11-03-2025
Catholic group to gather 100 clergy, including some from Florida, for gala at Trump's club
More than 100 Catholic priests, nuns and clergy are to gather at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club next week.
The event, Catholic Prayer for America, is hosted by Catholics for Catholics. The group's president and CEO, John Yep, and board member Cameron Moore predict it will be the "largest" prayer and faith-based event to be held at the Palm Beach club that is the center of conservative politics in America.
"We are going to Mar-a-Lago," said Yep. "It's significant because it is the house, the personal house, of the president of the United States. We are going to his house to pray, to pray for America."
Yep said the gala is being held March 19 to mark the Feast of St. Joseph, a day of solemnity for Catholics.
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The affair will be the second such event at the Winter White House. Catholics for Catholics held a gala at Mar-a-Lago last year with actor James Caviezel, who played Jesus in the film "The Passion of the Christ." Also speaking at the 2024 event were longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone and retired Lt. general Michael Flynn.
Moore, founder of the American Heroes Association, is sponsoring the more than 100 Catholic clergy attending.
"A lot of high-powered, high-level meetings happen at Mar-a-Lago," said Moore, a non-Catholic Christian. "We believe this is the hub of politics in our country, outside of Washington, D.C. And praying for the president of the United States will be powerful, as well as blessing the property and praying for safety."
The organization, which was founded in 2022, has been labeled "new combative faith group" by "opposition media," according to Yep's LinkedIn profile. Two years ago, Yep said, the organization rallied 5,000 people to protest the appearance of the satirical drag group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at a Los Angeles Dodgers' LGBTQ event at Dodger Stadium.
In last year's election, Yep said the work of Catholics for Catholics and other like-minded groups proved pivotal in Trump's recapturing the White House.
Exit polling from the Nov. 5 contest showed Trump trouncing Vice President Kamala Harris by 18 percentage points, 58% to 40%. Another survey showed that Trump's margins among white and Hispanic Catholics was pivotal in winning six decisive swing states.
The political backdrop is a motivating factor in other ways.
In addition to opposing the policies of former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic elected to the White House, Catholics for Catholics is also unhappy with Pope Francis, the 88-year-old pontiff who has been hospitalized since mid-February with a respiratory infection.
Yep, who is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, said the group is "not in the business of judging people's souls," but that how faith is applied to policy and government actions matters.
"There was a void in clarity about Catholic teaching as it translates into public events," he said. "We knew we had to be there to remind people what it really means to be Catholic."
Speakers at this year's event include Jean Marshall, a Massachusetts resident who was sentenced last year to 24 months in prison after being found guilty by a jury of civil rights conspiracy and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, according to a statement issued by the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.
Among those also taking the podium will be Joe Thomas, who was pardoned by Trump for offenses during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was removed from his post in Tyler, Texas, by Pope Francis in 2023
Yep said several of the clergy attending will be from Florida.
"That's big for local people to know that they're faith leaders are gathering there," he said.
Moore said his objective is for all who attend to return and speak about what they saw and heard at the gala, and be "rejuvenated and inspired to carry out the message of Jesus Christ" throughout the United States.
"My goal is to, ultimately, have these priests go back to their congregations — some are very notable, they have podcasts or various channels they communicate with — so we can reach millions of people with message they are receiving here at during this event," he said.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@ Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Catholics for Catholics chose Mar-a-Lago for their prayer gala
