Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., says that the U.S. bishops’ new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty will officially meet for the first time this Sunday, Nov. 13.
He also revealed that the committee, which is “just getting organized,” will likely consist of “about 10 bishops” as well as “a number of very qualified lay consultors.”
“What is our goal? It is first of all to lift up the whole area of religious freedom, beginning with the teaching of the Church in Dignitatis Humanae, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom,” Bishop Lori told CNA on Nov. 8.
He also sees the committee’s task as “recouping, if you will, the vision of our Founding Fathers of the United States.”
The new religious-liberty committee was created to address “growing concerns over the erosion of freedom of religion in America.”
The bishops on the committee will be supported by a lawyer who specializes in the area of religious freedom and a lobbyist who will handle both religious liberty and marriage issues.
Bishop Lori explained that his committee will begin its work by addressing the “erosion of our religious liberties in the United States,” particularly those where religious freedom is “deemed a second-class right, subordinate to so-called ‘rights’ of abortion and same-sex ‘marriage,’ which are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.”
He feels that in defending life and marriage the Church is increasingly “being painted as a discriminatory institution and is therefore being made to suffer.”
That punishment is being meted out by the state, he explained, pointing to the Church being denied contracts to help the poor, being driven out of foster care and adoption, and being required to cover sterilization and contraception in its health-care services.
He also highlighted a threat to the “ministerial exception” in the Hosanna Tabor v. EEOC case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bishop Lori noted that the exception which allows churches to choose their own ministers is a “long-recognized principle in constitutional law.”
All these threats are “serious issues and unprecedented” in U.S. history, he said.
Besides focusing on specific threats, Bishop Lori said the committee will also aim to foster deeper change at the cultural level.
“The place of God and the place of organized religion and of believers has begun to erode in our culture, and that is now being reflected in law,” he said.
“Law reflects culture and culture reflects law, and, so, one of the things we must do is to re-evangelize the culture in this particular area.”
Matthew Warner: Ask Fr. Barron: How to evangelize in a 30-sec sound-byte culture?
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We in the Bridgeport Diocese are proud of “our” bishop - a true leader of the church in the 21st century.
Nothing to fear? We have 6 cafeteria Catholics on the SCOTUS… and by nature a corrupt institution that takes bribes from the depraved and godless oligarchy.
We are in a war and in order to win it, we have to identify who the enemy is. I am not aware of any threats to religious liberty from the Republican administrations of Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush. The threats to religious liberty come from the Democratic administrations and President Obama’s is at the top of the list. The Catholic hierarchy seems to be too comfortable with the Democrats. I will never forget the scenes of Cardinal Eagan with Obama at the Al Smith Dinner or of Archbishop Dolan, on 60 Minutes, cordially greeting Andrew Cuomo while he was on his way up the aisle to say Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Democrats are in favor of the culture of death and the homosexual agenda. When are the bishops going to come to that realization. The bishops cannot cooperate with Obama. He, and people of his ilk, view the bishops and people of their ilk as “useful idiots”. The bishops are going to now begin to try to evangelize the culture? What have they been doing for the last fifty years? We do not have another fifty years to wait. The primary elections begin in January of 2012, what are the bishops in those states doing to get the Catholic faithful ready to vote properly. If the answer is nothing, save the gasoline money that will be spent on Sunday’s party and just stick a fork in us, because we are done. Catholics are 50% of the U.S. electorate. Unfortunately 50% of us vote left and 50% vote right. Therefore we net out to zero, which is exactly our impact politically and on the culture: zero. I would like to know what the Catholic bishops in the United States of America are doing, or are going to do, if anything, in order to help defeat the culture of death in November of 2012. If the answer is nothing, don’t worry about the evangelization, Jesus will be here soon.
I meant to say Catholics are 25% of the electorate.
We will be discussing this article Friday at 8 pm ET. http://www.rpconradio.com
Bishop Lori is the Supreme Chaplin of the Knights of Columbus. The homosexual-marriage bill that was fast tracked by the supposed Catholic Gov. of N.Y. only became law because of TWO (2) Knights of Columbus that voted for it. Why was the good Bishop silent when this abomination happened ? Those two Knights & that Gov. should be held publicly accountable & our Church leadership stands mute ?????
@Grey Bear: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke.
Mr. O’Donovan: When that N.Y. vote was brought to my attention I alerted our Knights Council, our Diocese News Paper & several Catholic news sites. I was livid ! My brother Knights were surprised & disgusted. In protest, I resigned my 4th Degree position in the Knights. I discovered that they did this over 20 years ago when they refused to kick out a Knight-politician that voted for Abortion ! Also learned that the Supreme Knight is paid over a million a year along with his overpaid & bloated staff. Fr. McGivney would surely be disheartened by all of this.
@Grey Bear: This is a generalization, but why is it that liberal organizations seem to believe it is all about fighting for and achieving political power and they act accordingly? Catholic organizations seem to have a tacit rule that they will never do or say anything that could be construed as attempting to have a political impact. I am not suggesting that Catholics attempt to impose anything politically that would require one to be Catholic in order to accept. However, just by virtue of their sheer numbers, the Knights of Columbus, for example, could have a tremendous political impact regarding issues of a grave moral nature that are in play politically. I also do not understand how the Knights can knowingly welcome a cancer into their organization, or refuse to excise it when found, such as members who favor the culture of death and the homosexual agenda. You mentioned Fr. McGivney. What would he think of this practice? Are the Knights simply about selling insurance and using the profits for charitable works? I suggest that typical Catholics support the lay Catholic initiatives in the media that tell it like it is in accordance with Catholic teaching, and in so doing, create enemies along the way. However, these “enemies” remind me of the people Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had in mind, when, in his “letter from a Birmingham Jail”, stated, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Politically, in 2012, “Life” is at stake, as are the family and parental choice in education. What are the clergy doing to have an impact? What are Catholic organizations doing to affect the outcome? What are you and I doing? The Parable of the Talents comes to mind.
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