Don’t
judge, lest you be judged, warns Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells us that we often point out a
small fault of our brother’s, while we ignore the large faults that we have. We
in the United States fight for freedom in other countries and criticize other
countries for what we see is a lack of freedom, but are we paying attention to
the way that religious freedom is being eroded in our own country?
Starting yesterday evening, at the
time of our vigil mass, our bishops have asked us to start a special period of
renewal and education in our faith. The
Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty with our US Conference of Catholic
Bishops issued a document on religious freedom back in April of 2012, calling
religious freedom both in our country and in the other countries of the world.
“Our First, Most Cherished Liberty” is the title of this document. Since 2012,
we have been commemorating a Fortnight for Freedom, a period of 14 days of
prayer, education, and action in support of religious freedom. The US Bishops
chose June 21 because it is the vigil for the St Thomas More and St John
Fisher. More was a very devout Catholic,
a lawyer and the chancellor of England under King Henry VIII. More’s conscience and keen sense of morality
kept him from approving of the king’s divorce to Queen Catherine of Aragon, of
his remarriage to Anne Boleyn, and of the establishment of the Church of
England. More refused to deny his
Catholic faith and to deny the pope as the head of the Church. John Fisher, a Cardinal and the Bishop of
Rochester in England, also refused to recognize these same matters as
More. Both of them were beheaded in
London in 1535. Both More and Fisher were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935,
400 years after their deaths.
As we recognize this Fortnight for
Religious Freedom in the US during these fourteen days. I wonder if we are letting our religious
freedom waste away while we are busy with other matters or criticizing others.
The Bishops have stated that this is not a liberal or conservative issue, this
is not a Democratic or Republican issue, that this is not a way to tell us how
to vote for any specific elected official.
Rather, the Fortnight for Freedom is a call to action regarding the
religious freedom that we have had in our country that has been under attack in
recent years. May the Lord lead us and
guide us through these next two week as we learn more about this issue. We ask for the intercessions of St John Fisher
and St Thomas More as we begin our Fortnight for Freedom.
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