We are accustomed to reading of attacks on the Church in Moslem countries or in communist countries. When we celebrate the feasts of the martyrs we have always admired their commitment and been grateful to God that we enjoy religious liberty and the freedom to practice our faith openly in this great land. Unfortunately all of that seems to be changing here in the US at the present time. Lately there has been the court-mandated imposition of alleged "rights" that have no textual basis in our Constitution: such as abortion or same-sex marriage. The refusal to go along with these aberrations now open one up to charges of discrimination or attempting to impose one's own personal religious beliefs upon others, hence narrow-minded and intolerant. Thus the freedom of religious denominations to provide services in accord with their beliefs, to defend and teach their beliefs publicly, and even to choose and manage their own personnel and employees, is increasingly being attacked.

Bishop Lori of Bridgeport, CT is the Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, and head of the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty that Cardinal-designate Dolan established as head of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB). Bishop Lori has written a powerful article in the most recent edition of Columbia magazine about these issues of religious liberty and I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing some of his wonderful article here. He details other specific threats to religious liberty that have appeared recently in our country: a law and a court decision in Alabama that made it a crime for the Church to provide any services, even emergency medical services to undocumented aliens; the 2009 attempt of the Judiciary Committee in Connecticut to reorganize Catholic parishes; the withdrawal of many diocesan Catholic Charities from adoption and foster care services because of their fidelity to Catholic teaching on marriage; and direct attacks by federal agencies on the Church and individuals of faith, in particular by HHS (Health and Human Services). HHS has issued regulations mandating the coverage of sterilization, contraception and abortion in all private health care plans, only excepting Church bodies that serve only members of the Church and employ only members of the Church. In addition the "Conscience clause" that has allowed institutions and medical personnel to refuse to participate in abortions on religious grounds has been rescinded and ordered dropped in institutions that receive any government money: and any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid money falls into that category--which includes all our Catholic hospitals and all of our Catholic doctors, nurses and technicians that work in any hospital that provides abortion services. In addition the Dept. of Justice has attacked the "Defense of Marriage Act" as discriminatory and implying that all Churches that teach that marriage is between a man and a woman are guilty of bigotry. Dept. of Justice is also arguing before the Supreme Court for the virtual elimination of the First Amendment's "ministerial exemption" which protects the freedom of religious denominations to choose their own ministers without state interference. That sounds a lot like the Chinese Patriotic Church, an agency of the Communist government which appoints bishops for China independent of the Vatican!

As Catholic citizens of this country we cannot sit back and allow religious liberty to be eroded or outright attacked. We must write to our legislators in defense of religious rights. Within the next few weeks we will have a petition available for you to sign to oppose government interference with religious liberty. If religious liberty is not restored, Catholic hospitals and social service agencies will be forced to close and the work of Mercy will be in danger. Who will stand up for life and for conscience if we do not act? Pray for our nation, pray that these issues will be debated as we approach election time. Pray that the Holy Spirit will show us the best way to witness with courage to the truth.

God bless---Father Thom