Fortnight for Freedom emphasizes religious liberty

Intermountain Catholic

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Last summer, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared a Fortnight for Freedom to highlight the importance of religious liberty in the United States and all countries.

At the time of the event, our Church was struggling with a mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requiring that all but our houses of worship provide health insurance coverage for contraceptive services that contradict our deeply held beliefs in the sanctity and dignity of life.

The USCCB has announced another Fortnight for Freedom this summer, running June 21 through July 4. Unfortunately, the HHS mandate issue remains, along with other challenges to our core beliefs. While HHS has made some alterations to the mandate, it continues to narrowly define our Catholic mission, forcing our schools, hospitals, and other charitable arms of our Church to participate in the contraception mandate as if these were not integral to the practice of our faith.

The challenges to religious liberty in the United States are significant, but any discussion of our challenges in America would ring hollow if our global Church did not also address the problems of religious liberty across the continents; problems that often involve life-and-death decisions on a scale unseen in the U.S. While we face political debates and intensive lobbying efforts, we are blessed to live and worship in a country where religious liberty is defended with words in the halls of Congress, not with weapons on bloody streets.

Consider, for example, the situation in China, where religious adherents, including Catholic clergy, were harassed, detained, arrested and sentenced to prison for such subversive acts as gathering for worship, expressing their beliefs in private, and publishing religious texts. In Cuba, government authorities arrested and prevented many people from participating in the celebration of Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan are not allowed to vote unless they first swear that the Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet and denounce their beliefs in the prophecies of their founder. India reported 560 cases of communal violence against religious minorities, resulting in 89 deaths and 1,846 injuries. Hundreds of Christians and Muslims were murdered in Nigeria in 2012, including more than 150 people at 15 separate attacks on churches.

The list goes on and circles the globe. The ability of Americans to attend a worship service at any number of churches within a relatively short distance is an unattainable dream for many believers. We are truly blessed in this country. We are even blessed in our battles. As the Catholic Church has advocated for an exemption to the HHS mandate, we have been joined by other denominations who may not share our beliefs, but do share our concerns about government defining our faith for us. We are truly grateful that our brothers and sisters of other faiths speak with us on the issues.

During the Fortnight for Freedom, I ask my fellow Catholics to join me in thanksgiving for the liberty we have and in recognition of the need to continue to advocate for religious liberty for all people.

Please consider taking 10 minutes each day of the Fortnight to pray based on the daily reflections provided for your use (See 'Daily reflections for Fortnight for Freedom'). The reflections are in the form of a litany which may be repeated in its entirety each day, or built upon day by day.