The “Fortnight for Freedom” began on Thursday evening with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop
William Lori in Baltimore’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption. The
fourteen days from June 21st to July 4th, Independence Day,
are dedicated to prayer for the country. The period was chosen for the significance
of the closing day in the national life of the United States – and also in view of
the liturgical calendar, which celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful
in the face of persecution by political power: St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More,
St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. The
period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action is to emphasize both the Christian
and American heritage of liberty, in the wake of serious challenges to the way religious
freedom is understood, lived and protected in US fundamental law. Most recently, the
Obama administration has decided to use the power of the Federal government to force
Catholic institutions to provide contraceptives and abortifacients as part of their
“health care” coverage for employees. This policy is based on the pretext – encoded
in Federal regulations that have the force of law – that Catholic schools, hospitals
and social service agencies are not properly religious at all, precisely because and
insofar as they serve the public and participate in the common good. Dioceses and
parishes around the country have scheduled special events that support the national
campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty. Listen to Archbishop Lori's
message: