When the U.S. Bishops implemented the first Fortnight for Freedom in 2012, many thought it would be a one-time event. But now, in 2016, dioceses across the country are embarking on the fifth annual observance. The Fortnight for Freedom is a call to fourteen days of prayer, education, and action for religious freedom. As we’ve seen over the past five years, the need has only grown stronger to persevere in this effort to reclaim a fundamental right that all human persons possess. As with many things we may take for granted, it is only when faced with its loss, that we come to our senses and deepen our appreciation; religious freedom is one such blessing worth reflecting upon.
For serious Catholics, and for many other people of faith and good will, the idea of defending religious freedom is motivating, and active participation in these efforts is a given. However, the sad fact is that we are increasingly surrounded by a secular culture, where many have forgotten about, or perhaps have never even known, God. Why should they care about religious freedom if they have no religion to practice in the first place? The erosion of the fundamental truths of the Christian world-view upon which our nation was founded has cost us dearly.
But is it too late be effective? Can the hunger for God, that resides in every human heart (whether they recognize it or not) be rekindled? We must never give up hope that this is indeed possible! How to make it happen however, has everything to do with God’s grace and the openness of human hearts to seek Him, to love Him, and to want to serve Him.
In today’s world, where people do not know Jesus Christ, there is much enslavement to sin. Without a purpose, without direction, without knowing who we are as sons and daughters of an all-loving God, we are easily tossed about and swallowed up by the lies of the culture. We have ill-formed consciences, are surrounded by relativistic thinking, and are wandering aimlessly in a wasteland of sin and sorrow.
Saint John Paul II often spoke about freedom and truth, and he did so in a most eloquent way. In his great encyclical, Fides et Ratio, the very first sentence declares: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of the truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know Himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
Let us consider this intersection of faith and reason in light of religious freedom. It is precisely those who have strong faith in God and understand the reality of truth who are suffering persecution for their beliefs. These are people who are deeply convinced in their hearts that the sacredness of human life, the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, and the right to live our lives according to our rightly formed conscience, are fundamental, objective truths which cannot be compromised.
Despite an agreement upon being hired at a New York hospital that respected nurse Cathy DeCarlo’s conscience that she would never participate in abortion procedures, Cathy’s job and nursing license were threatened by that same hospital when she was forced to participate in a 22-week abortion. The trauma of this incident was devastating, but Cathy has continued to speak out about this injustice and has testified before Congress urging them to enact legislation for the protection of conscience rights.
Barronelle Stutzman, a florist from Washington state, and Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein, could not deny their conscience and declined to create floral arrangements and bake cakes for same-sex weddings. They are now enveloped in legal proceedings to defend their religious liberty.
The now-famous, humble and devoted Little Sisters of the Poor are also leading the way in awakening our nation to the gift of religious freedom as they continue to remain true to their conscience by refusing to provide contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their employees’ health plans.
Saint John Paul identifies the nature of these heroic acts in Veritatis Splendor. He writes, “…freedom of conscience is never freedom ‘from’ the truth but always and only freedom ‘in’ the truth…The Church puts herself always and only at the service of conscience, helping it to avoid being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine proposed by human deceit (cf. Eph 4:14), and helping it not to swerve from the truth about the good of man, but rather, especially in more difficult questions, to attain the truth with certainty and to abide in it” (VS, 64).
And he continues further on, “It is an honor characteristic of Christians to obey God rather than men (cf. Acts 4:19; 5:29) and to accept even martyrdom as a consequence, like the holy men and women of the Old and New Testaments, who are considered such because they gave their lives rather than perform this or that particular act contrary to faith or virtue.” (VS, 76) We are thus reminded of the faithful witnesses in Scripture, like the Maccabees brothers, Susannah, and John the Baptist, to name a few, who could not deny their conscience and their love for God, even to the point of being willing to lay down their lives.
And in particular, let us remember our patron of religious freedom, St. Thomas More. John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, said it most profoundly in a 2012 speech, in which he recommends an answer to the plight of apathy on these fundamental issues. He said, “Our society won’t care about religious freedom if it doesn’t care about God. That’s where reform is needed. We won’t have –and we probably won’t need – religious exemptions for nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers if no one is practicing their religion. The best way to protect religious freedom might be to remind people that they should love God….Thomas More taught us that we need religious liberty. More importantly, he taught us that loving God is worth dying for. If that is so, then the freedom to love God is worth the fight.”
There is a truth about the human person that cannot be denied, and that truth shines ever more brightly thanks to the determination and perseverance of those who live in the truth and defend it unequivocally. Let us thank God for these Witnesses to Freedom, may we imitate their fidelity to the Gospel, and may we invite others to do the same.
Allison LeDoux is the director of the Respect Life Office and the Office of Marriage and Family for the Diocese of Worcester, MA. Mrs. LeDoux serves as coordinator for the New England region of Diocesan Pro-Life Directors and is a member of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference’s Pro-Life/Pro-Family and Health Care Subcommittees. She received her certification in Catholic Health Care Ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2007.Mrs. LeDoux and her husband, John, a permanent deacon, are the parents of eight children.
