the only canonical Old Rite church in ROCOR. Previously of the priestless Old Believer tradition, parish leader Pimen Simon led the congregation into the Church in 1983 and was ordained as its first priest.

In 2023, another Old Rite parish, Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church in Monett, Missouri, was received into ROCOR.

Now, with the new parishes in Alaska and Oregon, ROCOR has four canonical Old Rite parishes.

It was previously reported in May 2023 that Fr. Nikolai and his parish were joining ROCOR, though their reception was delayed. However, Fr. Nikolai has now been received into the Church.

“We have people from Alaska and Oregon who are coming into our fold,” Bp. John said. “Yesterday, I chrismated Fr. Nikolai and Fr. Nikita. Fr. Nikolai serves in Alaska, along with his matushka, and Fr. Nikita is in Oregon. With his matushka, they were also chrismated.”

Both Fr. Nikolai and Fr. Nikita were priests of the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy. However, they were received as laymen and are being ordained in the canonical church. On Sunday, both were raised through the ranks of candle bearer, reader, and subdeacon, and Fr. Nikolai was further ordained to the diaconate. On Tuesday, he was ordained to the priesthood and Fr. Nikita to the diaconate, with his ordination to the priesthood scheduled for this coming Sunday.

“We are welcoming our brethren into the fold. We’ve been separated for so long. Just as this community [the Erie community—Ed.], 40 years ago came into the fold and received the priesthood, so also now we’re seeing some fruits further afield, and we hope this is the beginning of something great,” Bp. John said.

A visibly moved Fr. Nikolai also said:

Thank you for accepting me and ordaining me. It’s a great honor. I understand that now I’m in the fullness of the Church. I’m a part of the Orthodox world… I cannot express my gratitude. You people show us selflessly, and it’s a great example for us to see how you accept people, how you treat them with love. Thank you.

Read more about the Alaska community in this 2013 article form The Atlantic. Read more about the Erie parish “The Way We Serve is Our Means of Communicating With God”“We are not a museum showpiece in the modern world. The way we serve is our means of communicating with God. We use English instead of Slavonic, and that is also part of the means of communicating with God.”

“>here.

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Mal. 3:1–4 / Ps. 24:7, 8, 9, 10 / Heb. 2:14–18 / Lk. 2:22–40

Today’s feast marks the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple, 40 days after he was born. As the firstborn, he belonged to God. According to the law, Mary and Joseph were required to take him to the Temple and “redeem” him by paying five shekels.

At the same time, the law required the child’s mother to offer sacrifice in order to overcome the ritual impurity brought about by childbirth. So the feast we celebrate shows a curious turn of events. The Redeemer seems to be redeemed. She who is all-pure presents herself to be purified.

Such is the humility of our God. Such is the humility of the Blessed Virgin. They submit to the law even though they are not bound by it. However, the Gospel story nowhere mentions Jesus’ “redemption,” but seems to describe instead a religious consecration, such as a priest might undergo.

St. Luke tells us that Jesus is “presented” in the Temple, using the same verb that St. Paul uses to describe the offering of a sacrifice (see Romans 12:1). Another parallel is the Old Testament dedication of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:24–27) to the Temple as a priest.

The drama surrounding Jesus’ conception and birth began in the Temple, when the archangel visited Mary’s kinsman, Zechariah the priest. And now the story of Jesus’ infancy comes to a fitting conclusion, again in the Temple. All the readings today concern Jerusalem, the Temple, and the sacrificial rites.

The first reading comes from the Prophet Malachi, who called the priests to return to faithful service, and foretold a day when a Messiah would arrive with definitive purification of the priesthood. Likewise, the Psalm announces to Jerusalem that Jerusalem is about to receive a great visitor.

The psalmist identifies him as “The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory.” Christ now arrives as the long-awaited priest and redeemer. He is also the sacrifice. Indeed, as his life will show, He is the Temple itself (see John 2:19-21).

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles celebrated a Gold Mass for Scientists at Our Savior Church Jan. 28 on the campus of the University of Southern California, on the 800th Anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas Aquinas. The following is adapted from his homily.

It is a joy to celebrate this Gold Mass with you and to hold up the noble vocation of our Catholic men and women in science.

And it’s fitting that we celebrate this Mass today, on the 800th birthday of St. Thomas Aquinas, who was one the world’s wisest men and one of the Church’s greatest teachers. 

St. Thomas understood that all creation is the work of the one Creator, from the tiniest organism to the furthest planets in the solar system. And he taught us that all of creation has a telos, a divine direction and purpose, that all things in heaven and earth flow from and follow the Creator’s plan of love.

In St. Thomas’ words, “Creatures came into existence when the Key of Love opened his hand.”

So, we ask his intercession today in this holy Mass. For all of us, but in a special way for our scientists.

St. Thomas once said, “Our wisdom does not consist in discovering the natures of material realities, nor the course of the stars, or any such like; rather, it concerns Christ alone.”

He wasn’t trying to discourage scientific research or new discoveries. No. Just the opposite. He wanted us to know where to look to find the answers. He wanted us to understand that if we seek the truths of creation apart from the Creator, we seek in vain.

So, St. Thomas urged us to seek first the “mystery of [God’s] will,” the mystery of his “intense love for humanity.” And that’s what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel today.

Let’s listen again to his words: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

In God’s plan of love, Jesus came to gather a new family from out of all the peoples on earth, the family of God, his Catholic Church. And what unites us as brothers and sisters in this new family is not blood, but faith, our faith in God’s plan for creation, and our desire to serve God’s plan with our lives.

That’s what Jesus came to show us, it’s at the heart of the prayer he taught us: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus came down from heaven, not to do his will, but the will of the Father who sent him.

As we heard in that first reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews: “For this reason, when he came into the world, he said … Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”

Brothers and sisters, Jesus calls us to learn from him, to listen to his words, and to do what we see him doing. The point is that everything we do, no matter what our vocation, everything must start with this one desire: to do God’s will, from the heart.

God created us out of love to know him and to love him. He made us in his own image, the imago Dei, and gave us the gifts of reason and free will so that we could seek him and find him.

We can know the beauty of the world that God created, we can unlock the deepest secrets of nature, we can make discoveries that change lives and open new possibilities for the human family.

Through the things that he has made, we can know the Maker and his love, and we can share in his divine life.

If we seek God’s will first, he will do the rest. That’s the promise Jesus made to us: if we seek, we will find; if we knock, the door will be opened to us.

There’s a beautiful story from near the end of St. Thomas Aquinas’ life.

Thomas is on his knees in the chapel of St. Nicholas in Naples. He hears Jesus speaking to him from the crucifix on the wall.

Jesus says, “You have spoken well of me, Thomas. What reward would you like?”

Thomas replies, “Nothing but yourself, Lord.”

As we prepare to meet the Lord today in the holy Eucharist, let us make that our prayer. 

May we want nothing but Jesus! And, like Jesus, may we seek, not our will, but the will of the One who sent him.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us! Most holy Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us! 

Moscow, January 30, 2025

Photo: tihchurch.ru     

A new chapel was dedicated to the Wonderworker and Holy Hierarch St. John (Maximovitch) of San Francisco at a Moscow church earlier this week.

His Eminence Metropolitan Theognost of Kashira and a host of local clergy celebrated the service during which the chapel was consecrated at the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, a Patriarchal Metochion of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, the parish reports.

Parishioners of the Simonov Monastery came to share in this important and joyous event. The service was accompanied by sign language interpretation.

Photo: tihchurch.ru     

After the Liturgy, Met. Theognost addressed the faithful with a sermon, drawing attention to the spiritual feat and heavenly patronage of St. John:

His entire life was dedicated to serving God and people. He visited prisons, hospitals, and was always with people. He was great during his life, and he remains great after his departure to the Lord. St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco continues to serve us from Heaven, those of us living on earth. There are many examples of effective help from him, and some we may not even know about. And glory to God that we have such a great intercessor before the Lord and protector of us all.

St. John is especially venerated by parishioners of the Tikhvin Church. A moleben to this great ascetic of the 20th century is held every second Sunday, and the church has icons containing particles of his relics.

The Holy Hierarch is greatly beloved not only at the Tikhvin Icon Church, but throughout Russia, America, and the entire Orthodox world. A parish dedicated to him recently formed Parish named for St. John (Maximovitch) forms in southwestern FranceThe new parish is currently working to secure a location for regular services.

“>in France, and a new Church of St. John PA: Parish of St. John (Maximovitch) begins services in newly built churchA cross was erected on the future site of the church in June 2021, and the groundbreaking was celebrated in October 2023.”>in Pennsylvania recently began holding services.

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President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday directing federal agencies to expand educational freedom and opportunity for families and end “radical indoctrination” in K–12 education.

The executive order to expand school choice is designed “to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children” by using federal funding “to support K–12 educational choice initiatives.”

“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K–12 school,” the executive order reads. “According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70% of eighth graders were below proficient in reading, and 72% were below proficient in math. Moreover, geographically based school assignments exacerbate the cost of housing in districts with preferred schools, straining the finances of millions of American families sacrificing for their children’s futures.”

The order indicates that “education freedom” will be a “priority in discretionary grant programs” and proposes enabling “low-income, working families,” military families, and children eligible for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools to use federal funding to attend the private, faith-based, or charter school of their choice.

An additional executive order to end “radical indoctrination” is designed to ensure that schools that receive federal funding “comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights.”

It primarily addresses the issues of gender ideology and “critical race theory” in schools.

“In recent years … parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight,” read the order. “Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.”

The order prohibits “discriminatory equity ideology” in public schools, which is defined as “an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations.”

The order also prohibits federal funding at public K–12 schools from supporting “social transition” of minors from one gender to another.

“In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed,” the order continued. “These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.”

The order specifically aims to eliminate federal funding or support “for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K–12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”

“Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our nation’s children not only violates long-standing anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority,” the order reads.

“For example, steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene federal laws that protect parental rights,” the order reads.

“Similarly, demanding acquiescence to ‘white privilege’ or ‘unconscious bias’ actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity,” the order continues.

The order also aims “to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation and the values for which we stand.” It promotes “patriotic education,” which it defines as “an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles.”

For instance, the order reestablishes the “1776 Commission” in the U.S. Department of Education — made up of a maximum of 20 unpaid members — to develop “patriotic education,” mainly by developing lectures to honor the 250th anniversary of American independence.