“Freedom for Mission” is the theme of the 2017 Fortnight for Freedom that draws to a close July 4 after two weeks of observance, action, education and prayer focused on religious freedom. The Fortnight tradition began in 2012 with a 12-page “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty” statement released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.
The U.S. bishops recently voted to make the ad hoc committee, chaired since its creation in 2011 by Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, into a permanent body.
A new website created for this year’s Fortnight for Religious Freedom celebrates religious freedom as the fundamental right of all people. The website features a video in which Catholic clergy and theologians speak of the vital role of religious freedom.
“Religious freedom is one of the basic freedoms of the person,” says the Most Reverend Thomas Wenske, Archbishop of Miami, “because without religious freedom, freedom of conscience, all other freedoms are without foundation.”
“A government that doesn’t acknowledge limits on its own power to regulate religious institutions is probably going to come after other institutions as well,” says Professor Rick Garnett of Notre Dame Law School.
The Catholic Bishops Conference identifies six perceived threats to religious freedom in a fact sheet circulated concurrently with the annual Fortnight for Freedom, and calls for dioceses across the nation to engage in prayer, education and action on religious freedom.
