{"id":8639,"date":"2026-03-18T22:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/catholic-connections-aims-to-unite-catholics-working-on-capitol-hill\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:44:20","slug":"catholic-connections-aims-to-unite-catholics-working-on-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/catholic-connections-aims-to-unite-catholics-working-on-capitol-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Catholic Connections’ aims to unite Catholics working on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, wants Catholics on the Hill to be able to recognize each other by more than the cross on their foreheads or Ash Wednesday ashes. <\/p>\n

Emmer’s office has led a new group called “Catholic Connections”, dedicated to fostering faith-based community among Catholics working on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a huge Catholic community here,\u201d Emmer told EWTN News in an interview at the group’s latest event on March 6, which focused on a Lenten reflection given by the pastor of St. Joseph Parish on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don’t have anything like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

About 50 participants, including several members of Congress, attended the event held Friday morning in the Members Dining Room on the House side of the Capitol.<\/p>\n

Emmer told EWTN News that he was inspired to start the group last January after watching the crowd of young people attending Mass on the Hill in the wake of the September 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, we started seeing a lot of young people coming to the daily prayer meetings,\u201d he said. \u201cI realized that they were looking for something that was bigger than themselves that they wanted to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholic Connections is not only giving the Catholic community a place to go,\u201d he said. “Like someone said to me outside the door, ‘Hey, the biggest recognition of Catholics on the Hill is Ash Wednesday,’ and she said, ‘Thank you for doing that because now we all see who each other is, and we don’t have to wait and try to guess.'”<\/p>\n

Emmer said the group plans to meet monthly and he hopes more employees will participate.<\/p>\n

The Republican leader stressed the importance for Capitol Hill staffers to think of their work as “something bigger than themselves,” rather than trying to achieve a level of perfection that is beyond their human capacity. “You have to believe; otherwise, it’s all in vain,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think you’ll see more young employees coming forward because they’ll know there are doors open for them,” he said. \u201cIf they think it’s a networking thing, I’m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

finding common ground<\/h2>\n

David Planning, a principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs, expressed gratitude to the whip’s office for giving Catholic lobbyists and staffers on the Hill the opportunity to “settle, reflect on our shared faith, and build community outside of work.”<\/p>\n

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “You see members at these events walking around with big smiles on their faces, happy to connect with their friends. Some people are on opposite sides of issues in the professional world. But coming together under that shared belief is something I hope we’ll see expand. It’s something that deserves to grow.”<\/p>\n

Sarah Donovan, another lobbyist who serves as senior policy adviser to Venable, told EWTN News that she was “amazed” by the opportunity to “come together as a group of Catholics.”<\/p>\n

“We have a lot of meetings on the Hill all day long and advocate for a lot of different issues,” he said. \u201cBut this is an opportunity to come together as Catholics and stand in a room with other members of our Catholic community and pray together, and be together and reflect on what’s really important.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI find it very important and inspiring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

‘Building a Spiritual Network’<\/h2>\n

Representative Julie Fedorchak, R-North Dakota, expressed excitement for the group, especially as a new member, “the opportunity to create a spiritual network that goes beyond just the politics here.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a large number of Catholics in our class,\u201d he said, naming Reps. Michael Baumgartner, R-Washington; Jeff Hurd, R-Colorado; and Robert Onder, R-Missouri. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all loved it as we got to know each other and realized that there was a strong network of very faithful Catholics,\u201d he said, adding that the event is \u201cjust an extension of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the data of Pew Research Center<\/a>150 members of congress<\/a> There are Catholics, about 28% of the total 535 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Emmer is a strong Catholic and really trying to be external in her faith and get her work off the ground, that’s something I aspire to do as well and try to focus on on a daily basis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fedorchak, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives from North Dakota, is married and has three children, and serves on the board of trustees at the University of Mary. The youngest of eight children, Fedorchak described herself as “a devout Catholic.”<\/p>\n

Reflecting on a Lenten address given by Father William Gurney, which focused on temptation, Fedorchak said: “I think when you’re in an office in Washington the temptations are even stronger because of all the demands.”<\/p>\n

The freshman member said she especially appreciated the conversation because of her Lenten practices. \u201cI’m trying to stay away from disappointment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s easy to feel like you’re facing tough challenges and you’re just one voice in a sea of \u200b\u200bpeople out here. And you can sometimes feel like that’s hopeless,” he said. “But I’m trying to take away this Lent and realize that ultimately God is in control. So you do what you can and then trust that He’ll take care of the rest.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, wants Catholics on the Hill to be able to recognize each other by more than the cross on their foreheads or Ash Wednesday ashes. Emmer’s office has led a new group called “Catholic Connections”, dedicated to fostering faith-based community among Catholics working on Capitol Hill. \u201cIt’s a huge Catholic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[3471,3474,457,400,3470,2435,3472,3473],"class_list":{"0":"post-8639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-aims","9":"tag-capitol","10":"tag-catholic","11":"tag-catholics","12":"tag-connections","13":"tag-hill","14":"tag-unite","15":"tag-working"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8641,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639\/revisions\/8641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}