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Second in a series of reflections by Fr. Robert Barron on the life of Cardinal Francis George.
The one who would proclaim the Gospel in the contemporary American setting must appreciate that the American culture is sown liberally with semina verbi (seeds of the Word).
The first of these, in Cardinal Francis George’s judgment, is the modern sense of freedom and its accompanying rights.
Recently, area priests, Religious, and catechetical leaders joined with members of the Janesville Serra Club for their annual Celebration of Vocations luncheon.
Invited to speak at this year’s gathering was Msgr. Donald J. Heiar, Jr., pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic Parish in Janesville. Having recently returned from his second deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Monsignor Heiar spoke about his experience as a military chaplain with the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard.
MADISON — The third annual Fortnight for Freedom: Freedom to Serve, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will take place from June 21 to July 4.
According to the USCCB, it’s “a time when our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power: St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the first martyrs of the Church of Rome.”
Religious freedom was among the topics which Pope Francis touched upon during a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
Vatican Radio reported that in his address to the Italian head of state, Pope Francis recalled how 2013 marked the 17th centenary of the Edict of Milan, a document which many consider to be the first example of religious freedom being promoted.
“In today’s world, religious freedom is more often affirmed than put into practice,” the pope said. It is often threatened, and not infrequently violated. The serious outrages against this fundamental right are a source of serious concern and need to be confronted at the global level, he said.
Defending religious liberty and making it available for everyone, Pope Francis said, is everyone’s responsibility. Doing so “guarantees the growth and development of the entire community.”
MADISON — The 75th semi-annual International Rosary March will be held on Sunday, May 4, at 2 p.m. at Holy Redeemer Church, 120 W. Johnson St.
There will be a homily, Benediction, and praying of the Rosary.
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| Patrick Delaney |
At their annual meeting in November 2012, the U.S. Catholic bishops launched a pastoral strategy addressing critical life, marriage, and religious liberty concerns. This strategy included first and foremost a call to prayer and sacrifice along with the activism of a nationwide postcard campaign.
In addition to the continued promotion of contraception and abortifacients in our schools, neighborhoods, and in international population control programs, and the resulting sadness and crime of widespread surgical abortion, two additional recent “flashpoints” elevated the urgency of our need for prayer and action.
The first is the Health and Human Services (HHS) Mandate which requires almost all employers, including Catholic employers, to pay for employees’ contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs regardless of conscientious objections. Not only, therefore, are Catholics and other people of good will expected to live in a society which promotes these evils to our young people with our tax dollars, but now the government wants us to pay for and provide them ourselves within our own communities.
Each of these practices violate what Pope Benedict XVI called the “language of creation,” traditionally referred to as the Natural Moral Law, which proceeds from the Creator and is inscribed on the human heart. And attempting to force Catholic and non-Catholic citizens to violate the laws of God the Creator is a grave affront to America’s first freedom, religious liberty, as well as to the inherent dignity of every human person.
To the editor:
Ted Cruz (Republican U.S. senator from Texas) was on the news this morning. So refreshing! He told it like it was — the Democrats and the White House manipulated the government shutdown just as they are responsible that the sequester went into effect. A delay of Obamacare was the only requirement to prevent the shutdown.
On C-SPAN, healthcare.gov experts were asked the question: “Why do I need an ID to sign up for health care on the government website?” The answer in so many words was, “You need an ID for everything.”
Oops, how do you explain the lack of a need for voter ID?
How is legal abortion “women’s healthcare”? There has never been a piece of legislation requiring inspections of abortion clinics. Many abortions are done only because the baby is a girl. I’ve never heard of a government program to address the emotional trauma of having had an abortion.
Dear Friends,
As I write this column, we are coming quickly upon the Fourth of July, when we as a nation celebrate our independence and freedom. It is this freedom which has provided tremendous room for our flourishing as a human race and as a nation, but it is a delicate freedom, built upon the presupposition that we as a nation will choose to exercise our freedom in a way that moves forward toward what is best.
Independence Day concluded the Fortnight for Freedom mandated by the U.S. bishops, a two-week period of reflection and prayer on the defense of religious liberty that began on the vigil of the liturgical memorial of St. Thomas More.
In 2012, we may be grateful that none of us faces the headsman’s axe, as More did in Tudor England. But neither should we be indifferent to, or flippant about, the 21st-century threats to religious liberty that surround us.
Rallies for religious freedom were held in 158 cities across the United States June 8, drawing more than 60,000 participants in protest against the U.S. government’s intrusion into religious freedom through a recent federal Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate.
