Recently in Religious Freedom Category

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.

A timely piece to think seriously about daily is the notion of religious freedom not only around the globe, but also and significantly here in the USA. Today, the Most Reverend William E. Lori addressed the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee on the Constitution. Here are a few paragraphs (the link to the full text is noted below):

Religious liberty is not merely one right among others, but enjoys a certain primacy. As the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI recently explained: "It is indeed the first of human rights, not only because it was historically the first to be recognized but also because it touches the constitutive dimension of man, his relation with his Creator." (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Diplomatic Corps, 10 Jan. 2011.) The late Pope John Paul II taught that "the most fundamental human freedom [is] that of practicing one's faith openly, which for human beings is their reason for living." (Pope John Paul II, Address to Diplomatic Corps, 13 Jan. 1996, No. 9.) Not coincidentally, religious liberty is first on the list in the Bill of Rights, the charter of our Nation's most cherished and fundamental freedoms. The First Amendment begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." It is commonly, and with justice, called our "First Freedom."

US Congressman Frank R. Wolf, 72, (Virginia 10th District) proposed the bill in 1998 which created The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bi-partisan US Federal commission, appointed by the US President to advise him and Congress on matters pertaining to the freedom of religion. The CIRF reports to Congress and the State Department, is now in jeopardy.

Amy Sullivan of Time magazine wrote a piece today, "Why Catholic Bishops are Targeting Obama on Religious Freedom." I don't particularly think Sullivan's article is not all that informative, in fact, I think she needs to review it again and republish it. She does, however, indirectly say that Catholics --indeed all people of faith-- better wake up today and get with the program: the current presidential administration of the US government is narrowing an understanding and practice of religious freedom. Catholics, unlike the Jews or the Muslims are too often slow to know the horizons of the debate. Catholics don't often go up to Mount Nebo to survey the geography or their own history. Whether recent events are the most egregious in 30 years is a matter of opinion, but the trampling (or reduction) of religious freedom harms everybody, atheist and the Legion of Mary member alike.

The regular cycle of the Pope's work is addressing those groups that advise him on a variety of subjects like theology, law, science, politics, life issues, etc. Benedict's address to Professor Mary Ann Glendon, President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, talks about the theme of "Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: the Case of Religious Freedom." He reminds not only the head of this academy about the deep roots of Western culture being Christian, but it was Christianity that gave humanity the awareness of the various freedoms we know and love, that contribute to human flourishing and many time even take for granted. It was the Christian gospel that upheld and promoted the dignity of the human person, protected women and children, that organized labor freedom of worship, and other social systems. Most notably, the Pope reminds us, that the freedoms spoken of in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights have their roots in our belief and life in Christ. However, we can't become smug --too satisfied-- with what we've been given, even freedom. The Pope's talk is not long but here are some germaine points for us to consider:

Deeply inscribed in our human nature are a yearning for truth and meaning and an openness to the transcendent; we are prompted by our nature to pursue questions of the greatest importance to our existence. Many centuries ago, Tertullian coined the term libertas religionis (cf. Apologeticum, 24:6). He emphasized that God must be worshipped freely, and that it is in the nature of religion not to admit coercion, "nec religionis est cogere religionem" (Ad Scapulam, 2:2). Since man enjoys the capacity for a free personal choice in truth, and since God expects of man a free response to his call, the right to religious freedom should be viewed as innate to the fundamental dignity of every human person, in keeping with the innate openness of the human heart to God. In fact, authentic freedom of religion will permit the human person to attain fulfilment and will thus contribute to the common good of society.