In a land of liberty, religion should be ripe to flourish. Liberty is the fertilized ground in which the seeds of this great nation were sowed. Those who left European nations centuries ago to settle the shores of the new land headed out looking for God. With God they found the hopes and dreams that the freedom to worship Him as they best saw fit could be realized far away from the tyrannical, dictatorial establishments they would leave behind. After fighting for her independence, our nation harvested the bounty of this land based on principles of the free practice of religion, indeed our most cherished liberty.
Today, religious liberty is not under attack just from foreign lands. Within our own borders can be found the source of growing oppression of the faithful, who are told they cannot speak of God in schools, cannot show their faith at work, and cannot operate their business as they see fit. They are told faith should be relegated to a few minutes on a Sunday morning.
This year, once again, the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops calls on the faithful to come together in 14 days of observance and prayer. Fortnight For Freedom is celebrated from June 21 — the vigil of the saints and martyrs for the faith, Thomas More and John Fisher, until the nation’s Independence Day, July 4. During this time the faithful are called to prayer, action and education on the reality that religious liberty is a primordial right and the heritage of a great nation — while they still have the freedom to do so.
