Reflections from the Religious Liberty Chairman

As our schools reopen their doors this fall, we are invited to ponder the profound sacredness of our educational mission. Catholic education is not merely a secular service or an alternative academic pathway; it is a vital expression of the Church’s missionary mandate to proclaim the Gospel, form disciples, and guide young souls toward the eternal truth found in Jesus Christ alone.

In a world increasingly marked by digital distraction, moral confusion, and ideological noise, our families need our support now more than ever. Catholic Social Teaching reminds us that parents are the primary educators of their children. They hold a God-given right and duty to direct their children’s moral, spiritual, and intellectual upbringing (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2221). The family serves as the domestic Church. To that effect, civil authorities are morally bound to respect this sacred dynamic, not to usurp it, nor to condition educational support on the surrender of religious principles. On the other hand, in this technological age, parents and guardians are called to reclaim their homes as that domestic church, where faith, morals, respect, and relationships flourish. I encourage parents to remain steadfast in their quest to provide a better Catholic education for their children.

As our Catholic institutions continue to face growing legal pressures to compromise their doctrinal integrity, we must stand firm and united in our pursuit for truth. True religious freedom is not a concession granted by the state, but a fundamental right rooted in the transcendent dignity of every human person created in the image and likeness of God. Whether defending the rights of parents to guide their children’s formation or ensuring our Catholic schools remain fully free to teach the beauty of human anthropology as revealed by God, our witness must be clear, loving, and uncompromising.

Let us hold our students, parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and chaplains in prayer as this new academic year begins. May we remain witnesses to hope, trusting that when we defend the freedom to form young minds in truth and charity, we serve the true common good of our nation and build up the Kingdom of God. May we entrust our parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators, and chaplains to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who came to dwell, with the Holy Spirit, in our own hearts. Sacred Heart of Jesus may your kingdom come!

At the U.S. bishops’ June plenary assembly in Orlando, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample shared an inspiring reflection focused on how the Sacred Heart of Jesus liberates us.

Quoting from Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us), the archbishop reminds us that: “The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not merely a symbol. It is the living Heart of the Risen Lord, still beating with love for humanity. In that Heart we find our true home. In that Heart we discover who we are. In that Heart we find the freedom for which we were created.”

In a world often trapped by superficiality, individualism, and endless distractions, Archbishop K. Sample reiterates that the Heart of Jesus offers true freedom:

Freedom from Fear: The Sacred Heart of Jesus reveals a God who loves us unconditionally, freeing us from the exhausting need to prove our worth through achievements.

Freedom from Self-Centeredness: The Sacred Heart of Jesus draws us out of our narrow self-interest to see others as Christ sees them, transforming their dignity into our responsibility.

Freedom from Despair: The pierced Heart of Christ proves that love is stronger than hatred, showing us that no wound is beyond healing and no darkness is beyond God’s love.

Freedom for Mission: The Sacred Heart of Jesus does not merely comfort us; it sends us forth into our families, workplaces, and communities to be instruments of His mercy, compassion, truth and love.

Watch Archbishop Sample’s full reflection here.

The Committee on Religious Liberty was honored to serve as the lead office for coordinating our national consecration efforts. As we move forward, let us place our trust in the Heart of Christ, drawing strength from the One who truly sets us free.

This week, we celebrate the central events of our faith, the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is himself the Word made flesh. In the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, instituted on Holy Thursday, we are invited to share in Christ’s total gift of self, so that we might join him in eternal life. The focus of our celebration is the Paschal Mystery of Christ and what God has done for all of us.  

There has been a tendency at times to put the focus elsewhere. Sadly, the celebration of Easter has at times been the occasion for outbursts of hatred and even violence against Jews. Holding the Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus represents a profound misunderstanding of what took place on Good Friday.  It is also one of the causes of a great deal of the hatred for the Jewish people that we have seen in history and continue to see today.  As Catholics, we are called to walk in the truth and so to reject the conspiracies and lies that lead to harassment and even violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters.

The Catechism of Trent is particularly poignant when it notes that the guilt for the suffering of Jesus is especially great in us, because we who profess to know Christ deny him with our sins. Indeed, Good Friday ought to be an occasion for us to return to the Lord, not to scapegoat others.

In our celebrations this week, let us turn our attention to where it belongs. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.

Just before we embarked upon the holy season of Lent, the Committee for Religious Liberty published its Annual Report. The report identifies a number of events that have already shaped and will continue to shape the life of this country for years to come. Some of these developments were positive, but there were worrying developments as well.

I believe one of the developments from 2025 that will prove to be most consequential is the November 11 decision of the U.S. bishops to celebrate the Semiquincentennial of the United States of America by consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration will take place at the conclusion of June plenary assembly of the U.S. bishops, which coincides with the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. When we consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart and enthrone the Sacred Heart in our homes, we recognize the kingship of Christ and offer our own lives in service to God and our neighbors.

This season is a perfect time to begin preparing for this consecration.  One opportunity for parishes and individuals to prepare is by contributing to a collective  250 Hours of Adoration and 250 Works of Mercy.  When we reflect on the Lord’s love for us, we are drawn deeper into the mystery of our salvation and deeper into our love for Christ found in the faces of our sisters and brothers—especially those most in need. Learn more at We Hold These Truths.

Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year. It is a time to remember the ways that God has blessed this country in her unique history, and to reflect on what we hope to be in the next 250 years. The Semiquincentennial comes at a time of great difficulty, as political polarization seems to be breaking out into a cycle of violent attack and retribution. Our nation needs the light of Christ, and we who have been baptized into Christ do well to ask the Lord to help us reflect his light.

One way the faithful can draw more closely to the Light of the World, as well as unite with the bishops, is by enthroning their homes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In June, the U.S. bishops will consecrate this country to the Sacred Heart. This consecration is a great opportunity to promote the beautiful devotion to the Sacred Heart and to encourage the laity to offer their lives in service to God and their country. Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the home is a wonderful way to recognize the kingship of Christ in our lives. The ritual is simple, typically involving prayers, display of an image of the Sacred Heart in some prominent place in the home, and a priest signing a document commemorating the consecration. The image of the Sacred Heart in the home signifies the enthronement. When we enthrone the Sacred Heart in our homes, we have a constant reminder of Christ’s love for us and of our call to serve the Lord with our whole lives.

I encourage all the faithful to reflect on your devotion to the Sacred Heart this year, and I invite you to enthrone the Sacred Heart in your home, read Pope Francis’ reflection on the Sacred Heart, or pray along with the bishops in June. Our nation needs God’s grace. May our prayers be united as we entrust our country and our homes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  

Earlier this month, just days before I succeeded Bishop Rhoades as chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, I had the opportunity to join my brother bishops in voting for a truly special proposal. Next year, the United States celebrates its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary as an independent nation. The bishops have voted to consecrate America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to celebrate this event.  The consecration will take place in June 2026 on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. I am so grateful to be able to participate in this beautiful celebration of all that God has done for us.

It seems fitting that I am sharing this news as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday whose origins predate our independence.  In his proclamation establishing the holiday, George Washington begins by stating that “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.” Despite tensions and sometimes outright hostility Catholics have faced in this country, we have found a home, because we too hold to these truths of natural theology. We American Catholics, who have come here from all over the world, have a history of service, building up the common good wherever we go. We make our own unique contributions with our schools and hospitals, while also calling our nation back to those truths upon which she was founded.

This Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for the ways God has blessed the Church in America and also blessed the Church through the American experience. Let us ask God to “pardon our national and other transgressions.” Let us look to our Lord as we seek to bring renewal to our beautiful nation. Happy Thanksgiving!

On November 23, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. The Church began celebrating this feast relatively recently in her history, and it continues to speak to us today. The feast was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in response to aggressive secularist movements of the time.

During the early twentieth century, in Mexico, Russia, and in many parts of Europe, atheistic regimes threatened not just the Catholic Church but civilization itself. Pope Pius XI gives Catholics hope and the assurance that Christ the King shall reign forever, saying that Christ “reign[s] ‘in the hearts of men,’ both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind” (Quas primas, 33).

Pope Pius XI’s Quas primas continues to ring true. In recent years, Christianity has declined in public and cultural influence, and the Church has been marginalized and often forced to defend her right to practice the Christian religion with integrity. Contemporary culture is often characterized as “liquid,” in the sense that many people feel a loss of stability or solidity in their lives. In response to this lack of meaning, people look to various identity groups, many of which promote self-destructive ideas and hatred of others.  

St. Augustine famously said that the heart is restless until it rests in the Lord. We see this truth so clearly today. As Catholics, we are called to look at our restless, hurting world with the eyes of Christ, whose Sacred Heart burns with love for his people. As we celebrate this great Solemnity, we proclaim that Christ the King continues to be our hope, and that our hearts rest when we find our place in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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As the pastor of a diocese that includes several excellent Catholic educational institutions, I hold a special place in my heart for the role of schools for the well-being of our society. Father Edward Sorin famously said that the school he was founding, the University of Notre Dame, would become “one of the most powerful means for good in this country.”  A free people requires institutions that form people to earnestly and freely seek the truth. The university is one of those institutions.

Educational institutions, including elementary schools, colleges, and universities, should be places where students and teachers collaborate in a quest to grasp the true, good, and beautiful—a collaboration that may involve vigorous debate. It is essential that schools be places where everyone is safe and free to learn in peace, free from the evils of gun and politically targeted violence.

It is plain to see that our nation suffers from a spiritual sickness.  The polarized politics many of us have long lamented seem to be moving closer to a cycle of violence and retribution. As the Church celebrates the Feast of the Archangels, may we ask for the intercession of the Ss. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael—a protector, a messenger, and a healer: that we would each do our part to seek the truth, to engage in dialogue with others in good faith, and to protect those institutions that are necessary for us to live in a free society.

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This weekend, not only do we enjoy the official beginning of college football season, but we look forward to Labor Day, which Americans celebrate on the first Monday of September. It was the issue of labor that occasioned the great encyclical of Pope Leo XIII called Rerum Novarum, which is often considered to have inaugurated the tradition of regular reflections from the Bishop of Rome on social issues—that is, Catholic social teaching.

The theme of human dignity sounds throughout this teaching. Rerum Novarum teaches, among many other topics such as dignified workplaces and just wages, that wealthy owners and employers are “not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity has a person ennobled by Christian character.” This respect for human dignity implies that the employer is “bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties,” a point that Pope St. John Paul II would note one hundred years later is “a springboard for the principle of the right to religious freedom.” Indeed, the Church teaches that human dignity is the foundation for the right to religious freedom. 

If we are to promote authentic freedom, then, it is imperative that we promote human dignity in every respect, and that we steadfastly defend this dignity against any policies or practices that would offend it.  As we honor the dignity of work, let us ask the Lord to give us the wisdom and courage to do our part to build up a society that fosters the dignity of every human person.  And at the same time, as we grieve the horrific attack at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, let us pray that the Lord would bring healing and comfort to our brothers and sisters who are suffering, and may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

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Pope St. John Paul II was well known for saying that “There is no freedom without the truth.”  In a similar way, Pope Leo XIV has referred to our search for truth on several occasions.  Recently, he addressed sisters of his own Augustinian religious order, saying, “We know that a culture without truth becomes an instrument of the powerful: instead of freeing consciences, it confuses and

distracts them according to the interests of the market, fashion or worldly success.” He goes on to commend St. Augustine’s work De Magistro, which discusses how true learning requires an encounter with the inner teacher, who is Jesus himself.

Many of the religious liberty issues we face today are some of the most polarizing in our society. It is understandable that people will disagree with one another about these issues in good faith.  But we Catholics can show that our debates about these difficult issues can be authentic searches for truth.  We do so by approaching challenging issues with integrity and putting commitment to truth above loyalty to a party. Christ is ready to teach us. Let us be ready to listen to him. 

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In the coming days, Americans will celebrate Independence Day, a joyful celebration of this great country. At the same time, we cannot help but think about the violent events we have witnessed recently in the United States.  Political assassinations, attacks on houses of worship, civil unrest across our nation and the uncertainty of war overseas are deeply concerning.

But we Catholics always have reason to place our hope in Christ, even amid such serious challenges. Each summer we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which impels us to bear witness to our hope in Christ. Pope Francis shows us how to respond to the love of Jesus by calling us to build a new civilization of love and make reparations. He says, “Amid the devastation wrought by evil, the heart of Christ desires that we cooperate with him in restoring goodness and beauty to our world” (Dilexit Nos, no. 182).

Faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ, gives us the strength and hope we need to build this civilization of love. As we celebrate both the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart and Independence Day, let us be united to Christ who calls us to be salt and light here in the United States of America, no matter what challenges we might encounter.

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Like many Americans, I was thrilled when Robert Prevost was elected and introduced to us as Pope Leo XIV. What a joyful moment for Catholics in both the United States and Peru, as well as the whole Catholic Church. More recently, I was greatly encouraged by his address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

There, he reflects on the Church’s diplomatic mission, highlighting three key points: peace, justice, and truth. He describes how religious freedom can contribute to a “climate of peace.” Religion is a natural part of the human experience, and so human persons and communities require a kind of breathing room if they are to work together across differences.

The Holy Father builds on this point about peace in his reflection on truth, saying, “Truly peaceful relationships cannot be built . . . apart from truth.”  And he goes on, “For her part, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding.  Yet truth can never be separated from charity, which always has at its root a concern for the life and well-being of every man and woman.”

This must be our task in promoting religious freedom today: to foster a climate of peace, while carrying out the Church’s mission to speak the truth. May the Lord bless this work, and may the Holy Spirit continue to guide Pope Leo XIV!

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