RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WEEKLY
At the 2014 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Prof. Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, stated that, in America, the days of acceptable Christianity and comfortable Catholicism are over. Prof. George began by asking the attendees if they were ashamed of the Gospel.
Prof. George explained that in America the days of being a comfortable Christian or an acceptable Catholic have been ruthlessly ended by the changes in our culture. He was reflecting on how our 1st amendment religious freedom has been reshaped to a shadow of its intent and no longer protects an outward support of conscientiously held beliefs about matters such as traditional marriage, gender classification, sexual morality and the sacredness of life at all stages.
Though these Gospel truths are clearly taught and upheld by the Catholic church they are no longer politically correct in our general culture and bring censure and condemnation of those who will state those beliefs…those who are not ashamed to speak and espouse the teachings of the Bible. Christians and Catholics are told they must adhere to the cultural redefinition of good and evil…or else!
Biblical and natural law beliefs about morality were once a pillar of our culture, but are now the cause of derision, labeling, discrimination and even outright persecution.
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Pro-life advocates outside abortion clinics have been arrested and even imprisoned.
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Bakers, florists and photographers have lost their businesses over lawsuits denying their conscience rights to refuse creatively messaging against their faith.
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The owners of Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor had no choice but to appeal to the Supreme Court to exempt them from providing abortion inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization through their healthcare plans.
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Traditional Latin Mass attendees, their choir directors and pastors were labeled by the FBI as potential terrorists and subjected to defamation and government spying.
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Surgeons have been fired for refusing to do gender affecting surgeries.
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Too many Catholics will not speak the truth about the church’s teachings on Marriage, sexual morality and life for fear of offending family members and fellow Catholics.
As Prof. George concluded, “The Gospel is true. The whole Gospel is true.”
So, if we deny the teachings of God, through His word…we are living ashamed of the Gospel. Prof. George advises,” Never be ashamed of the Gospel.”
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/5n7x6zjb https://tinyurl.com/5fj8c3fh
“Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” – Psalm 95:2
…for this nation whose foundation included the right of every man to worship according to his conscience…to study and speak and pray…to evangelize and rejoice in the mercy and goodness of his God. The freedoms of our founding documents are unique among the nations of the world. Among other facts, they are unique because of their origin in Natural Law…the laws that establish our rights, as named by our founders, to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
They are unique also because we were the first nation ever founded by its citizens claiming the right and ability to govern themselves…instead of government by an earthly king, dictator or emperor.
We were called by our first elected president to thank God for these blessings.
[New York, 3 October 1789]
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.
“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…”
Yet, we were advised by founder Thomas Paine that…
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”
Americans must know and defend our liberties for “ages and millions yet unborn.”
Responding to an “existential threat” to Christianity in Nigeria, President Trump has designated that nation a Country of Particular Concern (CPC); i.e., one that engages in severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998.
Agree or disagree with the president’s threatened responses—withdrawal of all U.S. aid to Nigeria or even military action—he has shined a welcome light on the ongoing, savage anti-Christian atrocities.
According to The Catholic Register (Canada), “the human rights advocacy organization Intersociety,” reports “an average of 32 Christians … murdered each day this year in Nigeria,” with “125,000 Christians and 60,000 moderate Muslims … killed in Africa’s most populous nation since 2009, the year the terrorist group Boko Haram began its jihadist campaign.”[1]
“The watchdog organization Open Doors International estimates that nearly 70 per cent of all Christians killed for their faith worldwide last year were in Nigeria. Millions of other Christians have been forcibly banished from their land, and many have been abducted, including over 140 priests in the past decade.”[2]
We, Christians in America, should offer prayers for our horribly persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria. And we should urge our government to do what it can to help end these atrocities.
We might also reflect on what we are willing to suffer, to bear witness to our faith amid anti-Christian intolerance that, with some exceptions, is more subtle in America, but still very real—everything from ridicule and social ostracization, to disruption of certain career paths, to vandalism and desecration of churches.[3]
If we are tempted to give in to such pressure and intimidation, we might remind ourselves of what all those courageous Christian martyrs in Nigeria are enduring—and be inspired by their witness to stand up as Americans in defense of our faith and our religious freedom.
[1] The Catholic Register, “Nigerian bishop praises Trump’s defence of Christians,” November 4, 2025.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Catholic News Agency, “Report finds over 400 cases of vandalism, other ‘hostile’ acts against churches in 2024,” August 13, 2025.
A major staffing crisis is looming for religious ministries throughout the United States, unless Congress passes and the President signs the bipartisan Religious Workforce Protection Act to alleviate a major backlog in processing Religious Worker Visa applications.
Under current law, foreign born religious workers are permitted to live and work in the United States for up to five years through the nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) visa. During that time, they may apply for and receive permanent residency.
However, over the last five years Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) have repeatedly raised concerns with the State Department and Department of Homeland Security about the increasing backlog in processing these applications, forcing foreign born religious workers to leave after five years, for at least a year.
That backlog, they point out, is “costing churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations the beloved religious workers on whom their congregations, and the local communities that they serve, have grown to depend.”
This is forcing departure of increasing numbers of Catholic priests, religious sisters and brothers, and others serving the Church throughout the United States, leaving parishes, hospitals, schools, and other ministries understaffed, and Catholics without access to sacraments and spiritual care.
The Religious Workforce Protection Act, sponsored by Sens. Collins, Kaine, and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and a companion bill in the House of Representatives sponsored by Reps. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) and Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts), would empower the Department of Homeland Security to extend temporary R-1 nonimmigrant status for religious workers past five years, so they can remain in the country pending a decision on their permanent resident application.
The legislation is supported by religious leaders across a wide range of faith communities, including Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, Episcopal, Muslim, and Hindu.
Please urge your U.S. Senators and Congressional Representative to support H.R. 2672 / S. 1298, the Religious Workforce Protection Act.
Read more: https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senators-collins-kaine-risch-introduce-religious-workforce-protection-act https://www.votervoice.net/USCCB/Campaigns/125641/Respond
Tuesday is Election Day. As Catholic citizens, we have a duty to vote—and to vote responsibly. For even in an off-year election when most of us will be choosing only local officials, our votes will impact not just ourselves, but all with whom we live in our communities, villages, cities.
Our civic and Christian duty requires that we cast an informed vote: learning about the candidates, the offices they are aspiring to, the issues they will be confronting, and their governing philosophies and proposed responses to those issues.
As Catholics, we should also be informed about the principles of Catholic moral and social teaching, so we may discern how best to use our votes to advance those principles.
Which candidates, parties, philosophies, for example, do we believe will best advance the protection of innocent human life? Who do we see implementing a “preferential option for the poor” in a way that will help people escape poverty? Which approaches to immigration do we believe will balance the Gospel’s call to “welcome the stranger” with the need to alleviate the suffering visited upon migrants as well as Americans by uncontrolled border crossings?
Evaluating such issues in light of Catholic social teaching does not require adherence to a particular political party or ideology. As Vatican II observed, sincere Catholics will frequently, and legitimately, see a problem differently, and proffer different solutions. In such instances, they should “dialogue in a spirit of mutual charity,” focusing “above all in the common good.”[1]
And we should engage in such dialogue not just with fellow Catholics, but in the larger public square. The documents of Vatican II also emphasize that it falls primarily to Catholic lay citizens to bring Gospel values to bear on the “earthly city.”[2]
We do that by defending religious freedom, then using that freedom to advance the common good by contributing the principles of Catholic moral and social teaching to public policy deliberations, especially in matters bearing on human life, dignity, and justice.
[1] Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Dec. 7, 1965, No. 43.
[2] Ibid.
…and acknowledging the founders who claimed that right as part of our national construct
It is each American’s duty to thank God for the blessings of our nation’s 1st Amendment assertion of religious freedom. As God blessed us to live in the nation with the highest degree of freedom of conscience, we are obliged to understand that critical freedom and to pray and work to steward God’s gift.
“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.” - Samuel Adams
Do we bother to learn and to teach each generation the life threatening dangers braved by these founding fathers and mothers who fought long and risked everything to gain liberty for their children and for ages and millions yet unborn? The courage of the founding generations was infused with a belief in the Bible as the greatest of all books and Christianity as a sure guide for the life of every man, woman and child.
“I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.” - John Adams
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” – John Quincy Adams
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Socialism was strongly condemned by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum:
“It is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonwealth.”
Summary of Pope Leo XIII’s condemnation of socialism:
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Socialism promotes envy between classes. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods.”
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The transfer of private property to community property is against nature and justice.
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Socialism hurts the working man first and foremost.
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A person has the right to improve his social condition through labor. His social condition should not be taken away from him.
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The Pope recognizes that not every human has equal aptitude in this life for wage-earning.
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Labor is good and not evil. Socialism wrongly presumes that work is always an exploitation of one class serving another class.
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It is evident in these quotes, that those who have acquired private property should share their goods with those who are in need. This is the call to almsgiving that Proverbs and Christ repeatedly exhort us to practice.
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…as put forth by the 1st Amendment and championed by American founders and presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
For all Americans of faith, that the Creator who endowed each man with Freedom of Conscience and Religion will protect them in their faith and in their places of worship. Let us pray..
For all Americans that they will respect and protect the rights of their fellow men to religious freedom, as described by Pres. Thomas Jefferson when he wrote: “…religion is a matter that lies solely between a Man and his God. That he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship…” (Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802)
Let us pray.
For all Americans to know they are protected from persecution by the Constitution and laws of our nation. Washington emphasized this freedom for Jews and all Americans when he quoted Micah 4:4 in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport: ‘"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants – while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Let us pray.
For all Americans, that the example and witness of their fellow citizens’ faith and hope in God, may lead them to welcome the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into their hearts and minds. Let us pray.
For all Americans that they may kneel in prayer and stand in solidarity to protect those Americans prosecuted for their works of charity and attacked as they gather for prayer. Let us pray.
“America! America! God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy soul in self-control. Thy liberty in law.” Katherine Lee Bates, 1893
On Sept. 25, 1888, after his morning Mass, Pope Leo XIII saw a vision which caused him to collapse. When the Pope recovered, he told those with him that he had seen a horrible vision and heard the voices of Christ and Satan talking about the evil plans of the devil to destroy the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIII was so shaken by the immense evil in the vision that he immediately composed a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel asking St. Michael to use the power of God to protect the church from the intensifying assaults from Hell. The Pope directed that the prayer should be recited from the foot of the altar after each Mass in all churches. The prayer was recited in Catholic churches around the world until after Vatican II when it was no longer required to be said.
In 1994 Pope John Paul II asked that everyone pray the St. Michael prayer to counteract the forces of darkness. In 2018 Pope Francis asked all Catholics to pray the St. Michael prayer after a daily rosary for the month of October. Across the United States various clergy at all levels have called for and reinstated the recitation of the prayer in response to the attacks on religious freedom and the Catholic church.
The prayer is a much condensed version of the prayer as Pope Leo XIII wrote it. The entire Pope Leo XIII prayer can be read here: https://tinyurl.com/yvzyuj39
Pope Pius XII, in October 1953, at the opening of the North American College in Rome, reminded his audience: “One dare not forget. We belong to the Church militant, and she is militant because on earth the powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass her destruction.”
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -Text of the First Amendment
The Constitution of the United States was fortified by the addition of the first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights. It was added to further protect individual rights and to guard against government overreach.
America’s founders were adamant that morality and religion, disbursed throughout the citizenry, would be the only sure protection of the natural liberties from their creator. It is not surprising then that religious freedom was the first of the rights emphasized. Freedom of speech was seen as the protection from tyrannical control over criticisms of government and, along with freedom of the press, was intended to prevent deceptions by government. Freedom of assembly and of redress gave citizens a practical approach to addressing laws and actions they believed denied their liberties.
The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, a leading conservative Christian voice in this nation, assaulted the freedom of religion and freedom of speech of every American. If these most basic freedoms are denied to one American, they may be denied to all.
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Our founders knew that "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." -Benjamin Franklin.
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“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” -Frederick Douglass
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“The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights.” -Thomas Jefferson
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"Conscience is the most sacred of all property." -James Madison
So that generations to come will understand and preserve religious freedom, freedom of speech and all five freedoms of the First Amendment, each American is obliged to learn the liberties of our Constitution and take responsibility for teaching them to the next generations. Remember what the communist Lenin said: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seeds I have planted will never be uprooted.”
Just as the Catechism’s teachings are foundational and irreplaceable to living the life of a faithful Catholic, the Constitution of the United States is the guide and the guard of the liberties it sets forth as the rights given to each of us from our Creator, including religious freedom.
To excuse ourselves from the responsibility to learn all we are able about this essential founding document is to disregard the danger, toil and immense sacrifices of those who won our freedom and to risk the loss of liberty. Not willing to lose this hard won freedom, the founders established a system of shared power with checks and balances. That systematic governance was and is reliant on the morality and knowledge of those who are governed by it.
If we choose to remain ignorant of the most basic knowledge of our Constitution, how can we possibly discern the truthfulness, intentions and intelligence of those we have chosen to protect our freedoms? Religious freedom is threatened daily. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” He and other founders often counseled that the only sure repository for freedom is with the people, not the government.
Our founders had few books and no electronic media and yet endeavored to learn their Constitution, discuss its provisions and pass it to their children and grandchildren. And yet, in 1828 Arthur Stansbury wrote the most popular school text ever which was the Catechism of the Constitution. Rev Stansbury was concerned that knowledge of the Constitution was waning and he feared the loss of essential freedoms due to ignorance of our rights.
Debates and discussions of our freedoms and responsibilities are ineffective unless we have knowledge of the Constitution. We assume that some vague, amorphous, non-specific force called “The Constitution” will guard our equality and protect all that is critical to our lives as well as our families and our future generations. In fact, there is no protection if we choose ignorance.
“ … Cities may be rebuilt, and a People reduced to Poverty, may acquire fresh Property: But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.” -John Adams to his wife Abigail Adams
Preamble to the United States Constitution:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Firmly rooted in the laws of Nature and Nature’s God, our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, shun the chaos, immorality and nihilism ever present in a universe where evil exists as surely as good. The guiding and steadying influence of these documents is the result of their foundation in principles of morality reflecting this country’s Judeo-Christian roots. Some of these guiding principles are:
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The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law which Thomas Jefferson referred to as the law of nature and nature’s God
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“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin
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“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports….” – George Washington
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“The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legislative authority.” – Alexander Hamilton
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“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary…. [But lacking these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” – James Madison
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The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” -The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution
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“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.” – John Adams
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Almost two hundred and fifty years ago this nation was declared to be a free and sovereign nation, based on inalienable rights from our Creator…among those rights were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Having declared our independence, colonists of all ages, all walks of life, all economic and social status fought and died to effectuate and confirm independence for ages and millions yet unborn, including our own families.
Many of these colonists were descendants of those who had fled their countries to escape religious persecution. Their conviction was that freedom of conscience, the practice of faith in accord with each man’s beliefs, was essential for the peace and prosperity of this new nation.
Our first president, George Washington, protected and nurtured freedom of conscience from his earliest days as a military leader throughout his terms as President when he often referred to the Bible verse of Micah 4:4 which refers to a time of peace and prosperity for God’s people. Washington referred often to America’s freedom of religion quoting from that verse, “everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
However, in violation of their religious freedom in recent years Catholics have been over-prosecuted and imprisoned by abortion loving individuals and politicians, labeled as suspected terrorists and white supremacists by the FBI, endured hundreds of attacks on churches, shrines and life centers and endured a culture degraded by irreligious politicians and hostile to families and faith.
Now a murderous attack on Catholic school children praying on their first day of school reveals the depth of evil we face. May God comfort all who suffer from the violence. May He strengthen each of us to speak openly against the persecution and to act in support of God’s presence in America’s public life and public square.
Today we are the witnesses. We will pray and we will speak. We will act together and invite others to join us. And we will never give up, never give in because we know: whether in chains or laurels religious freedom and liberty know nothing but victories! -Bishop William Murphy, 2013
Written by Arthur Stansbury for the Use of Schools - Copyright 1828
A catechism is defined as a text giving the basic principles of a religion or of a specific subject, usually by using a question and answer format. For Catholics learning the truths of our faith , the Baltimore Catechism was the standard text used from 1885 to the late 1960s. Fifty or sixty years later many Catholics can recite, word-for-word, much of what they learned by memorizing answers from the Baltimore Catechism.
Arthur Stansbury, a Presbyterian minister, wrote basic lessons on the Constitution as a catechism, with chronological questions and answers to teach students the facts of the Constitution along with a moral patriotism imbued in this “highly favored” ‘birthright.”
As we approach the annual Constitution Week of Sept. 17-23 and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2025, each of us would benefit from a review of the Constitution which protects our religious freedom and the other rights from our Creator. Stansbury’s introduction to the book urges “…the Constitution’s principles are simple, its features plain and obvious, and its brevity surpassing all example…It is certainly a most reprehensible negligence to remain in ignorance of it.”
“In the first place, consider how happy and how highly favored is our country, in having a system of government so wisely calculated to secure the life, liberty and happiness of all its citizens.” “In the next place, remember that this precious Constitution, thus wise, thus just, is your birthright. It has been earned for you by your fathers, who counselled much, labored long, and shed their dearest blood, to win it for their children.”
“To them it was the fruit of toil and danger. To you, it is a gift. Do not slight it on that account, but prize it as you ought. To undervalue it is one of the surest ways to lose it. Take pains to know what the Constitution is - the more you study, the higher you will esteem it. The better you understand your own rights, the more likely you will be to preserve and guard them.” Arthur J. Stansbury, Elementary Catechism on the Constitution of the United States: Copyright 1828
Learn more: Stansbury’s book available from Amazon.com for $8.00
And follow this link to take the free online course from Hillsdale College.
Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution https://online.hillsdale.edu/courses/promo/constitution-101
Since 2012 the Little Sisters of the Poor, dedicated to the care of the elderly, poor and sick, have spent countless hours of efforts to preserve their rights of religious freedom. In order to follow their deeply held conscientious beliefs they seek exemption from the Heath and Humans Services’ (HHS) mandate to provide contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization procedures in their employees’ healthcare plans.
The Obama administration circumvented the legislative process in Feb. 2012, avoiding debate and a vote on this mandate, by directing its secretary of HHS to sign a regulation requiring that employers provide birth control known to violate the conscience rights of millions of Americans of many faiths. Extreme fines would be imposed if the HHS mandate was not followed.
Many Americans remember that the Hobby Lobby family owned business also objected to the HHS mandate on conscience grounds and were victorious in their case to the Supreme Court. The Hobby Lobby secular case did not apply to the Little Sisters who then worked their own way to the Supreme Court.
In 2016 and 2020 the Supreme Court issued opinions freeing the Little Sisters from the HHS Mandate, but the states of CA, PA and NJ have taken the Sisters to court to try to overturn their Supreme Court exemptions. On Aug. 13, 2025, a PA federal court ruled against the Little Sisters exemptions. Their lead attorney from the Becket Fund says they will appeal again to the Supreme Court.
Every American of every faith or of none should be aware of the virulent and pointless persecution of this order of selfless, generous and tireless nuns. Anti-life attorneys general and states who encourage them should hear from all of us who recognize this blatant bias.
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“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” –Matthew 25:40
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1772
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Because our founders believed that freedom of conscience was among man’s rights from his creator, they assured freedom from government imposed religion and the freedom for each to practice his chosen religion. These first two freedoms of the five freedoms of the First Amendment were intended to insure a plurality of faiths could flourish in peace and equality, but have not prevented all bias against various religions including Catholicism.
Recent evidences of anti-Catholic, anti-Christian bias have been:
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Two pro-life sidewalk counselors in Baltimore were attacked and seriously injured. A 28 year old man pushed an 84 year old man into a plate glass window and then kicked him after he fell down. Another pro-life counselor went to his aid and this 73 year old man was hit in the face and kicked when he fell. He suffered a severe concussion, broken fingers and a lifelong vision impairment. The attacker was found guilty but sentenced to only a year’s probation in spite of the severity of the injuries he inflicted.
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A profane “drag” performance mocking the Eucharist and the Mass caused an outcry from Catholics against the University of Nebraska and the University has since apologized and say they are investigating. Bishop Conley of Lincoln, NE called the performance “a blatant public display of faith-based discrimination.”
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In denial of the FBI’s claim there was no anti-Catholic bias in its preparation of the “Richmond Memo” in Jan. 2023, Sen. Grassley has found there were over 1,000 agents informed of the memo, there were 13 other FBI documents using anti-Catholic rhetoric. Grassley released a second FBI memo which repeated the same unfounded link between violent extremism and traditional Catholics.
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“It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others.” -Thomas Jefferson, 1803
Clinton Administration’s 1997 Guidelines Similar to Trump Administration Guidelines
The free expression of religious beliefs is assured by the First Amendment and includes spoken expression, religious apparel, jewelry and icons as well as religious items displayed. The new guidelines issued July 28, 2025 by the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are meant to insure that the federal government is not only in compliance with Constitutional religious freedom, but is welcoming to religious expression by Americans of all faiths in its workspaces.
In its Memorandum the OPM points out that our nation was founded with religious freedom for all and Americans are entitled to express their faith openly in their daily lives. The Memorandum also refers to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its protection from discrimination in hiring because of a candidate’s religion. Title VII also gives protection for many aspects of religious expression including discussions about religion, display and use of items such as Bibles, artwork, crosses and mezuzahs on employees’ desks, on their person, and in their assigned workspaces. Also, groups of employees may come together in prayer as long as it is done outside the regular work time.
The Memorandum calls for ongoing attention to the religious freedom of employees in the federal workplace to reflect the Constitutional religious liberty of all Americans.
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Believing with Thomas Jefferson that “Almighty God hath created the mind to be free” America’s founders encouraged and empowered a plurality of religions intending that each American could practice, with free conscience, their chosen faith without fear of persecution.
The colonial practices of restricting religious practices to only those sects chartered in each colony and requiring test acts of adherence to a particular sect in order to hold political office were replaced in our Constitution with freedom of conscience for all. The First Amendment further defined religious freedom by specifying Americans should never be subject to government dictated religious sects and would be assured of the free and open exercise of their own faith.
For exercising their faith with magnificent benefits to our nation, several Catholic saints are named to be recognized in our capitol’s planned National Garden of American Heroes and be honored for their vision, dedication, leadership, loyalty and courage. St. Junípero Serra, St. John Neumann, St. Katharine Drexel, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha, along with Venerable Fulton Sheen, Venerable Augustus Tolton, and Servant of God Dorothy Day will be among the 250 honorees.
It is no surprise to Catholics that our nation acknowledges the immense contributions of these saints, but it is a testimony to America’s religious freedom that their efforts were not impeded because of the faith that impelled their good works.
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Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. -St. Francis of Assisi
The children who are fortunate to attend Catholic schools and those who are home schooled usually avoid the sexual indoctrination many parents find in their children’s public schools. The Catholic church is clear and consistent in its teaching of physical facts and moral guidance so that Catholic children can learn the truth of creation and of God’s plan for man and woman to form the family which is the best place for children to be educated in their faith.
The Catholic Catechism states: 2223: Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues.
When public school students are exposed to sexual teachings and sexually explicit books that interfere with the faith taught by the parents, the school is usurping the role reserved for parents. Catholic Catechism Sect 2221-asserts: The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.
Catholic Catechism Sect 2229 explains: As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. 38 Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.
Parents across the United States are standing for the religious freedom rights of themselves and their children. Parents are objecting to lessons and books covering complex and controversial topics such as LGBTQ and Transgender issues in ways that contradict the parents’ religious beliefs. The recent Supreme Court opinion that Maryland parents can opt out their children from such lessons may lead to even greater protection of parental rights.
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On July 7, 2025 the IRS filed a legal document clearly stating that churches and other non-profits may endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status. For the first time since the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which held that such endorsements were illegal, churches can now communicate with their congregations about political matters as part of their normal pastoral communications and conversations.
The IRS statement is a result of a 2024 lawsuit filed by the National Religious Broadcasters Assn. and two churches asserting that the Johnson Amendment deprived churches of First Amendment freedom of speech and the free exercise of their religion.
Churches are still to avoid paying for ads backing a specific candidate, church backed public rallies for a candidate or using church resources to support a candidate. However, pastors, priests and faith leaders can now speak about political issues, candidates for election and public policy during regular church communications without fear of losing their tax-exempt status.
However, the Catholic church will not endorse political candidates according to a July 8, 2025 statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The USCCB states, “The Church seeks to help Catholics form their conscience in the Gospel so they might discern which candidates and policies would advance the common good. The Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates.”
“It belongs to the Church always and everywhere to announce moral principles, even about the social order, and to render judgment concerning any human affairs insofar as the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls requires it,” canon law explains.
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“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
In their 2024 AND 2025 reports on the state of religious liberty in the United States, the bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty of the USCCB ( United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) advised of varying threats to the religious freedom of all Americans.
Their first concern in the 2024 report was attacks on houses of worship. FBI reports showed an alarming increase in violence and attacks against houses of worship that increased by 100% from 2021 to 2023. Almost none of over 200 attacks were ever prosecuted.
The assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, says there is now a Dept. of Justice focus on keeping Americans safe to worship freely in their churches, synagogues, temples and mosques through an expanded and focused civil rights enforcement. The Dept. of Justice has secured convictions in several high profile cases and is actively pursuing more such investigations.
The Face Act, used extensively to prosecute and imprison peaceful pro-life demonstrators while neglecting to investigate and prosecute most perpetrators of the attacks on pro-life centers and pro-life activists, is being challenged for repeal by Congressional Republicans. Dhillon says that this administration will not prosecute pro-lifers who demonstrate without blocking clinic entrances. Further, she urges pro-life centers who did not present their cases before the previous administration to come forward to the Dept. of Justice before the statute of limitations expires. Also, this Dept. of Justice has dropped several cases brought by the previous administration against pro-lifers.
In defense of the Catholic church’s rights the Dept. of Justice has a lawsuit against a Washington state law requiring priests to break the seal of the confessional by reporting any suspected child abuse revealed during confessions. Because Canon Law forbids the priest to reveal any information from confessions upon pain of excommunication, the Bishops of Seattle, Spokane and Yakima have filed suit against the law to protect religious freedom rights.
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We Americans love to celebrate birthdays and can be incredibly creative to mark those special birthdays in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Our best efforts will be well spent in planning to celebrate America’s 250th birthday on Independence Day 2026, marking the signing of our Declaration of Independence.
America’s 250th birthday is a blessing to each American and many churches in America are planning to give thanks and to honor America’s religious freedom. Congregations of every denomination will be celebrating the privilege of practicing their faith in the only nation founded by its citizens and solidly based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. Still the United States is not a “Christian nation” because our founders saw the history of theocracies and knew them to always result in tyranny. They determined that freedom of conscience would support an abundance of religions as each man chose to worship his God according to the dictates of his conscience. Because no one religion, including Christianity, would be established as a state religion, each man would be free and secure in following his spiritual path and would, according to President George Washington, live in peace and “… there shall be none to make him afraid.” - George Washington Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI
An example of a clear and important benefit of Constitutional freedom of religion is the Supreme Court’s June 27, 2025 opinion upholding the rights of parents to remove their children from required public school lessons which teach sex education lessons which violate the parents religious values and beliefs.
Another Constitutional protection of parental rights to guide their children’s moral development is the Tennessee law restricting adult cabaret, drag performances, where children could be present. Drag queen story hours in schools and libraries were disallowed by law for children as sexually explicit adult entertainment.
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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.” - James Monroe, Address to the Virginia General Assembly, June 20, 1785
As the Catholic Church’s annual Religious Freedom Week draws to a close, each of us can choose to go forward making a difference in the preservation of America’s religious freedom. Around us we experience a nation and world where morals and religion are increasingly disregarded as tiresome and irrelevant. However, we Catholics know the presence of God in our daily lives is the only source of real love, satisfaction and happiness and is the path to salvation.
To strengthen the right of religious freedom we can:
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Educate ourselves about the founders’ belief that freedom of conscience was necessary to support a moral and religious citizenry capable of using America’s extensive personal liberties for the good of all.
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Support the teaching that our liberties come from our Creator, not from government.
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Explain to fellow Americans that ”separation of church and state” is not a law…is not in the Constitution…but is a statement made by Pres. Thomas Jefferson acknowledging that conscience and the practice of religion are the choice of the individual and the state is not to interfere.
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Advise parents and children of the Department of Education’s guidelines to Students’ Rights in public schools athttps://tinyurl.com/52uj49hs
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Read and print weekly articles about religious freedom at www.cffor.org then print and share with family and friends
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” - Edmund Burke
The annual Religious Freedom Week, as declared by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has as its theme “Witnesses to Hope.” Each year different areas of focus encourage Catholics to consider the many aspects of our faith enabled by religious freedom.
By acknowledging the freedom of each American to live their faith in their home, church, community and country, we can focus on learning and protecting those rights.
The USCCB suggests topics for thought and prayer each day of Religious Freedom Week:
June 22 – Pray that Catholics will have the courage to put the truth of the gospel and fidelity to the church above partisan politics.
June 23 – Pray for couples who suffer fertility challenges.
June 24 – Pray that governments will respect the consciences of people who care for the sick.
June 25 – Pray for Christians in Nicaragua, where the Catholic church is brutally persecuted.
June 26 – Pray for parental choice in education.
June 27 – Pray that the Lord will protect vulnerable migrants and refugees.
June 28 – Pray that government leaders would recognize the good done by religious charities.
June 29 – Pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria who are suffering violent religious conflict.
Prayer for the Preservation of Religious Liberty:
Dear Lord, we ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be “one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. (From the USCCB)
”May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” - George Washington Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI
In 1790 President George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island to reassure them that the principle of religious liberty was fundamental to this new nation. His letter had enormous consequence for the fledgling nation where many had fled to escape religious persecution. Washington’s promise is being betrayed today.
To preserve our protection of liberties, Americans must also remember the wisdom of founders including Pres. John Adams who told us: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” And Jefferson said, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.”
The assaults on religious freedom in the United States do great damage to our Republic and must be stopped by enforcement of law, and by education of all citizens on the critical need to protect and respect each other’s rights of conscience as set forth in our First Amendment.
We are seeing and tolerating heinous and dangerous violations of the rights of conscience proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enumerated in our Constitution:
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Extreme violence directed at Jews, denial of their free speech and safety in public places
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FBI surveillance and lies targeting Catholic beliefs and practices
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Physical attacks and damage to churches and pro-life clinics
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Harassment and violent attacks on Christians gathered to worship
We know that freedom requires vigilance. Religious liberty safeguards all our liberties. Americans declared their rights come from God, not government and that “to preserve these rights, governments are established among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” -Declaration of Independence
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/p4y2p25p
Custom Cakes and Custom Websites Are Considered Free Speech
When a potential customer requests a custom service to celebrate or promote something that conflicts with the faith of the business owner, many owners decline the business opportunity. They often recommend another custom service which would meet that customer’s needs.
The Supreme Court has twice made it clear that the freedom of speech of the business owner would be denied if they are forced to create a custom product that promotes behaviors or morals which deny their faith. Although a Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, spent years and lost much of his family business defending his freedom of speech in such a case, the decision in his favor by the Supreme Court does not help a California baker in a similar situation. The Colorado case was decided in the baker’s favor based based on his mistreatment by the Colorado State Supreme Court.
Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery, was sued in 2018 by a couple because she declined to create a custom cake for their same-sex wedding and referred them to another baker who would create the cake they asked for. The California Supreme Court has refused to protect Cathy’s freedom of speech and so her attorney from the Thomas More Society has asked the Supreme Court to hear her case so that Cathy can defend her conscience and follow her faith.
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Religious liberty is increasingly under attack by those who believe it cannot and should not coexist with our other freedoms. However, religious freedom is a God given, fundamental human right and American value enshrined in our Constitution and protected by the Bill of Rights.
Freedom of religion protects the conscience of all people since it allows us to think, express and act upon what we deeply believe. This freedom of conscience is critical to the health of a diverse society by allowing different faiths and beliefs to flourish. "We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege; let them worship (or not) how, where, or what they may," said Church of Latter-day Saints leaders.
The American Founders understood the importance of religion for human, social, and political flourishing. That's why they styled religious freedom as the First Freedom and the foundation upon which all other freedoms are guaranteed and protected and without which the new Republic would fail.
"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." - George Washington, 1789
A Vibrant Example of Religious Freedom
Freedom to Worship - Freedom to Assemble - Freedom to Evangelize
What a living, vibrant example of the effects of religious freedom in the USA! Catholics in America are drawing close to the conclusion of the three year Eucharistic Revival based on the encouragement from Pope Francis and the support of America’s Catholic bishops. Begun on Corpus Christi in 2022, the revival will conclude on Corpus Christi of 2025. The aim of the entire Eucharistic Revival is to inspire, educate and unite Catholics through a clearer understanding and dedication to Jesus in the Eucharist.
The first year of the Eucharistic Revival focused on Eucharistic renewal at the diocesan level. The second year renewed each parish’s Eucharistic devotion. The third year, ending on June 22, 2025, Corpus Christi Sunday, is focused on organizing missionary outreach to continue the growth of devotion to the Eucharist. Individuals and groups, inspired by the Revival, are called to learn and evangelize in the work of renewing the world through Eucharistic devotion.
In 2024 the Revival organized Eucharistic processions spanning the United States with prayer, adoration and masses. The processions culminated at the National Eucharistic Convention in Indianapolis. The inspiration from the 2024 processions is reflected in local and national processions in 2025. A Eucharistic procession will begin on May 18, 2025 in Indianapolis, travel through Texas and end in Los Angeles on Corpus Christi weekend. Other processions and Eucharistic Revival Celebrations listed on the USCCB’s website will take place in Rockville Centre, NY, New Hampshire, Pasadena and Camino de California and all will end with the celebration of Corpus Christi Sunday.
Read more about the Eucharistic Revival, Eucharistic Missionaries in our parishes and the Perpetual Pilgrim group of young Catholics and priests who have traveled the full processions.
Read more: eucharisticrevival.org eucharisticpilgrimage.org/local-pilgrimages
eucharisticpilgrimage.org/perpetual-pilgrims eucharisticrevival.org/become
Spokane Bishop Daly says priests will face jail rather than comply
On May 2, 2025 Washington state governor, Bob Fergusen, signed a bill into law which requires all members of all clergies to report instances of child abuse and neglect with no exception for information learned in the confessional. The Canon Law of the Catholic church holds that the seal of the confessional cannot be broken and any such action would be punishable by excommunication. The state of Montana is considering a similar law denying the sacredness of the seal of the confessional.
Per the National Catholic Register of May 7, 2025, “It’s long-standing and settled law in the U.S. that priest-penitent discussions are privileged private communications that can be withheld from legal authorities.”
The first clash with the civil courts regarding information learned in the confessional was People v. Philips, dating back to 1813. In that case it was decided that the secrecy of the confessional is the essence of the practice and removing it would annihilate this part of the Catholic religion.
As reported by the Catholic News Agency on May 6, the Department of Justice is now investigating the Washington law : “Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to the governor and called the mandate a “legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession, a religious practice ordained by the Catholic Church dating back to the Church’s origins.” “Not only does this new law put state authorities in direct conflict with the free exercise of a well-established religion, but your law demands that priests disobey one of the Catholic Church’s first authorities related to confession,” she wrote. “This state command runs afoul of the First Amendment.”
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Code of Cannon Law. Title IV – The Sacrament of Penance 983 §1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.
“Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight - all through the day. Let us pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for the churches. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.” -General Robert E Lee, 1863
“It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.” -Patrick Henry
“We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!” -John Adams
“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power. … But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.” -Abraham Lincoln - Day of Prayer Proclamation, March 30, 1863
Throughout our nation Americans are standing in prayer for the preservation of our liberties. Their voices are the essence and reality of America’s 1st Amendment religious freedom. Thank God for our neighbors with the courage to pray before a school board meeting, to pray on our public streets, to pray in front of abortion clinics, to pray with their fellow students at appropriate times during their school day, to pray before public events, to pray before meals in a restaurant, to stand in public witness prayer with rosaries in their hands.
May God bless and shield them from harm. Let their example inspire all Americans to practice their faith openly and effectively as our founders intended when they declared the natural rights of conscience and liberty from our Creator.
Pope Francis
December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025; Requiescat in Pace
“In today’s world, religious freedom is more often affirmed than put into practice.” Defending religious liberty “guarantees the growth and development of the entire community.” – June 8, 2013
“When, in the name of an ideology, there is an attempt to remove God from society, it ends up adoring idols, and very soon men and women lose their way, their dignity is trampled and their rights violated.” – Sept. 23, 2014
“American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination. With countless other people of good will, they are likewise concerned that efforts to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty. That freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.” – Sept. 23, 2015 Pope Francis at the White House
“Let us preserve freedom. Let us cherish freedom. Freedom of conscience, religious freedom, the freedom of each person, each family, each people, which is what gives rise to rights.” “[May] you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for it has been given to you by God himself.” – September 25, 2015 Pope Francis at Independence Hall, Philadelphia
There is, however, also “another kind of persecution that is not often spoken about”, Francis noted. The first form of persecution “is due to confessing the name of Christ” and it is thus “a clear, explicit type of persecution”. The other kind of persecution is “disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress: it is a kind of — I would say somewhat ironically — polite persecution”. You can recognize “when someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God”. Thus, it is a kind of “persecution against God the Creator in the person of his children”. – April 12, 2016
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/yc6se9d6
Pope Francis’ Teachings about Religious Freedom
May 4, 2025
Chapter Six: Dialogue and Friendship in Society
The BASIS of Consensus: Building together
206. The solution is not relativism. Under the guise of tolerance, relativism ultimately leaves the interpretation of moral values to those in power, to be defined as they see fit. “In the absence of objective truths or sound principles other than the satisfaction of our own desires and immediate needs… we should not think that political efforts or the force of law will be sufficient… When the culture itself is corrupt, and objective truth and universally valid principles are no longer upheld, then laws can only be seen as arbitrary impositions or obstacles to be avoided”.
210. ‘What is now happening, and drawing us into a perverse and barren way of thinking, is the reduction of ethics and politics to physics. Good and evil no longer exist in themselves; there is only a calculus of benefits and burdens. As a result of the displacement of moral reasoning, the law is no longer seen as reflecting a fundamental notion of justice but as mirroring notions currently in vogue. Breakdown ensues: everything is ‘leveled down’ by a superficial bartered consensus. In the end, the law of the strongest prevails.’
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/59a2avxt
Pope Francis
December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025
Requiescat in Pace
Remembering and Learning from the Words of Pope Francis
Fratelli Tutti
The Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis
ON FRATERNITY AND SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP
Christ knew the suffering and death he was to endure for the salvation of mankind. He knew the cross was his to accept or reject.
“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” – Mark 8:31
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” – Luke 22:42
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” – John 10:18
As we remember and consecrate the suffering and death of Our Lord and his resurrection from the dead this Easter Sunday, we are reminded that we are expected to take up the crosses in our lives if we are to be numbered among the followers of Christ.
And to the disciples Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” - Matthew 16:24
Sometimes we fail to recognize the crosses before us and consider difficult situations to be “someone else’s problem”… or something that will “work its way out”… or something that is “none of my business”…or something where “my actions would not make a real difference.”
Some of the crosses too often ignored are the burdens of protecting and preserving religious freedom, the rights of conscience, in America whose citizens have been exceptionally blessed with a Constitution defending their right to choose their faith and practice it openly. It is an obligation of each of us to learn the truth of religious freedom, its benefits and its enemies so that we may answer to Our Lord that we preserved his gift for ages and millions yet unborn.
Find educational information at www.CatholicsforFreedomofReligion.org www.cffor.org
The strife is o'er, the battle done; the victory of life is won; the song of triumph has begun. Alleluia!
Translator: Francis Pott, 1861
Kentucky will join other states in adding a public monument of the Ten Commandments on its Capitol grounds. Such monuments are often a gift from an organization within the state. The Fraternal Order of Eagles donated Kentucky’s Ten Commandments monument in 1971 but it was removed in 2002 due to legal concerns.
Individuals and organizations such as the Freedom from Religion Foundation, often sue states and cities to force removal of such monuments which they believe conflict with the 1st amendment’s establishment clause. They assert that displaying the Ten Commandments is an establishment of the Christian faith and should not be allowed on public property.
However, the Supreme Court has upheld displays of the Ten Commandments on state and federal properties. The court’s opinion in Van Orden v. Perry held that the Constitution does allow the display of the Ten Commandments on the state of Texas’ Capitol grounds and cites the findings of a district court: “The District Court also determined that a reasonable observer, mindful of the history, purpose, and context, would not conclude that this passive monument conveyed the message that the State was seeking to endorse religion.” This set the precedent for other states like Kentucky.
Regarding the Texas monument, the majority of the justices wrote that: “ Such acknowledgments of the role played by the Ten Commandments in our Nation’s heritage are common throughout America. We need only look within our own Courtroom. Since 1935, Moses has stood, holding two tablets that reveal portions of the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew, among other lawgivers in the south frieze. Representations of the Ten Commandments adorn the metal gates lining the north and south sides of the Courtroom as well as the doors leading into the Courtroom. Moses also sits on the exterior east facade of the building holding the Ten Commandments tablets.
Similar acknowledgments can be seen throughout a visitor’s tour of our Nation’s Capital.”
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America’s Declaration of Independence asserted that all men are endowed by their Creator, not their government, with rights which could not be taken away…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. After signing the Declaration of Independence, Founding Father, Samuel Adams, wrote: "We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”
In 1787 Founder Benjamin Franklin reminded the Constitutional Convention about the divine protection for which they had prayed daily and gratefully observed in many battles. Franklin asked “ And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?” Franklin encouraged continued prayers, “And if a sparrow cannot fall from a tree without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid.”
Throughout the Revolutionary War and the rise of this new nation, our founding fathers and mothers believed that morals and religion were essential to their victory and to the continued preservation of individual liberties. George Washington advised, “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.” To further protect religious freedom/conscience rights the 1st Amendment to the Constitution begins with protection from government imposed religion and protection for the free exercise of religion.
As the Declaration of Independence declared, governments are instituted among men to secure men’s rights based on the consent of the governed. The government structure adopted by the Constitution was a three branch structure so defined as to separate federal powers into three co-equal branches pf government. The checks and balances of each branch upon the others was intended to prevent the tyranny our founders and their forefathers had endured.
When religious freedom is the issue we have seen each of the three branches significantly involved. The Legislative Branch , which is centered around Congress, makes the laws. The Executive Branch, led by the President, enforces laws. The Judicial Branch, headed by the Supreme Court, interprets the laws. Several important religious freedom cases have been heard by the Supreme Court in recent years and more are on the court’s schedule. We can also expect and track new laws and executive orders dealing with issues of conscience and religious freedom. Knowing our rights to religious freedom allows us to exercise and preserve those freedoms and ensure the open practice of our Catholic faith for generations to come.
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. -Mark 10:6
The Catholic church teaches that parents have the basic right and responsibility to direct their children’s educations. Across the country too many schools have usurped a role of teaching children theories about sex that have no basis in science and directly contradict many families’ religious beliefs.
Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington explains: “In the past decade our culture has seen growing acceptance of transgender ideology-that is, the claim that a person's biological sex and personal identity have no necessary connection and could in fact contradict each other.“ Pope Francis. (2016). Amoris Laetitia “According to this view, “human identity” is self-defined and “becomes the choice of the individual.”
This, according to Bishop Burbridge and other authoritative teachers of Catholic dogma, is an extreme challenge to all church members since this is a view contrary to the truth. Pope Francis has warned: “Today children-children!-are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Let us not play with truths. It's true that behind all this we find gender ideology. In books, kids learn that it's possible to change one's sex. Could gender, to be a woman or to be a man, be an option and not a fact of nature? This leads to this error. Let us call things by their names.” Pope Francis. (2016, July 27)
In Montgomery County, Maryland parents have been refused the ability to opt out their children from gender ideology lessons which the Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic parents argue conflict with their religious beliefs and their right to teach those beliefs to their children. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will present the parents’ case to the Supreme Court this spring. Other similar cases are working their way through the courts with parents seeking to protect the 1st Amendment religious freedom of their families to follow their faith.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/ywex6yy2 https://tinyurl.com/42nb7w9s https://tinyurl.com/48rtaw9u
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6
Each year new cases are brought to defend the religious freedom of members of our military by law firms who defend religious freedom in all relevant situations. Many Catholics wonder why there is an organization such as Catholics for Freedom of Religion. They tell us they can go to church on Sunday so what is the problem.
Freedom of Worship is not freedom of religion. Freedom of Worship is the right to pray within the church of your choice. Freedom of religion is the right to worship in church, in your home and in the public square, as in processions, public rosaries, etc. Freedom of Religion is the right to live your faith openly in every area of your life. So the cases brought against the military are an area of great concern. Many cases in recent years reflect a resistance to God’s presence among the military as service men and women are criticized, marginalized and even dismissed for their religious beliefs and practices which denies their right to freedom of religion.
On Jan. 17, 2025 Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit to defend an Idaho National Guardsman, Major Worley, because he was removed from a command position solely for his religious beliefs which he had stated in a venue off duty and outside of his military service. Major Worley was investigated based on a complaint filed by a guardsman who said he felt unsafe and threatened because of Worley’s beliefs. The investigation showed no wrongdoing by Worley but still he was removed by a general who decided Worley’s Christian views were toxic.
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/33d36csv
Read here about a VA chaplain whose sermons are being censored because he preaches based on his religious beliefs and his ecclesiastical endorsement. https://tinyurl.com/3pnhvnzn
The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!” -Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Countless studies show that when national well-being is measured, countries with higher levels of religious freedom have greater economic growth, social stability and national unity.
Our founders valued religious freedom because they believed it was one of the natural rights, the inalienable rights, endowed on every man by our creator. They knew that the morality and religious freedom protected and nurtured by our 1st Amendment would benefit each American and would be the protection of the many other individual rights set forth in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. They knew it was essential to peace and prosperity for each citizen.
Lack of religious freedom has fostered violence around the world and incited persecution and discrimination which is ongoing today in countless countries.
Annual reports from the non-denominational organization Open Doors track persecution of Christians worldwide. As of Jan. 2025 they report 310 million Christians, 1 in 7 worldwide, suffer extreme persecution.
The example and strength of America’s religious freedom is a light to the rest of the world. However the denials of religious freedom to Americans increased with hundreds of attacks in the last four years on churches, shrines and life centers remaining unsolved, peaceful pro-life advocates only now being released from imprisonment due to unequally applied laws, etc.
Educating and speaking out on the facts and benefits of religious freedom will enable us to preserve it for our children and grandchildren.
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/38fcbsn4 https://tinyurl.com/43kyne2f
“Today we are the witnesses. We will pray and we will speak. We will act together and invite others to join us. And we will never give up, never give in because we know: whether in chains or laurels religious freedom and liberty know nothing but victories!” -William F. Murphy, Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master, or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.” - Martin Luthur King, Jr.
In our most influential public square…the Capitol of our nation, two major prayer events were held in Feb. welcoming a bipartisan representation of politicians and other Americans to hear messages of morals, faith and religious liberty from the speakers. They prayed together for unity in our nation and for God’s guidance so that Americans will flourish.
The National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 6, 2025 was first held in 1953. This year President Trump addressed the gathering and pointed out that Thomas Jefferson once attended church services in the old house chamber which was the very place President Trump stood to address the breakfast’s attendees. The president urged all Americans to protect our bedrock value of Religious Liberty and to reinvigorate religion and morals as our goal and guide.
On Feb. 28, The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, where this year’s theme was “Hope”, marked the 20th year of this call to Catholics and all Americans to come together and pray for our nation and the flourishing of Americans. The main speaker, Vice-President J.D. Vance, a convert to Catholicism, shared glimpses of his faith journey and the joy of his son’s baptism.
There have always been critics of these prayer events who protest that “separation of church and state” prohibits this focus on God, faith and prayer at the Capitol. In fact, Thomas Jefferson‘s use of that phrase was as protection of churches and individual conscience from interference by the state.
Read More: https://tinyurl.com/4vcth44y https://tinyurl.com/2kef862x
“Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.”- Edward Everett
For over 10 years weekly bulletin articles from Catholics for Freedom of Religion (CFFOR) have been published in church bulletins. The focus of each article is some aspect of America’s religious freedom. We are often told by parish bulletin editors that the entire office staff is eager to read each new article and shares it with family and friends. The CFFOR volunteers would estimate that someone reading even 25% of the articles knows more about religious freedom than the vast majority of Americans.
Be sure to keep the articles printed in your bulletin and share the information with children, parents, and your friends of all faiths. Remember that freedom of religion, like freedom of speech, is critical to all Americans. There is damaging propaganda against religious freedom repeated every day in the media, in politics, from organizations like the Freedom From Religion Foundation and uninformed Americans from clergy to school teachers.
The most damaging of the propaganda are these two misstatements:
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Separation of church and state keeps God, faith and religion out of the public square of ideas and policies
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God and prayer are not allowed in America’s public schools
The bulletin articles have often corrected these false assertions and other misinformation. The articles also give examples of religious freedom denied and of religious freedom victories. The articles are available with the current article on the homepage at cffor.org and all past articles linked from the current one. All articles can be printed from the website.
If you are seeing the articles from another church bulletin you can request them to be emailed to your church or your individual email. Send us an email to: info@catholicsforfreedomofreligin.org or leave us a voicemail at 631-896-8331.
“If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.” -Samuel Adams
The United States is the only nation instituted by a people claiming the rights of nature and nature’s God to rule themselves without the dictates of a king, emperor or “divinely-appointed” magistrate.
The United States Declaration of Independence asserts these natural rights “…all men are created equal…that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.”
In the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech and of the press, freedoms to assemble and to petition for redress are named as critical first examples of man’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The framework our founders created, along with their writings and speeches, confirm their convictions that morality was essential to preserving liberty and that freedom of religion and conscience were indispensable supports of morality.
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“Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness.” Samuel Adams
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“Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.” George Washington
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“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important one and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed.” Noah Webster
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“We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.” John Adams
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“Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion.”Daniel Webster
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“Morality is not man’s prison, but rather the divine element in him.” Pope Benedict XVI
During the first month of 2025 the protection and flourishing of religious liberty in the United States has been the object of the annual report from the United States Bishops and of actions of the new federal administration.
On Jan. 16, 2025 The State of Religious Liberty in the United States, the annual report from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was released.
The USCCB committee’s report here https://tinyurl.com/5eyp8hyh describes the five areas of critical concern—some as threats and some as opportunities—for religious liberty:
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the targeting of faith-based immigration services
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the persistence of elevated levels of antisemitic incidents
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IVF mandates, which represent a significant threat to religious freedom, while the national discussion of IVF represents an opportunity for Catholics to share Church teaching and advocate for human dignity
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the scaling back of gender ideology in law
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parental choice in education, one of the longest-running areas of concern
Significant actions by the federal government during January, 2025 have the goal of protecting conscience rights for all. The administration has reinstated two policies: the Mexico Policy preventing tax dollars from funding international organizations which promote sterilization and abortion and the Hyde Amendment which mandates that no tax dollars finance elective abortions in this country.
An executive order also recognized that there are two sexes, male and female, and that life begins at conception. At the National Prayer breakfast, the president announced a new task-force to root out anti-Christian bias and the formation of a Commission on Religious Liberty as well as the establishment of a faith office in the White House.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/3x7p23z3 https://tinyurl.com/bd6kxy6y
“But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.” - Thomas Jefferson
A teacher’s strong faith and courage are being tested now that a small, personal crucifix on her desk for ten years is suddenly unacceptable to her employer. Marisol Arroyo-Cortez was unexpectedly called to meet with her vice-principal and a union representative because of “concern” over the crucifix.
The teacher was told she must remove the cross because it was an expression of her faith and did not belong in the classroom. When she explained that the cross was an important part of her faith in her every day life and gave her comfort and encouragement throughout her day, she was offered an unacceptable compromise of putting the crucifix in a drawer or displaying it under her desk so students could not see it. A few days later she was put on leave.
Arroyo-Cortez reached out to First Liberty attorneys who defend religious freedom cases and Keisha Russell, a senior counsel, stated that it is a violation of the 1st Amendment freedom of speech and freedom of religion to require a teacher to clear their personal space of anything religious. Russell referred to the Supreme Court decision re Coach Kennedy v. Bremerton School District which said the coach could not be deprived by his school employer of his right to personal prayer simply because his prayer could be seen by students and the public.
Commenting as the Coach Kennedy decision was released, Justice Gorsuch said that the Constitution does not mandate nor tolerate shutting down personal religious expression.
Protecting and asserting the religious freedom of students and teachers in America’s public schools is critical to young Americans. Their heritage of liberty includes the understanding and experience of the inalienable right to chose their faith and express it openly. Assure them their freedom of religion and speech is declared and enshrined in our founding documents.
Read more here:
https://tinyurl.com/4srp24e3 https://tinyurl.com/nzsv27e5 https://tinyurl.com/nfvwwxmd
Watch 9 minute video demonstrating the Dept. of Education’s list of students’ rights to live their faith in public schools at www.cffor.org
Teachers Retain Personal Freedom of Religion in Public Schools
February 9, 2025
The Importance of Being Obviously Catholic
January 26, 2025
Passing on our faith through valued traditions
A bishop explained at a Religious Freedom service that as a young boy in communist Poland he had to hide his intention to enter the priesthood. His family, friends, parish priest and even his parents could not be told. He kept his vocation a secret because if his school administrators or the local government officials found out, the young man knew the harsh political and social reality of communist Poland would result in his being refused an education and prevented from entering the priesthood.
That young man, and millions of other men and women around the world, were and still are denied what most Americans take for granted… the First Amendment religious freedom to choose our faith and our worship and live it openly and freely without fear of perscution.
America’s freedom of religion is not perfectly protected, but is strong enough that most Americans can live their faith satisfactorily to their conscience demands. However, when Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was recently asked if he thought our religious freedom laws would continue to protect Americans his answer was that he believes the religious freedom laws will prevail, but the culture of faith may not.
Thanks to the protection of America’s religious freedom and rights of conscience we can create a culture of faith in our homes and our family lives…a culture reflecting that we are obviously and deliberately Catholic. Because we are protected in living out this culture, we can pass on the faith traditions which become the fertile soil where our children can develop their own, mature assent to the Catholic faith.
The traditions of each liturgical season as well as daily Catholic traditions will define such a family culture. Observing with the family the disciplines of Lent and the observances of Holy Week and the Easter vigil; honoring Mother Mary during the month of May with an outside flower garden or an inside May altar; participating in a Corpus Christi procession with the church congregation and observing Advent as the preparation for the Birth of the Christ child which will be the cause and focus of our Christmas celebration are rich liturgical traditions.
In addition to the seasonal traditions “there are traditions embedded in the structure of Catholic family life, traditions that become the pulse of the household. There is the evening Rosary. The bowing at the name of Christ. The signs of the cross when passing a Catholic parish. The prayers before meals and bed time. The little family prayer table with candles, crucifix, and images of Our Lady and St. Francis. The visits to the Blessed Sacrament. The lighting of holy candles for prayer intentions. And all the other numerous little customs that make our lives uniquely Catholic.” Traditions help our children experience “the importance, the priority and the habit of living as faith-filled children of God.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/4vzejn3u
In September, 2019 Pope Francis declared that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time would be the Sunday of the Word of God to reawaken in our lives the importance of scripture.
“To mark Word of God Sunday, Pope Francis leaves it up to parish communities to decide how it will be observed, but he noted that Masses should “highlight the proclamation of the word of the Lord” and the honor that it is due. Pope Francis explained: “The relationship between the Risen Lord, the community of believers, and sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians.”
https://tinyurl.com/mwwyvwdr https://tinyurl.com/5y2cz7ua
In the United States the First Amendment to our Constitution protects the right of each citizen to choose his faith and to practice that faith openly, without persecution or retribution. The five First Amendment freedoms are the freedom to choose one’s faith, the right to practice that faith, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of redress…all supportive of the ability to worship, evangelize, assemble to worship, and redress the government in case of grievances against religious freedom. Our first amendment is critical to many of the functions of a free people, but our founders placed religious freedom first to emphasize its importance.
Reading the Bible, teaching its lessons and evangelizing the word of God are practices flowing from our rights, not to be taken for granted. Each year Word of God Sunday can remind us to exercise the right to free use of the Bible. Here is a link to suggestions for sharing the Word of God in our homes: https://tinyurl.com/bdz7jw3m
A wonderful and unique opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the Bible is to make a plan to see one of the volumes of the hand calligraphed St. John’s Bible on display at museums, universities, churches around the USA. This first Bible of its kind commissioned in over 500 years was the project of monks at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. From his scriptorium in Wales the calligraphy was done under the direction of Donald Jackson, the calligrapher to the Queen of England and to the Pope. There his team hand calligraphed the entire Bible and added 160 original illuminations. The pages open to two feet high by three feet wide.
Each location has its own viewing schedule: https://tinyurl.com/mry3asf7
The Anniversary of the Jan. 16, 1787 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
13 February, 1818: Letter from 2nd Pres. John Adams (Pres. from 1797-1801) “But what do We mean by the American Revolution? Do We mean the American War?” “The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People. A Change in their Religious Sentiments of their Duties and Obligations. While the King, and all in Authority under him, were believed to govern, in Justice and Mercy according to the Laws and Constitutions derived to them from the God of Nature, and transmitted to them by their Ancestors— they thought themselves bound to pray for the King and Queen and all the Royal Family…ordained of God for their good.”
“But when they Saw those Powers renouncing all the Principles of Authority, and bent up on the destruction of all the Securities of their Lives, Liberties and Properties, they thought it their Duty to pray for the Continental Congress and all the thirteen State Congresses, &c.”
Learn more here: https://tinyurl.com/yjhkrdrp https://tinyurl.com/p6zpummy
As our founding fathers and mothers and military warriors lead the patriot colonists through a revolution requiring unimaginable sacrifice, carnage and uncertainty, their reliance on the mercy and assistance of God was ever present. We have the records of their pleas for divine assistance and thanks for what they saw as miraculous interventions in moments of crisis.
This critical freedom of each American to pray…to choose their faith and their method of worship became our nation’s First Freedom, part of the compact among the individual states which formed the United States of America. The First Amendment to the Constitution explicitly protects these freedoms and is traceable to Thomas Jefferson’s writings in his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom passed on January 16, 1786. It protected Virginia citizens in their choice of religious beliefs and practice, assured that no taxes would be levied to benefit any religious sect, and that no man should suffer because of his religious beliefs.
The Virginia Statute was the basis for the First Amendment to the Constitution and was the basis for the Supreme Court’s understanding of religious freedom. Thomas Jefferson considered it his most important contribution to our founding and the prevention of tyranny.
New Year’s resolutions can be effective tools in enhancing the practice of our faith in a way that is open and joyous and in keeping with the 1st amendment freedom of religion which is our right as Americans.
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Attend Mass more than once a week
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Dress up for Sunday Mass, reflecting the solemnity of the Eucharist
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Visibly proclaim your Catholic faith with bumper magnets for Christmas and Easter, a favorite Bible verse, a church ministry message
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Wear your faith on your shoulder with a lapel pin of the Cross, of the Nativity or other Catholic symbols
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Mount a cross near your front door
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Display a Christmas or Easter scene on your lawn
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Say grace before meals at restaurants
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Organize a rosary in public witness for America outside your church or school
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Make a pilgrimage to one of the shrines of Our Blessed Mother, Mary
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Subscribe to the National Catholic Register and/or Our Sunday Visitor and share with other Catholics after you read it
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Encourage and participate in a Eucharistic procession in your community or combine with other churches to process in an appropriate location
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Plan a Sing-Along for God and Country at a local park with hymns and patriotic songs
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Psalm 63:3
Religious freedom in the United States is a right critical to all Americans as the basis for our laws and our culture. Our first amendment has two clauses making clear that our government may not establish one religion that all Americans must follow (the Establishment Clause) and that Americans are free to exercise their chosen religion without government interference (the Free Exercise clause.)
Every year the Christmas season brings with its religious celebrations, joy and festivities varying amounts of controversy. There are recurring discussions about the constitutionality of religious symbols of the season being displayed in schools, public buildings and public outdoor spaces. These discussions often focus on a community’s Christmas tree in the town square or park. There are a growing number of court decisions where the judges decided that a Christmas tree is a secular symbol of a holiday season celebrated by the vast majority of Americans and is not a religious symbol. A creche and menorah are considered by the courts to be religious symbols which can also be displayed in public schools, government buildings and public squares as long as they are presented along with secular items such as a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, reindeer, etc.
- Liberty Counsel’s attorneys defended the display of a Nativity Scene at the Jackson, IN Courthouse in 2021 in a precedent setting case that ruled the Nativity scene was not unconstitutional because it was part of the larger holiday display. Other victories by Liberty Counsel have restored more Nativity displays on public property, returned Christmas carols to the elderly who were not allowed to sing them in their nursing home, defeated a ban on students wearing red and green colors to school and stopping chorus directors from replacing religious lyrics in Christmas carols, etc.
Follow the links here to read more about the pro bono work done by these law firms to defend many aspects of religious freedom including the right to celebrate religious holidays as part of our shared community lives.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yyx8dtfk https://tinyurl.com/2r2xnyr9 https://tinyurl.com/5bzyzuw9
During the Christmas season in at least 43 of our state capitols, thousands of Americans encounter a nativity scene with the traditional figures of the Infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the Christmas angel. Thanks to the St. Thomas More Society and the American Nativity Scene volunteers across America are bringing the Creche to prominent public spaces.
The American Nativity Scene Committee was formed with the goal of keeping Christ at the center of our Christmas celebration. Nativity scenes in front of our homes, churches and Catholic schools are outward reminders of God’s love for us and the wonder of His gift to mankind…the gift of His Son. In addition, a creche displayed in a public space often brings about public discussion and debate which is helpful to increase understanding of the rights of free speech and religious freedom.
Too much of our culture now rejects God, faith and religion and insists they be kept out of the public square of ideas and opinions. This reminder and affirmation of Christ’s coming, being born in a stable, sends the message of constancy, renewal of the world and salvation to many souls searching for deeper meaning and hope in their lives.
The American Nativity Scene also helps groups who want to place a crèche in other public, highly visible locations. To find the details go to AmericanNativityScene.com
American Nativity Scene works with attorneys at the Thomas More Society to make sure that groups wanting to sponsor a nativity scene are able to do so, as allowed by law. “Many erroneously assume that government entities are prohibited from allowing a religious display,” explained Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Thomas Olp. He continued, “The law is clear. Government entities may erect and maintain celebrations of the Christmas holiday—or allow citizens to do so on government property, including Nativity scenes, as long as a crèche’s sole purpose is not to promote its religious content, and it is placed in context with other symbols of the season as part of an effort to celebrate the public Christmas holiday through traditional symbols.”
Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/26pm529s https://tinyurl.com/22phyjva