Fortnight for Freedom: A time for thanks and prayer

Friday, Jun. 13, 2014

People of faith in the United States are blessed. While we face some challenges to our religious practice, our laws and traditions protect us from the more insidious acts of religious discrimination that occur in other parts of the world. During the 2014 Fortnight for Freedom, June 21-July 4, I encourage American Catholics to give thanks for our freedoms and to pray for those who suffer severe religious persecution. 

The Fortnight is an opportunity to remember that, while we freely participate in the fullness of the eucharistic celebration, Catholics in many countries are forbidden from openly engaging in this core religious practice. Individuals of other faiths face similar restrictions, and torture and death are far too often the penalty for refusing to abandon a deeply held religious belief.  

Recent events in Nigeria are a stark example. The kidnapping of nearly 300 Christian girls by Boko Haram is not the first time religious extremists have attacked. Since 2009, Boko Haram has killed more than 3,000 individuals. Its campaign of violence against Christians in the area continues. We must pray for the people of Nigeria and at least 45 other countries that condone religious persecution, whether through government edict or unchecked insurgencies.   

Here at home, we are grateful that our government does not, and cannot, regularly seek to restrict religion. However, it does sometimes forget its history and attempt to impose secular goals on religious practice. We must remind our elected leaders that the work of our Church is not limited to the rites that take place in our houses of worship. Our acts of charity and justice are not just an extension of our beliefs; these acts are a continuation of the eucharistic celebration. We provide medical care as part of the command that we go and serve the Lord, just as we seek to promote natural means, rather than artificial methods, for family planning as a matter of belief in the sanctity and dignity of human life. We operate soup kitchens in service to the Lord, just as we engage in advocacy for federal budget policies that protect the poor as part of our faith. 

The Fortnight for Freedom is a time of thanksgiving for our freedoms and of action to help others achieve the same rights.  I invite all Catholics to use the Fortnight for prayer and advocacy on behalf of those whose professions of faith put their lives in jeopardy or are otherwise unable to openly participate in their communities as people of faith.