January 26, 2012
On January 19, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI addressed a group of American bishops in Rome for their ad limina visits and gave them their marching orders. He let them know, in no uncertain terms, that America cannot rest on her laurels of religious freedom. The Church and all she represents are under assault in the United States:
[I]t is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.
The day after this address, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made clear the need for the Pope’s imperative. Over the objections of prominent legal minds, the United States Catholic Bishops, Catholic medical professionals, and numerous others, the HHS decreed it will persist in requiring religious institutions to violate their conscience and provide insurance coverage for contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs. As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops noted, the criteria to be considered for a religious exemption to these onerous regulations are so narrow that even the ministry of Jesus Christ Himself would not qualify.
As the Holy Father notes in his statement to the U.S. bishops, the Obama administration no longer speaks of freedom religion. Now they refer to freedom of worship, as if this is equivalent to the freedom to exercise religious freedom. The problem is we are not just Catholic when we attend Mass on Sunday. Catholicism permeates our entire lives. We live this faith day in and day out and cannot compartmentalize it to our time of corporate prayer. An authentic faith manifests itself in our families, in our jobs and in our communities. This subtle change in language is an attempt to undermine our religious liberty and reduce this essential constitutional freedom to an ability to participate in religious ceremonies.
Pope Benedict XVI meeting with U.S. bishops.
The intrinsic evil of abortion is alive and well in America. Over fifty million children have been legally slaughtered because our Supreme Court wrongly deemed their lives were not worthy of protection. Now the Obama administration would compound the evil by denying men and women of faith the ability to be true to their consciences and refuse to be complicit in providing contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs to employees free of charge.
None of us can stand idle in the face of this persecution. Pope Benedict did not address his January 19th remarks to the bishops alone. He insisted that the American Catholic laity join the struggle:
Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level.
As the 2012 elections approach, this clarion call to action becomes more urgent. At the community, county, state and most definitely at the national level we will be called to vote as faithful Catholics. There may well be no perfect candidate, but there will be those who pose a greater threat to our Catholic principles. Pope Benedict XVI has given us our priorities: the defense of human life from conception to natural death, the defense of the family and the defense of religious liberty. He has called the bishops, the priests, the religious and the laity to battle. None of us has the luxury of remaining on the sidelines. We must be informed. We must inform others. We must take action.
Denise Hunnell, MD, is a Fellow of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International. She writes for HLI America’s Truth and Charity Forum.
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[...] Every American Catholic Must Fight for Religious Freedom – Denise J. Hunnell MD, HLIA [...]