Michael Katz gushed in a March 18 Newsmax article:
A Catholic group is holding a national prayer event at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday because it believes Trump “is the one that best represents what we believe in the values we hold close to us,” the group’s leader, John Yep, told Newsmax on Monday.
The “Catholic Prayer for Trump” sponsored by Catholics for Catholics, of which Yep is CEO, will feature speakers such as conservatives Jack Posobiec and Michael Knowles, former Trump adviser Roger Stone, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser in the Trump administration.
The event is on the same day as the Feast of Saint Joseph, which honors the husband of the Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus.
“It’s election season [and] so many groups now are endorsing different candidates all across the country,” Yep toldĀ “Newsline.””As Catholics, when we endorse somebody, let’s just do it in the way that we always do it, with prayer and our support, and that’s precisely what we’re doing.
“It’s clear this is a black-and-white election. If you are a Catholic in good standing with what the church has always taught in 2,000 years, it’s pretty obvious that President Trump is the one that best represents what we believe in [and] the values we hold close to us.”
Katz failed to mention, however, that Yep’s group has been forbidden by local Catholic bishops from calling itself Catholic — which would seem to put the lie to the headline on Katz’s article, which described Yep as a ” Catholic leader.”
As the Catholic-linked website the Pillar documented, there’s no evidence that there’s anyone on Catholics for Catholics other than Yep, andĀ a statement from the Arizona Catholic Conference which clarified that organizations must obtain ecclesiastical permission before identifying themselves as Catholic was reportedly targeted at Yep’s group. Indeed, Yep’s explicit partisan advocacy for Trump contradicts the Catholic Church’s policy of refusing to endorse any political candidate.
Further, Yep recently touted that a Catholics for Catholics event later this month will feature Candace Owens — a notorious and unrepentant anti-Semite.
Katz also mentioned that some of Yep’s speakers have not lived a Catholic life. Stone is a longtime swinger who committed crimes on Trump’s behalf, while Posobiec is a far-right hater and spreader of disinformation who was caught plagiarizing a white nationalist. The fact that Yep chooses to associate with such people while portraying himself as a Catholic is another red flag for his desire to weaponize religion for political purposes.