Matthew 25
…whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine,
you did for me.
The Social Justice Newsletter
of St. Mary's Catholic Center, College Station, Texas
June 2014
Fortnight for Freedom
Freedom to Serve
Again this June, our nation’s bishops have asked Catholics across the country to observe a “Fortnight for Freedom.” The
theme this year is “Freedom to Serve”, emphasizing the link between religious liberty and service to the poor and vulnerable. It
highlights the many Catholic social and charitable ministries that serve the poor, the homeless and other vulnerable groups in
our country, but that now face growing government interference. “This is a time when Catholics can unite themselves in prayer to
the men and women throughout history who spread the Gospel and lived out Jesus’ call to serve the ‘least of these’ in even the
direst of circumstances,” said Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for
Religious Liberty.
Americans tend to take their religious liberty for granted. Religious freedom in the Founders’ sense was, and remains, far
more robust than a mere “freedom to worship.” That makes sense because religious believers played a key role in founding and
building the United States, and for Christians, faith is always personal but never private. Faith requires public engagement and
expression – not just by individuals, but by communities as well. We therefore ask respect for our right to put our faith into action
by serving others within the framework of the Catholic Social Teaching.
Current Threats to Religious Liberty
Some domestic concerns include the federal HHS mandate
requiring most employers, including many Catholic
organizations, to provide employees with health coverage for
sterilization, contraception and drugs that can cause
abortions, despite their religious and moral objections. The
U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue an important ruling
on the mandate this year and the outcome will have very
significant religious liberty implications as it affects religious
individuals running for-profit businesses.
The redefinition of marriage and laws that consider
objections to “gay marriage” to be illegal discrimination
constitutes also a threat to
religious organizations and
businesses. Catholic
adoption agencies around
the countries have been
shut down because they
cannot in good conscience
place children with samesex couples.
Other
domestic
concerns include the state
immigration
laws
threatening charitable
outreach and pastoral care
to undocumented immigrants; the new contract specifications
by the federal government to provide or refer for contraceptive
and abortion services putting in jeopardy the assistance for
victims of human trafficking offered by the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services.
In recent years religious freedom has been increasingly
under threats in foreign countries.
It has been a long and terrible three years for Syria.
Christians, who once comprised 10 percent of the population,
are caught in the cross-fire between the military and antigovernment forces. Churches and monasteries are reported to
have been destroyed by warring parties. Christian
communities, schools, and homes have been targeted,
threatening their historic presence dating back centuries.
Christians have been kidnapped, held for ransom, tortured
and often brutally killed. Of course, Christians are not the only
ones affected, many civilians
and Muslims have been
killed or have fled their
homes since the conflict
began.
In Pakistan life has not
gotten better for religious
minorities. Shahbaz Bhatti,
the first Christian Minister for
Minority
Affairs,
was
assassinated in March 2011
for
criticizing
Pakistan’s
draconian
anti-blasphemy
laws. Ordinary Pakistani
minorities live in constant fear of violence. Churches and
mosques, home and businesses are burned, and livelihoods
destroyed. Blasphemy laws make it easy to denounce
minorities, often to gain economic or personal advantage or to
take revenge. Police are reluctant to register complaints by
minorities.
Edited by Clotilde Pichon, Director of Social Ministries, [email protected]
In recent weeks the terrorist Islamic extremist group Boko
Haram in Nigeria has made front page news with the
abduction of some 200 schoolgirls. Boko Haram’s name
translates into “Western education is sinful” and aims to
establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. To do so, they have
stepped up their attacks against Nigerian government offices,
media, educational and religious institutions, both Muslim and
Christian. Militants murdered scores of Christian students and
teachers, and other civilians. The group aims to fuel sectarian
sentiments and provokes religious conflict.
In the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, the current
ongoing violence between Buddhists and Muslims slows the
progress of democracy and the pace of political, economic
and social reforms. In Central African Republic the violence is
degenerating into a religious conflict between Christians and
Muslims, and creating a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian
crisis.
Pope Benedict said: “Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility.” It calls for sacrifice, for the
development of virtue, for pursuit of the common good, for a sense of responsibility towards the poor and vulnerable, and
respect for the dignity of human life from conception until natural death. It requires of us courage to bring our deepest beliefs and
values together with a spirit of reasoned dialogue to our fractured public debates… Through faith we understand that every
person is called to share God’s life.
We continue to live in an age of martyrs - when believers, not just Christians, are being persecuted for professing and
practicing their faith - when believers are tortured and killed because they are believers, in places like Iran, Iraq, China and
Nigeria. Let us keep the flame of faith and the flame of freedom burning brightly not only for our children and our children’s
children but also for the sake of these persecuted believers who see in our form of government and in our great land a beacon of
hope. (William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore, 2013)
(from catholicphilly.com, National Catholic Register, USCCB)
See www.fortnight4freedom.org for more info and resources on the 2014 "Fortnight for Freedom".
“Religious freedom, viewed as a fundamental human right . . . includes ‘the freedom to choose the religion which
one judges to be true and to manifest one’s beliefs in public’. A healthy pluralism, one which genuinely respects
differences and values them as such, does not entail privatizing religions in an attempt to reduce them to the quiet
obscurity of the individual’s conscience or to relegate them to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or
mosques. This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism. The respect due to
the agnostic or non-believing minority should not be arbitrarily imposed in a way that silences the convictions of
the believing majority or ignores the wealth of religious traditions. In the long run, this would feed resentment
rather than tolerance and peace.” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, No. 255, 2014)
Fortnight for Freedom at St. Mary’s
The third annual Fortnight for Freedom will take place from
June 21- the vigil of the Feast of St. John Fisher and St.
Thomas More - to July 4, Independence Day. This year,
we are emphasizing the link between religious liberty and
service to the poor and vulnerable through the theme
of Fortnight for Freedom: Freedom to Serve. All are
invited to participate in the parish activities for the
Fortnight:
 Daily rosary in the main church at 6:30 pm (after daily
mass on weekdays and the 5:30 pm mass on Sat, at
6:30 pm on Sun., after 10 am mass on Fri. July 4);
 Services with Habitat for Humanity or Meals-on-Wheels
on Sat. June 21, with St. Vincent de Paul Store on Tues.
June 24;
 Conversations about Contemporary Concerns on the
threats to Religious Freedom on Wed. June 25 at 6:30
pm in room 201.
Check www.aggiecatholic.org/FortnightforFreedom for
more info on the Fortnight.
You can continue to serve and be involved in social justice
activities at St. Mary’s with Advocates for Christ Today
(ACT). ACT offers services in the community, activities,
education on Catholic Social Teaching, and awareness of
social justice issues to help connecting faith and action,
thus encouraging Catholics at St. Mary’s to live out their
baptismal call of being Christ to one another and to the
world (www.aggiecatholic.org/ACT).
Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty
O God our Creator, from your provident hand
we have received our right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people
and given us the right and the duty to worship you,
the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of
religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend
our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united
voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your
Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood and every danger
overcome - for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Edited by Clotilde Pichon, Director of Social Ministries, [email protected]