BALTIMORE — During an installation replete with striking pageantry, sounding trumpets and an enthusiastic crowd of 2,000, Archbishop William Lori passionately defended the cause of religious freedom as a defining issue for the American people and the Catholic faithful.
“We do not seek to defend religious liberty for partisan purposes, as some have suggested; we do this because we are lovers of a human dignity that was fashioned and imparted not by the government, but by the Creator,” Archbishop Lori said in a May 16 homily designed to bring the campaign from Capitol Hill to the parishes of Baltimore.
Addressing the congregation from the pulpit at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in north Baltimore, the cathedral church of the oldest Catholic diocese in the nation, the archbishop linked the U.S. bishops’ urgent First Amendment battle to the legacy of the city’s first bishop. He addressed a congregation that included his predecessor, Cardinal Edwin O’Brien; the papal nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano; a host of Church leaders; family members; local Catholics and a Knights of Columbus honor guard.
“We do this because Archbishop John Carroll’s generation of believers and patriots bequeathed to us a precious legacy that has enabled the Church to worship in freedom, to bear witness to Christ publicly and to do massive and amazing works of pastoral love, education and charity in ways that are true to the faith that inspired them in the first place,” said the archbishop.
Archbishop Lori’s installation took place one day after the general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a formal response that rejected the Obama administration’s proposed “accommodation” to the Health and Human Services mandate. The religious-freedom battle prompted by the HHS mandate made the ceremony a high-profile news story.
Archbishop Lori is the chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, established after Church leaders determined that emerging threats to the First Amendment at the state and federal levels required a unified response.
During his homily, he emphasized the need for unity among Catholics in the archdiocese and around the nation. It was a call to confront together the powerful partisan and secular forces that would deny a vital role for religious witness in the public square, threatening the future of Catholic education, health care and social action.
“I sense your ardent desire for an ever-deeper sense of solidarity and unity; [that] … the Church remain a strong and compassionate presence in the city of Baltimore and in all parts of the archdiocese,” Archbishop Lori said to the congregation, which included many Hispanic and African-American Catholics, who interrupted his remarks with sustained applause.
Supporters of traditional marriage in the state, including many historic African-American Protestant churches located in the Maryland Archdiocese, are organizing to secure a referendum to overturn a new law legalizing same-sex “marriage” in Maryland. The new archbishop has already signaled his plan to play a major role in that closely watched effort, and it will be the first test of his gifts as a religious leader in the archdiocese.
At the cathedral, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Pope Benedict XVI’s representative to the United States, read the apostolic mandate pronouncing Archbishop Lori the new leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which oversees a half million Catholics and has about 250 priests.
Reading from the letter, Archbishop Vigano said, “Among the sees (dioceses) located in the United States of America, the Archdiocese of Baltimore occupies a special place, for it is the oldest in the history of that distinguished nation.”
“For this reason, in the faithful exercise of our office as the Vicar of Christ and the Shepherd of the universal Church, we take particular care to assign a suitable man of great pastoral experience, capable of succeeding our venerable brother, Edwin Frederick O’Brien, cardinal of the Holy Roman Church,” he continued.
Archbishop Lori’s homily signaled that he would strive mightily to fulfill that expectation. He began his homily with a meditation on what it means to be a Catholic bishop.
“Doesn’t this seem like a good day to reflect on what a bishop does?” he asked the congregation. “One answer to that question was given by a third-grader at the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Greenwich, Conn., on the occasion of one of my visits. Asked what a bishop does, she enthusiastically put her hand up and said, ‘He moves diagonally and protects the king!’” he recalled, provoking laughter from the congregation.
Shifting to a more serious tone, he asserted that the question was best answered through the personal sanctity and public witness of Blessed John Paul II. Archbishop Lori recalled meeting the late Pontiff at the Baltimore Cathedral 17 years earlier, when Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore and Cardinal James Hickey of Washington “presented me to Pope John Paul II for the first time as a newly ordained bishop. There stood I before John Paul II, an ideal priest and a saintly bishop, whose life spoke more eloquently even than his words about my vocation.”
Noting the day’s reading about St. Paul preaching the Gospel in the “Areopagus of Athens, the ultimate public square, in the height of the Roman Empire,” Archbishop Lori recalled Pope John Paul’s lifelong commitment to the defense of religious freedom, calling the world to “be not afraid” and to open their lives to Christ.
“Few people in history went to more Areopagai than did Pope John Paul II, as he traveled the length and breadth of the globe proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, as indeed his successor, Pope Benedict, XVI, continues to do,” Archbishop Lori said. The archbishop is drawing inspiration and guidance from St. Paul, John Carroll and John Paul II for his new role in Baltimore and on the national stage.
“They are teaching me, they are teaching us all, how important it is not only to bring the Gospel into the public square, but, indeed, to defend the right to do so, not just for ourselves, but for all believers,” he said.
The archbishop recalled the late Pope’s words in defense of religious freedom offered years ago at that very cathedral. By then, the Holy Father had helped to vanquish the totalitarianism in Eastern Europe.
While communist ideology once posed the primary threat to the free exercise of religion, Archbishop Lori echoed the recent concerns of Pope Benedict XVI, who has argued that moral relativism offers a more subtle, but equally powerful, threat to the free exercise of religion.
During a recent ad limina visit with U.S. bishops, Pope Benedict underscored the global significance of the First Amendment fight in the U.S.: “With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents, which ... seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth.”
Benedict told the American bishops that a “legitimate separation of church and state cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the state may choose not to engage or be engaged by the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.”
During the 2012 presidential-election year, the controversy over the HHS mandate has become entangled in partisan politics, and the U.S. hierarchy has been accused of engaging in a “war on women.”
The bishops are on a steep learning curve, and Archbishop Lori acknowledged as much as he contemplated the challenges ahead.
“St. Paul did not carelessly enter the public square, the Areopagus. Not only did he first carefully study the culture and religious practices of the Athenians, he came filled with the love of God, poured into his heart by the Holy Spirit. He knew that the churches where he had preached and fostered the faith needed to be both strong and vibrant, faithful and fruitful, truthful and loving.”
“He knew that for his witness of faith to be believed and for the Church to flourish in times of peace as also in times of persecution, that its members must not only stand fast in the truth of the Gospel, but, indeed, to live the truth in love, to love in accord with the truth we have received,” he stated. In this, he echoed the same theme that shaped Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York’s recent commencement address at The Catholic University of America.
While calling on the entire congregation to prepare for battle by strengthening themselves spiritually, Baltimore’s new archbishop earnestly expressed his own desire to worthily fulfill his office.
That humble acknowledgement underscored the recent failures of episcopal leadership that have handicapped the bishops’ fight for religious freedom. Archbishop Lori marks a new generation of Catholic leaders who know they must earn respect rather than expecting it.
“On a day such as this, how hard we should pray that, in God’s grace, I will be a wise and holy bishop who seeks to model my life and ministry on the Good Shepherd,” he concluded.
“Pray that, as the Year of Faith announced by Pope Benedict XVI unfolds, I shall not only teach the faith, but bear witness to it in a manner that helps to heal the breach between faith and culture.”
Joan Frawley Desmond is the Register's senior editor.
Matthew Warner: Thank God for the HHS Mandate
Dan Burke: A Novena to the Mother of God for the United States
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I thought the best line from his homily was when he related asking a group of youngsters what a bishop did. A quippy young child said, “Moves diagonally and protects the King!” His laughter at the answer and himself was wonderful to hear.
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And, now it seems so true. Archbishop Lori is protecting the King of Kings and in our current political atmosphere has to be imaginative in his moves to get the job done.
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Baltimore is blessed to have him!
Archbishop Lori “emphasized the need for unity among Catholics… around the nation,” one day AFTER the USCCB rejected any accommodation with the HHS mandate—but, Oh!, also one day BEFORE the Secretary of HHS who issued her ukase is scheduled to be a GUEST SPEAKER, given a position of HONOR at Georgetown University, mere minutes by car from where the new Archbishop urged “unity.” My reaction? Hah! Hah! Hah! Listen up, dear Bishops: Do you realize that you have ZERO credibility in your supposed fight against HHS unless and until someone, somewhere, starts to name the names and take ACTION against the perpetrators of honoring Sebelius? Again, in accord with my prior posting on another article: WHY BE CATHOLIC?? Tell me again??
God Bless you Archbishop Lori! Vivat Jesu!
Congratulations, Archbishop Lori ... I am so happy for you and for us. I have seen and heard you on several Catholic TV and radio shows and, oh my, you pack a powerful punch!!!!! God bless you and may you become a CARDINAL SOON!!! PS: Make sure to get to the Baltimore Aquarium, the Orioles stadium and the"new” Baltimore waterfront. PSS:I TINK YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOO COOOOOL!!! :-)
All well and good. Religious freedom. Great politics. But I see little reference to the Catholic problem with government intervention in the lives of its citizens, which is that what the government is trying to do is gravely sinful and against natural and Divine law. Religious freedom is not a natural right where man is free to embrace whatever religion they think is good, but rather it is the duty and obligation through faith and reason to embrace Our Lord Jesus Christ and the true Church. Catholics should fight against certain laws, not because they are infringing on religious freedom, but because they are evil and opposed to God’s laws. If religious freedom is left to its own definition, it leads to an unlimited freedom of conscience, opinion, and moral choices that have no bearing in reality and eventually infringes on true freedom. This is precisely where we are today with the redefinition of marriage, sex, right to choose, babies, etc. that are contrary to Catholic reason. Christ only is Savior and King, and He only has a right to reign over nations. It is because the new healthcare laws are opposed to God’s laws that we cannot accept them and must fight them as much as we can.
By the way, the secular music at the installation was awful. I do not know why we cannot rise above these perverse sounds in our churches and follow the example set by the Holy Father in Rome.
God bless you for your courage Archbishop Lori.
Please strip Georgetown of its so-called “Catholic” identity as your first priority.
The greatest success of the evil one – Satan – is the fact that he has succeeded for many generations in un-defining himself to the world. He has repeated the mantra: “only old-fashioned and silly people believe that “satan” has any part in the world of today.” Good Christians including Catholics and even clerics fear being mocked for even using his name much less proclaiming his power and influence over the world today. Non Christians ignore him almost totally.
So people who are clearly agents of Satan in our world – especially people like our President, who wield worldly power – roam about the world destroying good and attacking God’s people with little opposition. Obama is often treated as a cartoon character and Satan does not mind that characterization either – it allows him to blithely wander the world committing mayhem. He knows exactly who he is; he knows that far too many of us don’t know him at all.
Well, Obama is committing mayhem across the land and most of those who see him for the evil doer he is, are unwilling to label him as such. We hear rants and raves against him with regard to all manner of his social, personal and economic actions – all of which are true – but this keeps the campaign secular and Obama will likely win a secular campaign. Obama of course, tells us to soften our rhetoric and stop being “mean spirited.” These are clever and devious tactics. I think we buy into them instead of engaging the battle as God would have us.
So the Bishops – thank God – are speaking out loudly against the administration but seem reluctant to discuss evil instead of politics. We are told not to judge; and, we cannot judge his soul. But is it wrong to call his works evil? Is that the way to defeat him? Are we waiting for a more opportune moment to speak out? Jesus called evil works “evil” and they hated Him for it. It got Him crucified and He spoke at last the words from the Cross “They know not what they do.” St. Thomas More spoke too strongly against the evil deeds of King Henry VIII and it cost him his head. His final words were: “The King’s good servant, but God’s First.” It is so much easier today to focus on “freedom of religion” instead of “merchants of death” and “destroyers of the family.”
So it is the most important election in our history! If we lose…the end of Marriage as defined by God as it is made a legal abomination by the state – the end of all pretense of the protection of life, as the state blesses suicide, infanticide, and the end of medical care choices for all Americans – the end of freedom of religion, as the state bars the church doors and locks believers within as it declares that no religious work or proclamations may be made outside the building – the end of parental rights and protection for their children, as the state rules what parents may say and do to and for their children. This is but a subset of where Obamarule is clearly headed. Who gives a damn about the economy? The foundation of America is being dismantled hidden from view.
But we think, no, this is impossible. There is Congress and the Court to restrain such “changes” by a President! Really? What spirit has invaded the minds and souls of so many in congress and so many Judges who pronounce that which is clearly evil, as good and legal? I call that spirit satanic! Is it some other spirit? Is it merely ignorance on their part?
President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in an unscripted moment picked up by camera crews, the American president was more blunt: “Let me get reelected first, he said; then I’ll have a better chance of making something happen.” Will our leadership acknowledge this as the speech of someone obsessed with power and one who will do anything to win re-election in the belief that after November, he can totally ignore God, Congress, the Courts, and the individual States. He intends to dictate his new order regardless of constitutional limitations or the laws of God!
Our leadership must come from the Church. Those who have been taught the truth and have been ordained to proclaim the truth must lead us to awaken ourselves to the Lord of all and His enemy, Satan, and those who are agents of evil, even if they know not what they do! Will such leaders suffer? Of course, they will. How many Christians bloodied the arenas of Rome, the Nazi ovens, and killing fields down to our own day, who refused to be silent, who proclaimed the true God as supreme over all?
Your Excellency,
Welcome to the Primatial See of Baltimore! Many Catholics here are happy that God has given you to us. He has doubly blessed us with your motto: “Charity in truth”; and are delighted with your stance on the important and non-negotiable issues we have been facing in this present darkness of the “Culture of Death.” We will continue to pray for Our Lord to continue blessing you with wisdom, courage and strength as you gather your army of defenders of our Roman Catholic faith and lead us to evangelize and win the victory in Christ over the evil in our midst! We orthodox Catholic soldiers of Christ are here to support you in “fighting the good fight of faith”! We look forward to seeing and meeting you in our parishes and to have many opportunities to pray with you. May God bless you abundantly!
To demostrate courage there must be a risk of danger that threatens one’s life. What is the risk or danger? Hyperbole. I see no danger of martyrdom or persecution.
Histrionics, crying wolf begs one to be ignored. I question whether this assertion of authority has anything to do with a lost of confidence over the hierarchy’s dealings with the various scandals? Blame it on the Sisters.
Archbishop Lori is a disaster for Baltimore and the American Church. He is an unabashed careerist, a fundamentalist, a political rightist, and a self-righteous enemy of Catholic nuns. He will spend his time in Baltimore doing what most US bishops are doing these days—closing parishes, closing schools, ordaining fewer and fewer priests and deacons, losing the service of nuns, and presiding over parishes with fewer and fewer Mass attendees while spouting sexual rules and roles for the laity.
What a joy to welcome you to Baltimore yesterday, Archbishop Lori, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary! May God bless you and your leadership during this especially important time to protect religious freedom.
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