Recently in Religious Freedom Category

I'm seeing headlines in the Catholic press that say or suggest that a persecution of those who claim the importance of Christian faith as essential to the person. This is making me think of what follows the HHS mandate. Education and service of the poor? The work of knowing the contours of religious freedom are not for an elite group of Catholic academics, or the clergy, or the daily communicant. It is important for each of us to understand, and to live, and to share with others the fruit of a living faith in Christ. These issues have me searching for what the Church has said and is saying. John Paul II helps to begin to frame the issues.

Ross Douthat, the conservative op-ed columnist of the NY Times ought to be on our radar screen. In the Sunday Review of the NY Times he published "Defining Religious Liberty Down" where he nicely pulls back the politics of religious liberty by the round heads, in all walks of life.

Fourteen days of prayer, fasting and study have now concluded with the Sacrifice of the Mass offered by His Excellency, Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC). Below is the Archbishop's homily.

The homily given by His Eminence, Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, can be read here.

My dear faithful people of God and people of Good will,

Philadelphia is the place where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were written. For more than two centuries, these documents have inspired people around the globe. So as we begin our reflection on today's readings, I have the privilege of greeting everyone here today -- and every person watching or listening from a distance -- in the name of the Church of my home, the Church of Philadelphia, the cradle of our country's liberty and the city of our nation's founding, so greetings to all of you from the people of Philadelphia. May God bless and guide all of us as we settle our hearts and minds on the Word of God.

Paul Claudel, the French poet and diplomat of the last century, once described the Christian as "a man who knows what he is doing and where he is going in a world [that] no longer [knows] the difference between good and evil, between yes and no. He is like a god standing out in a crowd of invalids . . . He alone has liberty in a world of slaves."

With the Church we pray, 

God of justice, Father of truth, who guide creation in wisdom and goodness to fulfillment in Christ your Son, open our hearts to the truth of his Gospel, that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice guide our lives.

And for the intention of religious liberty which we've been praying for the last 14 days, 

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator, through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith. Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome -- for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us -- this great land will always be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We're called upon to witness, that is, be protagonists, in work for Religious Liberty. You can be a part of a virtual vigil for religious liberty and please ask the saints and the Blessed Virgin Mother to intercede on our behalf.

The battle for religious freedom is only now heating up. The 16th archbishop of Baltimore, William E. Lori, is the spokesman for matters pertaining to religious freedom viz. the Catholic Church in the USA. However, one could claim with seriousness that he is not only speaking for the Catholics, but for people of faith. Gave a keynote address tonight in Washington that you ought to read. The full text is here: Lori on Religious Freedom May 24 2012.pdf

Our Catholic bishops in American published "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty," a12-page statement by the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty that sets out to explain what religious freedom means to a Catholic and it also calls for "a fortnight for freedom" from June 21, the vigil of the feasts of Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More, to July 4, US Independence Day. 

The US leadership of the Catholic lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation issued a flyer on the recent events concerning the HSS mandate to curb religious freedom. The flyer is written in light of recent US bishops' statement on religious liberty. As you might expect, what's at the center of the controversy is our witness that Christ is the way, the truth and the life.

What is at stake in this moment of our history is not just the possibility for religious groups to continue to give their own original contribution to American society, but also the possibility for any man or woman to gain access to the truth of life. For this reason, we will not give up the right to publicly witness to the world, through our lives and our work, what we hold most dear. With the words of the Russian writer Vladimir Soloviev, we repeat today what Christians have been repeating for 2,000 years.

"In the grieved voice the Emperor addressed them: 'Tell me yourselves, you strange people...you Christians, deserted by the majority of your brothers and leaders: what do you hold most dear in Christianity?' At this Elder John rose up and said in a quiet voice: 'Great sovereign! What we hold the most dear in Christianity is Christ Himself - He in His person. All the rest comes from Him, for we know that in Him dwells bodily the whole fullness of Divinity.'"

Today, the US bishops issued a call to action to defend religious liberty and urged laity to protect the First Freedom of the Bill of Rights. No doubt there is  considerable consternation surrounding the proposed usurpation of our legal freedom of religion: clearly the US President has forgotten the first clause of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

The statement, "Our First, Most Cherished Freedom," aims to inform and to encourage the entire Christian Church in North America -and beyond--in understanding what the Church teaches on religious liberty. Moreover, the US bishops want to encourage a rightful role in defending the first of our American liberties. Being Catholic -or a person of faith- does not mean that we give up a sense of reasonableness and citizenship. The bishops published this work in order to reassert their voice in the public square, thus bridging the gap of faith and reason for a coherent national debate on matters of concern. Religion cannot be relegated to the closet. Like most documents of the Church, this one also hopes not only to impart information but also to form Catholics (indeed, all Christians) as faithful citizens. It is our Christian belief that religious liberty is God-given and is not imparted by our elected officials. "Our First, Most Cherished Freedom" is a document of the Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

Rallies will be taking place all over the country this Friday, March 23rd, to voice concerns over the HHS mandate. Visit online: Stand Up for Religious Freedom.

Thousands of Americans of all faiths will be participating in these peaceful rallies, organized by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society to oppose the new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which is requiring all employers provide free contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans, even in violation of their consciences. 

Locally, Connecticut as two notable rallies: New Haven and Hartford beginning at noon and will last approximately one hour. 

Women are invited to voice their concern and support for freedom at Women Speak for Themselves.

Since it was announced on January 20th that Catholic institutions will be expected by law, to comply with Federal mandates to provide services named "healthcare" but really are procedures connected with contraception and abortion, several US bishops have come out against the Obama administration's war on conscience rights of people of faith, and the Connecticut Catholic dioceses (Hartford, Stamford, Norwich and Bridgeport) will be fighting Obama. Why is this important: conscience can't violated, Catholic institutions serve not just the Catholic population, but everybody. Catholics will not comply with Obama, it contradicts Jesus. As Pittsburgh's Bishop Zubik said, to hell with you Mr Obama. 

What follows are a few paragraphs of Archbishop Mansell's February column in the Catholic Transcript (the full text can be read here):

We cannot comply with this edict. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America's cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God-given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. We hope and trust that she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, Jr., is not a completely reliable Catholic intellectual, but I think we ought to pay attention to today's opinion piece, "Obama's breach of faith over contraceptive ruling." I don't agree with all that Dionne posits, but it would be incorrect to dismiss the whole piece because he does have a point for us Catholics to pay close attention to.

One of Barack Obama's great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers. That is why it is so remarkable that he utterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services should be treated under the new health care law.

Since its establishment there's been little concrete news on the make up of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. The President of the USCCB, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, established the committee to address the concerns surrounding the reduction of religious freedom in a variety of arenas, not least government and culture. Dolan named Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori as the chairman, the member bishops and consulters have yet to be named. A group of bishops will meet, however, Sunday, 13 November, in advance of the annual general assembly of the US bishops.

On 25 October 2011, Los Angelus Archbishop José H. Gomez, STD,  60, spoke on the slow loss of America's first freedom. On March 1, 2011, Archbishop Gomez became the Archbishop of Los Angelus, after being the Archbishop of San Antonio; he's been a bishop for nearly 11 years.  A stellar article follows:

There is much evidence to suggest that our society no longer values the public role of religion or recognizes the importance of religious freedom as a basic right. As scholars like Harvard's Mary Ann Glendon and Michael Sandel have observed, our courts and government agencies increasingly treat the right to hold and express religious beliefs as only one of many private lifestyle options. And, they observe, this right is often "trumped" in the face of challenges from competing rights or interests deemed to be more important.

These are among the reasons the U.S. Catholic bishops recently established a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. My brother bishops and I are deeply concerned that believers' liberties--and the Church's freedom to carry out her mission--are threatened today, as they never have been before in our country's history.

Catholics have always believed that we serve our country best as citizens when we are trying to be totally faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church. And since before the founding of the American Republic, Catholics--individually and institutionally--have worked with government agencies at all levels to provide vital social services, education, and health care.