Is 49:1-6; Acts
13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66,80
Ad Hoc
Committee for Religious Liberty of The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have called
all Catholics of our country to observe, from June 21 trough Independence Day, Fortnight for Freedom, a special period of
prayer, catechizis, and action. As the bishops say this observance is to be a time of
thanksgiving to God for the gift of Religious Liberty, of intercession for the
protection of that gift, and of Christian witness for the promotion of this liberty.
The following are some of the words of
the bishops, taken from their statement on Religious Liberty, directed to all of us:
"We are Catholics. We are Americans.
We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as
Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as
American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose
one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be
contradictory, and should instead be complementary....
Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as
something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a
heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for
ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America
have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations....
We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when
our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. As Catholic bishops and
American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and
fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at
home and abroad."
These are some of the examples given
to us by our bishops in their document regarding what you consider assault on
religious liberty in our country:
- "HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. In an unprecedented way, the federal government will both force religious institutions to facilitate and fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching and purport to define which religious institutions are "religious enough" to merit protection of their religious liberty.
- State immigration laws. Several states have recently passed laws that forbid what the government deems "harboring" of undocumented immigrants—and what the Church deems Christian charity and pastoral care to those immigrants....new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass. It is illegal to allow them to attend adult scripture study groups, or attend CCD or Sunday school classes. It is illegal for the clergy to counsel them in times of difficulty or in preparation for marriage. It is illegal for them to come to Alcoholic Anonymous meetings or other recovery groups at our churches.
- In its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.
- Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of the business of providing adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
- New York City enacted a rule that barred the Bronx Household of Faith and sixty other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for scores of other uses.
As bishops state clearly: "Religious
liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the
Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common
good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do,
without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty
properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential
contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and
social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and
overseas."
I am pretty sure if we had right now a
discussion regarding the issues which the bishops have brought up in their
document we will have a long and heated debate. But this is not my intent. I
believe, particularly as we celebrate
The Birth of John the Baptist this weekend , we should ask ourselves the
question of what kind of witness are we called to as the church and as
individuals during these strenuous times? How can we remain faithful to Christ
and the values of his gospel, as American citizens, without breaking the laws
of our land?
There are definitely some lessons of
history begging us not to make some very costly mistakes in that regard. We
also do not need to look across the oceans, or to other continents to learn
about them. Our neighbors to the south, Mexico, unfortunately got entangled
into a full blown civil war over the
issue of the religious rights and freedom at the beginning of the 20th century
as in 1917 the Mexican Constitutional Congress adopted a new constitution which
confirmed the separation of church and state. In this constitution five
articles restricted the power and liberty of the Catholic church. These forbade
public worship outside of churches, restricted the church’s right to own
property, closed monasteries, deprived clergy of civil rights, forbade the
wearing of clerical or religious garb, and banned clergy from criticizing the
government or commenting on public affairs in the press.The rigid enforcement
of these laws by President Plutarco Elías Calles led to the civil war known as
the Cristero War of 1926-29, and at least 80,000 people died during the war.
Recently,
to recall these events the movie titled "For Greater Glory" has been
produced. I strongly encourage you to see it if you have a chance to do so.And so, the question still remains in front of us, what kind of witness are we called to by God in our times?
The Holy Scripture Readings for today's Solemnity give us an example of people giving the witness to God in difficult times.
The prophet Deutero-Isaiah presents to us the Suffering Servant. The Servant is to be a "light to the nations", but the Servant's mission and his witness could be accomplished only through his affliction, death, and blood expiation. I do not think many of us, if we had a choice, would like to imitate this paradoxical accomplishment of the servant, even if this is for the greater glory of God.
The evangelist Luke introduces to us John the Baptist. John, as many scripture scholars believe, was later in his life a part of the sect located in Qumran, known as the Essens. There he learned not only the unique importance of the Hebrew scriptures, but also necessity of being ready for the coming of Yahweah who was going to make things right among his people. As, many scholars believe, he mentored Jesus and helped him to be prepared for his own mission. As we all know well, both John the Baptist and Jesus paid a dear price for being God's witnesses to the world.
Our human history and the Holy Scriptures are filled with the examples of people who have become God's witnesses to the world.
I am also convinced that our bishops believe that our American Church and each one of us individually are called to give witness to God at this time of our national history.
I just hope that this witness will not demand much suffering from us.
This weekend and the next after the communion time we will sing together Litany for Liberty asking God for His strength, protection, and guidance as the issues of religious liberty are on the fort front of our public and democratic lives.
