Catholics in America have been advocates for religious liberty, and the landmark teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty was influenced by the American experience. It is among the proudest boasts of the Church on these shores. We have been staunch defenders of religious liberty in the past. We have a solemn duty to discharge that duty today.
We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. We address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.
Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas.
This is not a Catholic issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not an Orthodox, Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue.
Archdiocese of Boston Materials
Fortnight for Freedom - Order Form
Fortnight for Freedom - Parish Materials
Links
USCCB Fortnight for Freedom
Cardinal Seán’s Live Town Hall Meeting on CatholicTV
USCCB Conscience Protection
Prayer Resources
Articles & Broadcasts
REPAIR MY HOUSE: RENEWING THE ROOTS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput
Religious Freedom and the Love of God — John H. Garvey, Esq., President,The Catholic University of America, June 13, 2012, USCCB General Assembly
Opening Remarks for Domestic Religious Freedom Hour, USCCB General Assembly — Archbishop William E. Lori, Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, June 13, 2012
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson’s Address to National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, 4/19/2012
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty by the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, April 12, 2012 - en Español
United for Religious Freedom, March 14, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI warns of threat to freedom of religion, conscience in US, January 19, 2012
Dignitatis Humanae, Reflections for the Fortnight for Freedom
WomenSpeakForThemselves.com
Mary Ann Glendon: Why the Bishops Are Suing the U.S. Government
Cardinal Donald Wuerl: Protecting our Catholic conscience in the public square
Preserve Religious Freedom