This is the fourth year of the Fortnight for Freedom initiative hosted by Roman Catholic churches across the United States. Running from June 21 to July 4, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops devote their prayers to the continuance of the Freedom of Religion and reflect on the American heritage of liberty. The summer of 2015 is of particular importance for American Catholics, as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter of gay marriage.
Started in response to the growing threat to religious liberty, the fortnight coincides this year with the 50th anniversary of the Vatican's declaration that religious liberty is essential to all life in "Dignitatis Humanae."
Archbishop William E. Lori of the Baltimore Archdiocese explained, "We ought to be able to run our institutions without undue interference" and that we need to "send a clear message that this is what we stand for, and we witness to our faith by how we run our ministries."
During these two weeks, Catholics are called to participate in traditional activities of faith, including Eucharistic Adoration, praying the Rosary, and religious study. We need to return to the core aspects of our faith if we are to have any hope of preserving it for the future. Aggressive government action is not the only danger we face; moral laxity can destroy from the inside.
The Freedom of Religion, according to the archbishop, is "not simply as a freedom from government coercion, but also for what we might call freedom for excellence, the freedom to become the persons that God meant us to be." We cannot just defend who we currently are, but we must strive to the ideal that Christ laid out before us.
In other countries, Christians are directly persecuted or threatened, their way of life challenged, and they are kept from enjoying even the basic aspects of their faith. In our country, the greatest problems we face are ignorance and a lack of enthusiasm, which are related to a culture that promotes vice above all else.
We must return to our faith and show the world that there is a better way. We must fight against vice through the promotion of virtue, and we must stand up for what is right. Many are pressured to focus on sports and entertainment instead of Christ, or they indulge in luxury instead of true living. We have to remind our fellow parishioner that prayer is important and that the Christ-centered life is the only satisfying life.
The only way we can protect who we are is to stay strong in the darkest of times. We cannot take the easy way and succumb to political or social pressure. We cannot abandon our God-given freedom because it is more convenient. We need to become more vigorous in our faith and encourage others to join with us, or we will be unable to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy the liberties that we hold so dear.
During the upcoming fortnight, I ask that all faithful Christians join with us in standing up for our religious liberty and set an example for all.
Jeffrey Peters, a graduate student at Catholic University, attends St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church in Manchester. Reach him at 17peters@cardinalmail.cua.edu.
