Napa conference examines 'the good, the bad' of the new Trump administration

WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- A second Trump administration could present both challenges and opportunities for issue areas related to Catholic social teaching, bishops and policymakers said at the Napa Institute Citizens of Faith Conference on April 9.

Tim Busch, co-founder and chairman of the board of the Napa Institute, praised some of the first policy moves of the second Trump administration on topics including abortion, and ending "wokeism," but told attendees that "it's not going to be all roses."

"Mr. Trump has his own issues," he said, referring to the Trump administration's implementation of broad tariffs, or taxes on imports. While the administration paused what Trump called "reciprocal" rates, they left in place 10% tariffs on imports from all countries but China, which the president said would now rise to 145%.

"We are in the middle of a major crisis, the likes I don't think we've seen in quite some time, probably since the financial downturn, with this issue of tariffs," Busch said. "We must pray we can understand what he's trying to do, but what's happening out there in society and the commerce (world) is pretty scary, but we'll see how that plays out."

In an address to the gathering, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said the "new Catholic moment" should be met with "virtuous living and evangelization."

"To quote a respected cardinal: 'A good Catholic is a good American, because the practice of virtue also leads to good citizenship and there is no dichotomy between faith and life if we cultivate and practice virtue,'" Archbishop Broglio said.

The conference in Washington came just days after Archbishop Broglio announced the USCCB would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support after concluding its longstanding partnerships with the federal government in those areas had become "untenable."

Archbishop Broglio discussed with conference attendees about how the USCCB arrived at that decision.

"The church in the United States partnered, at the request of the United States government, to facilitate the care of migrants and refugees who were vetted by the government," Archbishop Broglio said. "And then the government recognized that Catholic Charities did a much better job of taking care of the migrant (and) refugee than they could; and so they asked them (Catholic Charities) to assume that responsibility for those refugees that they welcomed and that they embedded in the country."

But the archbishop said the USCCB recently found itself in a situation where it was not being reimbursed for its expenditures on the project.

"It's rather like if you ask the neighborhood boy to cut your grass. And then, after he's done that, after he's mowed the lawn and you don't pay, the job's already been done. The expenditure has already been made," he said. "The service that you requested from him because you could not do it, or in this case, you recognize that he can do a better job."

In a separate address about the ongoing war in Ukraine following Russia's full scale invasion of that country in 2022, Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia called on the Trump administration to pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict that does not cede Ukraine's sovereignty to Russia.

Ukraine "just wants to be, and it wants the thief out of the house," Archbishop Gudziak said.

"Whenever somebody says, 'Well, why don't you let them have the living room, they're there anyway,' we're saying, 'You mean they're not going to come into the bedroom or the kitchen?' It's tough, it costs, and Ukrainians are saying, 'We've got to pay the price, because if you don't, it's going to be much worse.'"

Archbishop Gudziak also take aim at those who he said erroneously believe Putin's Russia is some sort of defender of traditional values, citing Russia's high rates of abortion, suicide and alcoholism.

In Russia, he added, just "1% of the population goes to church."

"More people go to church in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway -- the most secularized countries in the world -- than in Russia," he said. The archbishop said that every time there has been a Russian occupation in Ukraine, "The Catholic Church, particularly the Eastern Catholic church, gets wiped out."

Archbishop Gudziak called on the attendees to pray for the people of Ukraine during Holy Week.