Trump has called for the creation of 250 statues of American ‘heroes’ for his National Garden of American Heroes project, including prominent Catholic figures such as Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, St. Junipero Serra, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- More than a dozen prominent Catholics, including Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, are set to be included in President Donald Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes” project.
Initially proposed just days before Trump’s first term came to an end, the garden was revived with an executive order signed by Trump on January 29 of this year.
Upon assuming office in 2021, Joe Biden, who identifies as a Catholic, scrapped the plan.
The measure calls for the creation of 250 statues of American “heroes” who made “substantive contributions to America’s public life or otherwise had a substantive effect on America’s history.”
Trump first announced the project in the summer of 2020 while speaking at Mount Rushmore after left-wing activists vandalized statues of Confederate generals, past American presidents, Christopher Columbus, and others.
“On (the National Garden's) grounds, the devastation and discord of this moment will be overcome with abiding love of country and lasting patriotism," Trump said at the time.
At the moment, it is unclear where the garden will be located. Congress will also have to approve funding for it.
Trump is calling for 250 statues because next year is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which took place on July 4, 1776.
The initial list of honorees was announced on January 18, 2021. Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, St. Junipero Serra, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Dorothy Day, and others were included.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Fr. Augustus Tolton, Fr. Thomas Merton (a problematic writer who embraced Buddhism), and Archbishop John Carroll, SJ, the first Catholic archbishop in the United States, were also part of the list.
Prominent Catholic political figures are set to be honored at the garden as well, including 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr.
Former NBA star Kobe Bryant, who was a Catholic and had attended Mass on the morning he died in a helicopter accident in January 2020, is listed as well. Baseball legend Roberto Clemente and Hall of Fame NFL coach Vince Lombardi, both of whom were Catholic, are included too.
