The U.S. bishops' conference has announced a second Fortnight for
Freedom, scheduled for the two weeks leading up to Independence Day, to
raise awareness and support for the right to religious liberty.
“The need for prayer, education, and action in defense of religious
liberty has never been greater,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of
Baltimore. “The Fortnight for Freedom exists to meet that need.”
The pastoral initiative will begin with a June 21 Mass celebrated by
Archbishop Lori at the Baltimore basilica. It will conclude at noon on
July 4 with a Mass at the Washington, D.C., basilica celebrated by
Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl.
The first Fortnight for Freedom, held last year, included Masses, prayer
rallies and other events aimed at prayer, education and action in order
to promote and defend religious freedom.
Members of other religions joined in the fortnight, hosting events or ringing church bells in a sign of solidarity.
The two-week event is designed to “emphasize the need for conscience
protection” and general religious liberty both at home and overseas. It
will focus on a broad variety of recent threats to religious freedom,
including those in the realms of immigration, humanitarian aid, adoption
and health care.
Among the major religious liberty concerns in the U.S. is a federal
mandate, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, that
requires employers to offer health insurance plans covering
contraception, sterilization and some drugs that can cause early
abortions.
While the mandate includes a religious exemption, it applies only to
churches and their conventions, auxiliaries and religious orders.
Most non-profit religious organizations, including Catholic hospitals,
schools and charitable agencies, do not qualify for the exemption. After
a one-year reprieve, which ends this August, they will subject to a
government “accommodation,” under which the objectionable products will
be included free of charge in the health care plans they offer. Critics
argue that the objecting religious employers will still end up paying
for the coverage that they consider immoral through increased premiums.
Archbishop Lori noted in his May 13 statement that the 2013 fortnight
“occurs just weeks before August 1, when the administration's mandate
coercing us to violate our deeply-held beliefs will be enforced against
most religious non-profits.”
He added that during this year’s fortnight, “the Supreme Court's
decisions on the definition of marriage will likely be handed down as
well.”
“Those decisions could have a profound impact on religious freedom for generations to come,” he said.
In March, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two gay marriage cases,
Hollingsworth v. Perry and U.S. v. Windsor. One challenges California's
Proposition 8, a state measure which recognizes marriage as existing
solely between a man and a woman, and the other challenges the Defense
of Marriage Act, a federal law which defines marriage as the union of
one man and one woman.
Decisions in both cases are expected in late June.
In addition to the contraception mandate, the second fortnight will
place a special emphasis on faith and marriage due to the Supreme Court
rulings and their potential to impact religious freedom in a significant
way, according to a statement from the bishops’ conference in December
2012.
A web page created by the bishops’ conference to offer resources for the
pastoral strategy described the upcoming fortnight as “a visible,
vibrant reminder of the God-given nature of religious liberty” as well
as the right to live out one’s faith in the public square and the
professional world.
Modern threats to the Church “call for increased awareness and
formation, as well as spiritual stamina and fortitude among the
faithful, so that we may all be effective and joyful witnesses of faith,
hope and charity,” it explained.