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In a wide-ranging address to the Vatican diplomatic corps Jan. 9, Pope Leo XIV deplored attacks on religious freedom— “the first of all human rights,” he reiterated from Pope Benedict XVI, “because it expresses the most fundamental reality of the person.”
“Recent data,” Pope Leo said, show that “sixty-four per cent of the world’s population suffers serious violations of this right.” He urged that religious freedom be “fully respected” for all religions, and reiterated the Holy See’s “categorical rejection of all forms of antisemitism, which unfortunately continues to sow hatred and death.”
And “persecution of Christians,” he emphasized, “remains one of the most widespread human rights crises today, affecting over 380 million believers worldwide,” who “suffer high or extreme levels of discrimination, violence and oppression because of their faith.” He also called out a more “subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians,” prevalent “even in countries where they are in the majority, such as in Europe or the Americas.” “There,” he said, “they are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.”
He linked this ideological religious persecution to another troubling phenomenon: “words los(ing) their meaning,” so that “reality itself becomes debatable and ultimately incommunicable.” “In the West,” he said, “a new Orwellian-style language is developing which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it.”
“We need words once again to express distinct and clear realities unequivocally,” he urged. “This should happen in our homes and public spaces, in politics, in the media and on social media.” The Pope’s address here: https://tinyurl.com/5n7crztz
Listen to Rick Hinshaw and Dr. Jim Dolan engage in an in-depth discussion of Pope Leo’s address to the Vatican diplomatic corps. https://tinyurl.com/3fdnvmt5
“How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!” -Founder Samuel Adams
“Language is a key battleground for national and cultural conflict.” -Marc Shell , Harvard Professor
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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
