Record Crowd Closes Fortnight For Freedom At National Shrine In Washington

WASHINGTON—A crowd of almost 5,000people filled the 3,500-seat capacity of Washington's Basilica of the NationalShrine of the Immaculate Conception, July 4. The Mass in the nation's capitalwas the closing bookend liturgy of the June 21-July 4 Fortnight for Freedom.

The Fortnight opened with anotheroverflow Mass at Baltimore's historic Basilica of the National Shrine of theAssumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated by Archbishop William E. Loriof Baltimore, June 21.

Diocesesnationwide included local events to stress religious freedom during thetwo-week period, from special prayers and liturgies to processions, educationalforums and picnics.

CardinalDonald Wuerl of Washington celebrated the Mass at the Washington shrine, with 180priest concelebrants.Archbishop CharlesChaput of Philadelphia preached the homily and stressed that freedom comes fromGod.

"Real freedom isn't something Caesarcan give or take away," he said. "He can interfere with it; but when hedoes, he steals from his own legitimacy." (The full homily is found at https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/fortnight-for-freedom/upload/Fortnight-Closing-Mass-Archbishop-Chaput-Homily.pdf)

At the start of the celebration ArchbishopCarlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, read a message fromPope Benedict XVI, sent through the Vatican Secretary of State CardinalTarcisio Bertone.

"The Holy Father encourages theAmerican Catholic community, and young people in particular, to continue tobring the wisdom and insight born of their faith to the task of building asociety worthy of America's highest moral and constitutional principles," itsaid. (The full message is found at https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/fortnight-for-freedom/upload/Bertone-Cardinal-Papal-message-for-July-4-Mass.pdf)

The Fortnight was called for by theU.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty last April as the signaturespiritual and educational event for the launch of a campaign to highlightthreats to religious liberty both in the United States and abroad.

On-goingevents include a text campaign, where those who would participate text"Freedom" or "Libertad" to 377377 to receive regular updates on the ongoing effortsto promote and protect religious freedom. One of the first updates sent toparticipants in the text campaign noted that the Affordable Healthcare Act isflawed because it compels religious institutions to pay for services it opposesmorally, such as female sterilization and contraception, includingabortion-inducing drugs.

SpecificU.S. threats to religious liberty cited by the bishops include not only the HHSmandate but also threats to Catholic foster care and adoption services, unjust stateimmigration laws, discrimination against small church congregations, against Catholichumanitarian services, against Christian students on campus and forcingreligious groups to host same-sex marriage and civil-union ceremonies (https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/current-threats-to-religious-liberty-bulletin-insert-summer-2012.cfm).

Recentthreats abroad include assaults in churches in Iraq, Nigeria and Kenya.

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Keywords: religious liberty, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, CardinalTarciso Bertone, Archbishop Charles Chaput, HHS mandate, Ad Hoc Committee onReligious Liberty, Basilica of the National Shrine of the ImmaculateConception, National Shrine of the Assumption

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