The event, taking place for a second year, was larger than the inaugural occasion with between 1,000 and 1,500 people ebbing and flowing during its four hour run – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. In Southwest Louisiana it was also the beginning of the nationwide Fortnight for Freedom called for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This 14 day period of prayer and fasting was to be used to raise awareness of the challenges to religious liberty around the world. In his talk Bishop Provost, expressed gratitude to those who made the event possible and have taken “this opportunity to in our own, perhaps, small but important way to emphasize the religious liberty we have in the U.S. and the threat that we witness to it.”
The Bishop explained that the Fortnight was similar to a novena of days of prayer from June 21 to July 4 – the Feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher to Independence Day.
He noted that many people might ask “didn’t we do this last year” and “isn’t the threat past”? To this, he said he would give a resounding “no”.
“Pope Benedict XVI said last year that his worry was that religious liberty in the United States was being weakened,” the Bishop said. “He called it ‘the most cherished of American freedoms.’ There are numerous ways this most cherished freedom is at risk in our country today.”
He shared six risks to our religious freedom, beginning with the Health and Human Services mandate that would force religious institutions to facilitate or fund sterilization, abortion inducing drugs and contraception, “which are contrary to the moral teaching of many of us.” He noted that the government is also trying to define which religious institutions are religious enough to merit protection of their religious liberty. “This is unprecedented in history of our nation,” he said. “The government has never before tried to define what a religious institution was or is.”
His second point was the governments forcing of agencies in places like Boston, San Francisco, and Illinois our of the service of providing adoption or foster care by revoking licenses or ending government contracts because of the organization’s failure to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite sex couples who cohabitate. “We, the Catholic Church, can not do this in conscience.”
He noted that several states have passed laws that forbid “harboring” undocumented immigrants. “The Church considers this act Christian charity and pastoral care of immigrants,” he said. “In states where such laws exist, if an undocumented immigrant receives assistance from one of our Catholic Charities we would be held in violation of the law even if we didn’t know this person was undocumented, not that that would make any difference to our “exercise of charity.” There is discrimination against small church congregations of certain areas of the country, New York City for instance, where the city adopted a policy that barred some churches from renting public schools on the weekend for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the schools for many other uses.
“The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Service services administered contract services for victims of human trafficking. that received rave review from objective sources about how effective Catholic Charities and the Migration and Refugee Services were,” Bishop Provost said. “In spite of being recognized as successful and effective, the government requires that the programs provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services, a violation of Catholic teaching. We will not and cannot do that.”
In conclusion he noted that at numerous state colleges, Christian student organizations are denied status because they require their leaders to be Christian and to abstain from immoral activity such as pre-marital sex.
“These limitations placed on the free exercise of religion - this threat to religious freedom is larger than any single issue or case and has roots in the secularism of our country,” Bishop Provost concluded.
Later in the day, Bishop Provost was the celebrant of a Mass at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church praying for respect for religious freedom and conscience rights.
