Religious Freedom

Stalinism alive and well in the Ukraine: Church faces crisis

Religious Freedom, the freedom to worship, and the freedom to live by a fully formed conscience (all three are not the same things) are not only crucial issues for the citizens of the USA, Egypt, the Sudan, parts of Asia, but also for various places in Europe but further East, in Russia. Religious freedom is the basis of all freedoms.

Joseph Ratzinger wrote an article sometime ago on freedom and truth where he said, “freedom is the theme that most characterizes modernity.” We could also say that Americans most care about, but freedom is not just an American thing, it is a human thing that all people want to enjoy. From the American dream which is the achievement of freedom, human development we to need to sustain a work that helps all peoples, not just Catholics but Orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims and the like, be truly free.

Of late, the Christians in the Ukraine are being forced to re-live Stalinist power plays to shout down the Church. The Catholics in the Ukraine, especially the Byzantine Catholics as lived in The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), are facing political fights with the state over the right to pray in public and to pray in public for the good of the nation. Here we have a keen issue of how faith and the public order intersect. Looks like a new John Paul II has risen…

George Weigel outlines the scene in his article in a National Review (January 14, 2014), “The Exhaust Fumes of Stalinism.” Weigel is good a pointing to the fact that culture, faith and good political order has been the hallmark of the Church: the dignity of the person and the God-given rights were only help up and promoted by the Church. A Church that is not beholding to state pressures and coercion. Metropolitan Shevchuk is articulating the hope and the path forward…

The arrogant and the humble: Kathleen Sibelius and a Little Sister of the Poor

Last night on EWTN’s program, “The World Over,” two Little Sisters of the Poor and their lawyer were in the studio for an interview with Raymond Arroyo.

As it turns out, in the green room of the studios Kathleen Sibelius was likewise in studio for an interview with another show. What irony! It was a cordial chanced meeting. AND, Sibelius is familiar with the LSP since her days growing up in Cincinnati.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are in danger of closing their ministry with the implementation of the HHS mandate. With the help of a Becket Fund attorney, Mark Reinzi, the Little Sisters are suing the government in a class action suit. Several hundred other Catholic ministries are at risk.

The government offends conscience and religious freedom.

Sister Constance Veit and Provincial Sister Loraine Marie Maguire are standing up for all of us Catholics. This lawsuit is a justice issue.

The Little Sisters of the Poor were founded 174 years ago by Saint Jean Jugan. They have a vow of hospitality. The care offered is specialized for those at the end of life.

The LSP run homes for the poor elderly in 31 countries caring for 13,000 people; there are 30 homes in the USA with 2500 residents. In the USA, we have 300 LSP. What’s at stake? Financially the penalties $100 a day fine and $2 million a year per home. Half the budget is covered by raising money.

Catholicism and evangelical Christianity are Religious Extremists, US Defense Department says

The US Department of Defense has now listed Catholics and Evangelical Christians as religious extremists, that is, religious terrorists. Catholics and Evangelicals are now lumped in the same list as are the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the KKK and Hamas.

The slide presentation, in the context of talking about the rise of extremism, gives the impression that religious belief, whatever it is, and however it frames its claims for truth and how these truth claims are applied, are the same and to be rejected. Religious tenets can be widely different from another but that doesn’t mean they lead to violent actions. Ideas are not intolerant, people can be; faith is a way of knowing the world, a way of perceiving reality, faith relates to matters of salvation. It is true that we need “religious types” need to make sure that the faithful are properly taught what is held by the Church body. If you are interested, here is the offending presentation: Extremism Presentation & Extremist Organizations.pdf

When I saw this news item the other day I had to say to myself that secularism has now gone to a new level of intolerance and ignorance.

Continue reading Catholicism and evangelical Christianity are Religious Extremists, US Defense Department says

Proclaim Liberty: Notes on the Next Great Awakening in America –Carl Anderson’s new book

Carl Anderson, Supreme
Knight of the Knights of Columbus, published Proclaim Liberty: Notes on the
Next Great Awakening in America.

Anderson’s “eBook shows how Catholics — by voting
in a manner consistent with Catholic social teaching — can transcend our broken
politics and excessive partisanship. It lays out a roadmap to truly
transforming our country.” Moreover, Proclaim Liberty brings together “the issues
confronting us in political races and ballot initiatives large and small into
focus, using the lens of Catholic social teaching.”

Carl Anderson’s new work
complements the US bishops’ document Forming Consciences for Faithful
Citizenship, in which they call “Catholics to form their consciences in the
light of their Catholic faith and to bring our moral principles to the debate
and decisions about candidates and issues.”

More information, as well as links
to eBook sellers, is available here.