Staying Power

Publisher's Note

The second Fortnight for Freedom, June 21 to July 4, is no less important than the first. In fact, it’s arguably more vital to attend this year’s events in your diocese and promote it to other Catholics and people of good will.

The battle to protest the government’s unjust contraception-abortion mandate continues. It is set to go into effect Aug. 1 for most institutions, and EWTN is still right in the middle of it.

Back in March, Birmingham Judge Sharon Blackburn dismissed our lawsuit against the federal government. Now, we — and many others groups and organizations that are in similar straits — will have to wait for what the Obama administration might or might not do to address the serious issues of conscience that have been raised since the first set of rules were published more than a year ago.

In every lawsuit filed against the HHS mandate, the government has made promise after promise, with nothing fruitful to show for it.

But let’s not sit idly by.

Let us, as Catholics who are also Americans, continue to oppose the tyranny of relativism that has gripped our lawmakers’ minds. Let us continue to support our bishops, who continue to stand for the disenfranchised people of faith whose religious freedom is threatened.

And let us continue to pray — the "EWTN Novena for Religious Freedom" (ReligiousLiberties.org) is a good place to start — that we will persevere through this trial and uphold the truth of the Gospel in our nation today and for generations to come.

God bless you!

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis