Small business agency launches 'Center for Faith,' ends ban on relief for faith groups
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U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. / Jer123/ShutterstockCNA Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is opening a "Center for Faith" and eliminating a regulation that banned faith-based groups from receiving disaster loans. The SBA, a branch of the federal government established to bolster the economy by supporting small businesses, announced they would remove the longstanding regulation as part of the agency's efforts to end faith-based discrimination by the government. The SBA previously prohibited any group "principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion" from applying for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), a regulation which the SBA is now nixing under the Trump administration. The SBA argues that the regulation is unconstitutional, citing the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. In the ruling, the court ...
U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. / Jer123/Shutterstock
CNA Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is opening a "Center for Faith" and eliminating a regulation that banned faith-based groups from receiving disaster loans.
The SBA, a branch of the federal government established to bolster the economy by supporting small businesses, announced they would remove the longstanding regulation as part of the agency's efforts to end faith-based discrimination by the government.
The SBA previously prohibited any group "principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion" from applying for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), a regulation which the SBA is now nixing under the Trump administration.
The SBA argues that the regulation is unconstitutional, citing the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer.
In the ruling, the court found that a Missouri state agency violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it refused to let a church participate in a state-funded program because of its religious affiliation.
"We're rooting out religious discrimination — and embracing religious freedom," SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a post on X.
In addition to cutting the restriction against faith-based groups, the SBA is launching the Center for Faith under the agency's Office of Economic Development.
Set to be headed by Director of Faith Outreach Janna Bowman, the center will "focus on building partnerships with faith-driven organizations to increase awareness and access to capital, business counseling, contracting opportunities, and disaster recovery," according to a SBA press release.
The agency, Loeffler said, "is committed to ending the era of weaponized government that has systematically discriminated against Americans of faith – even denying them access to vital disaster relief in times of tragedy."
The new faith center was announced in the wake of President Donald Trump's Feb. 7 executive order establishing the White House Faith Office, according to the SBA.
Other federal agencies have also launched centers for faith, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and others.
SBA's first-ever faith center is designed to "improve access to agency resources for the faith community, ensuring that all SBA programs are accessible to eligible Americans regardless of their religious affiliation," Loeffler said.
"We are proud to uphold the principles of religious freedom that our nation was founded on — and look forward to forging lasting relationships that bring new small businesses into the SBA ecosystem," she added.
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View of the mass grave at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in the town of Tuam, County Galway. / Credit: AugusteBlanqui, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRome Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).A team of 18 archaeologists, anthropologists, and forensic scientists have begun excavating an old septic tank this week at the former St. Mary's Mother and Baby Home run by the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam, County Galway, western Ireland, now the site of a housing development.Over the next two years, according to The Irish Times, an excavating machine will go through the site in search of remains for 796 children allegedly buried, in the words of the Bon Secours Sisters "in a disrespectful and unacceptable way" between 1925 and 1960. The Bon Secours Sisters have released a statement apologizing for the treatment of the deceased babies, and their mothers during that time.The goal of the excavation is to find, analyze, identify, and provide a decent burial for the children's rem...
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Shushu, with her husband Josemi and their son Emmanuel during JEMJ at the Covadonga shrine. / Credit: Almudena Martínez-Bordiú/EWTN NewsVatican City, Jul 16, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).Originally from China, Shushu arrived in Spain in 2016 at just 23 years of age with the sole purpose of studying the history of the Spanish language. What she didn't imagine was that she would have a transformative encounter with Christ Crucified, which would lead her to embrace the Catholic faith."We have no merit; it's all because the Lord guides us. His mercy is immense," said Shushu in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, at the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga in Spain.The young Chinese mother was there with her husband Josemi and son, Emmanuel, to share the testimony of her conversion from atheism to Catholicism before thousands of young people gathered July 4 for the opening of the Marian Eucharistic Youth Day (JEMJ, by its Spanish acronym).It all began on Oct. 31, ...
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Heads of churches in Jerusalem visited the town of Taybeh in Ramallah on July 14, 2025. / Credit: Sand SahiliyaACI MENA, Jul 16, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).Church leaders in Jerusalem say they hold Israeli authorities responsible for "facilitating and enabling" settler attacks, warning that police silence in the face of emergency calls constitutes a form of complicity.On Monday, the heads of churches visited the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah. The delegation was led by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, joined by diplomats representing more than 20 countries. U.S. representatives canceled their participation at the last minute without explanation.The visit carried a serious warning about the escalating threat to one of the oldest Christian communities in the Holy Land. Both church leaders and diplomats called for accountability for Israeli settlers and an end to the threats targeting a ...
