A Fortnight for Freedom
In particular, we
recommend to our brother bishops that we focus "all the energies the
Catholic community can muster" in a special way this coming summer. As
pastors of the flock, our privileged task is to lead the Christian faithful in
prayer.
Both our civil year and
liturgical year point us on various occasions to our heritage of freedom. This
year, we propose a special "fortnight for freedom," in which bishops
in their own dioceses might arrange special events to highlight the importance
of defending our first freedom. Our Catholic institutions also could be
encouraged to do the same, especially in cooperation with other Christians,
Jews, people of other faiths, and indeed, all who wish to defend our most
cherished freedom.
We suggest that the
fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St.
Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this "fortnight
for freedom"—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical
calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face
of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John
the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome.
Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study,
catechesis, and public action would emphasize both our Christian and American
heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country could choose a
date in that period for special events that would constitute a great national
campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty.
In addition to this
summer's observance, we also urge that the Solemnity of Christ the King—a feast
born out of resistance to totalitarian incursions against religious liberty—be
a day specifically employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious
liberty, both here and abroad.
To all our fellow
Catholics, we urge an intensification of your prayers and fasting for a new
birth of freedom in our beloved country. We invite you to join us in an urgent
prayer for religious liberty.
Almighty God, Father of
all nations,
For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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