Tell Us About Your Fortnight
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Tomorrow, Cardinal Wuerl will close the Fortnight for Freedom with Mass at DC’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at noon.
Archbishop Chaput will be the homilist.
If you’re there, perhaps we’ll see each other. (Or watch it on EWTN.)
Tonight we’re attending a talk on religious liberty, followed by a holy hour of prayer for the country.
Tell us about your Fortnight activities—especially tell us about parish or diocesan events and how they went, and your reflections on the experience of two weeks of intense prayer and educational activity.
(One of the coolest things I heard about was a parish entering a religious liberty float in their town’s Independence Day parade.)
Don’t just share with us. If you’re on twitter, share reflections using hashtags #Fortnight4Freedom and #SacredProperty.
Kicking Off the Fortnight for Freedom
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Fortnight for Freedom kicks off tonight, the Vigil of the Feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher.
Appropriately, the opening mass of the Fortnight will be celebrated tonight in Baltimore, the nation’s first diocese, and the see from which Bishop (later Archbishop) John Carroll forged the fledgling Church in America, a famous friendship with George Washington, and was among the first to articulate the proper relationship between Catholics and America.
Archbishop Lori will celebrate mass at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore at 7 pm.
I will be on retreat for a few days and will miss it, but I hope some readers here will attend and leave some “color commentary” in the comment box later in the week.
For that matter, I hope you’ll tell us about any Fortnight-related activities you attend!
Tim Drake of the National Catholic Register has a round-up of archdiocesan activities and some cool videos to accompany the events.
Here are some daily reflections on religious liberty prepared by the bishops’ conference for personal or group use.
Maybe we as a Faith&Family community can commit to praying the prayer for religious liberty daily as the bishops recommend.
Who’s in?
Catholic. American. Proud to be Both
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Worried about the direction of the country and don’t know what to do about it?
How about a two week national “revival” movement of prayer and patriotism, to cover the country in grace and re-dedicate ourselves to the basic liberties enshrined in the Declaration and Bill of Rights?
Right, Left, Center or Undecided, any person of good will can take part with pride in the Fortnight for Freedom.
The... READ MORE
Fortnight for Freedom
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Friday, April 27, 2012
Have you read our bishops’ letter on religious freedom Our First, Most Cherished, Liberty?
It’s a powerful defense not only of our Catholic faith, but of the Constitution.
The close of the document calls for a “Fortnight for Freedom” to be observed from June 21st (the vigil of the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More) to Independence Day.
Our bishops suggest this fortnight be observed with... READ MORE
Tell Us About The Religious Liberty Rallies
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Saturday, March 24, 2012
Did you attend one of the 146 nationwide rallies for religious liberty yesterday?
Share your experiences (or links to your blog posts on the topic) in comments.
My family attended the rally outside the HHS building in DC. Here’s video of our keynote speaker, Star Parker.
Towards the close of the speech she has a moving tribute to all that Catholic institutions do to care for the poor, but she begins by contending that the HHS mandate is a blessing in disguise: because it affords religious believers an opportunity to have a conversation about sexual mores that we ought to have had a long time ago.
She speaks as someone trapped in a very dark place for a very long time and utterly convinced of the liberating and humanizing power of the Gospel.
(Yes, that’s Lila Rose you see consulting with MC Patrick Mahoney in the background.)
This Land Was Made For You And Me
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Wednesday, March 07, 2012
How closely are you following the debate over religious liberty occasioned by the HHS abortion drug mandate?
I confess I’ve gotten a little obsessed, largely because of the number of disturbing comments I’ve read or heard since the final regulation was announced in January.
A policy dispute I can handle.
A moral debate, too.
But the number of people—my own friends among them—who speak as if the... READ MORE
A Word from the Knights
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Monday, February 20, 2012
The only thing I don’t like about this Knights of Columbus ad about religious liberty is that it perpetuates the myth of “Presidents’ Day.”
The very notion is un-American.
Here we don’t celebrate titles and offices of themselves (notice there’s no Congress day or Supreme Court day either?)
We celebrate personal heroism, admirable character traits, and exceptional achievements. That means not every, or even most, Presidents are to be celebrated.
Happy holiday, nonetheless!
Say A Little Prayer
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Just me on Wednesday, February 08, 2012
My home state of Maryland is one of several where same-sex marriage is being debated in the legislature.
Call it “no good deed goes unpunished,” but a column I wrote arguing that the debate over marriage is another front in the battle over religious liberty garnered the attention of the Maryland Catholic Conference.
I’ll be one of those testifying in defense of marriage before committees of the Maryland House of Delegates this Friday.
“Committees,” plural, because the process is being manipulated.
A similar measure was defeated in the judiciary committee last year, so this year the bill is being brought before a double committee in an effort to get it voted out for a floor vote.
The legislators are not very kind to marriage defenders, and I will admit I am anxious. (Though, since I’m not the head of any group, I’m not all that likely to draw fire.)
Say a little prayer, therefore, will you—for me and for all the witnesses?
May we be calm and our words gentle, but may they travel like arrows to the hearts of our delegates.
It would be nice if Maryland, founded as a refuge of liberty for Catholics, would refrain from turning the law into a cudgel to beat us all down.
The Pope Has A Mission For Us
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Friday, January 20, 2012
It’s not often you get a message tailor-made for you from the Pope.
So it was with relish I read the Holy Father’s words to the bishops of Maryland (DC, Baltimore & Military Services) on their ad limina visit to Rome this week.
The bulk of his talk was about protection of religious liberty, and why Catholic concerns aren’t merely parochial, but ordered towards the defense of human dignity for all.... READ MORE
Is Faith Permitted To Have Consequences?
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Friday, October 14, 2011
On October 5, in what some have called the most important religious liberty case in years, the Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that there should be no “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination laws.
Stanford Law Professor Michael W. McConnell provides a good summary of the specific case here.
He also summarizes the issue. It’s always been assumed that Churches can choose... READ MORE
