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“The State of Religious Liberty in the United States,” the annual report of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee for Religious Liberty, highlights positive developments as well as areas of concern heading into 2026.
The 60-page report, issued Feb. 17, commends Congress and the White House for efforts to advance school choice; although it notes that Congress’s passage of the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit allowing families to direct private scholarship funds to schools of their choosing, “did not include religious liberty protections.” So in 2026, the USCCB will be actively engaged in trying to ensure that families can use the scholarships for religious schools.
The bishops also commended the Trump administration for taking “immediate steps to combat gender ideology, which has corroded religious liberty in recent years,” and for a range of initiatives promoting partnership between religious organizations and government. They cited President Trump’s establishment of a Religious Liberty Commission, which includes several Catholic bishops as members and advisors.
The report raises concerns, however, about several administration initiatives on immigration. These include allowing immigration officers to carry out enforcement activities, without previously required agency approval, in or near protected areas, such as hospitals, schools, and churches; and “inconsistent policies” regarding access to immigration detention facilities, making it difficult to provide religious and pastoral services or administer the sacraments to detainees, “contrary to ICE’s own standards.”
The report deplores acts of political and anti-religious violence impacting religious freedom. In addition to continued incidents of vandalism and arson against Catholic churches, the bishops cite the mass shooting of schoolchildren at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis; the murder of a young Jewish couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the assassination of Christian political activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus, as among the most extreme manifestations of “politically and religiously motivated violence” plaguing the nation.
In coming weeks, we will provide details on specific religious liberty initiatives in America being supported by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2026.
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God.” -George Washington
Click here for a printable copy
of the Rosary for America
Join us now:
Pray the Rosary for America
O God, Our Creator, we pray for President Donald J Trump.
We beseech you to bless, protect and guide President Trump, his family and his administration to the good of our nation and of the whole world.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen
A PATRIOT'S PRAYER
I am one American.
I strive to be an American patriot.
Sometimes, Lord, I feel alone and discouraged.
Sometimes the work of defending my country is too hard
and I am not adequate to the task.
I pray that you, Lord, who inspired America’s Founding Fathers,
who strengthen our soldier sons and daughters,
who bless this country to the good of its citizens and the world,
would open my eyes to the light of your truth.
That You ask nothing of me without giving me the way.
That You put nothing before me without giving me the strength.
That I need only open my heart to Your love and Your will.
America trusts in God and on You I can rely.
I am strong enough.
You have made me so.
I am wise enough.
You have made me so.
If You are with me, who can prevail against me?
I will stand as the American Patriot You guide me to be.
Amen.
©2024 by Barbara Samuells
STUDENTS MAY PRAY IN SCHOOL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ARE NOT “GOD-FREE ZONES”
America’s children need not leave their faith outside the school house door.
For students to be silenced or disciplined by a school authority for appropriate religious expression should never happen. Sadly, young students may well conclude…
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Educational resources for parish members who work to support Religious Freedoms.
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AT WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES: DEFENDING FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Barbara Samuells, president of Catholics for Freedom of Religion and a parishioner at St. Matthew’s, Dix Hills, shares her experience at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RALLY 2018
IN SERVICE TO THE CHURCH
Click here to watch Barbara on TeleCare TV.
Pope Francis has observed that “religion [cannot] be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life.” Evangelii Gaudium. . . , no. 183. In insisting that our liberties as Americans be respected, Pope Benedict XVI said that this work belongs to “an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture.” Therefore, catechesis on religious liberty is not the work of priests alone. If religious liberty is not properly understood, all people suffer and are deprived of the essential contribution to the common good, be it in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that individuals make every day, both here at home and overseas.
CATHOLICS FOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION
MISSION STATEMENT
America’s First Amendment guarantees its citizens five freedoms, the first of which is Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Religion includes the freedom to worship according to one’s beliefs as well as the freedom to practice that faith in everyday life according to one’s conscience.
So that this First Amendment freedom may be practiced and preserved for generations yet unborn it is essential that Americans understand this freedom and the circumstances from which it came. A fitting place for the development of this understanding and protection of Religious Freedom is inside all faith communities.
Catholics for Freedom of Religion offers resources to parish members who work to support Religious Freedom by initiating parish laity groups with these suggested goals:
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To educate and inspire for Freedom of Religion
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To remain non-partisan, advocating for no candidate or party
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To invite and include other faith communities
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To become a permanent group within each parish to educate every generation of Catholics about our Freedom of Religion…how rare it is, how dearly it was purchased for us and how certainly it is being lost.
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To recognize and oppose attacks on Freedom of Religion from any source
“We hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, that religion, or the duty we owe our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence. The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.” James Madison
“While Americans presume that the Constitution guarantees their rights, in practice our rights survive or disappear based on how firmly we defend them.” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
