"Students of Faith" Video
"The Rosary is a magnificent and universal prayer for the needs of the Church, the nations, and the world.” -Pope John XXIII
"Our Christian faith is based, not on abstract speculation, but on historical events.... The Church's feasts are acts of thanksgiving for actions of God that have affected the course of human existence," wrote Fr. George Rutler, Pastor of Church of St. Michael in NYC. (1)
Anticipating the Muslim threat to take over the Mediterranean Sea and be in a position to conquer European Christian nations, in 1569, Pope Pius V urged the Christian faithful to pray the Rosary and seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother to defeat the Muslim aggression. (2) He "understood the tremendous importance of resisting the aggressive expansion of the Muslin Turks better than any of his contemporaries appear to have. He understood that the real battle being fought was spiritual; a clash of creeds was at hand, and the stakes were the very existence of the Christian West," wrote G.K. Chesterton in his poem "Lepanto." (3)
On October 7, we celebrate the improbable victory of Christian naval vessels over those of the Ottoman Muslims who outnumbered the Christians by two to one and whose ships were manned by 15,000 Christian galley slaves. The Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, was the greatest naval engagement known until World War I. (4)
Pope Pius V interpreted the event as the movement of Providence in favor of the Church and European civilization. He asserted that the triumph properly belonged to the Mother of God and that her intercession had moved the "Holy League" of Christian vessels to victory. He added a new feast day to the Liturgical Calendar - October 7 would henceforth be the feast of Our Lady of Victory. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII would change the name of this day to the feast of the Holy Rosary. (5)
Let us pray: We pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Victory, Patroness of the United States. Blessed Mother Mary, we place our country in your care, remembering your intercession in the Battle of Lepanto. Teach us to imitate Jesus, as you did, and always to follow Him with your courage so that religious liberty, His gift to all mankind, may be preserved throughout the land. Amen
crisismagazine, 10/7/16(1)(4); simplycatholic.com(2); thecatholicdormitory.blogspot,10/7/13(3); madisoncatholicherald.org, 10/26/17(5); ghirelli.com, 1/1/19
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN A MINUTE
What Happens When Entire Nations Pray for Religious Freedom?
It's Happened Before - It Can Happen Again
Religious Freedom protects
the Right to Choose Life.
Watch now.
"Catholics for Freedom of Religion" founder
Barbara Samuells talks with
Fr. Michael P. Orsi host of "Action for Life TV"
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
