U.S. Church Takes Up Cross, Carries Burden to Protect Liberty

I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical about the timing of the whole “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign. Lots of families travel for the Fourth of July, which I thought would distract from the prayer and reflection needed for this endeavor. However, when we marched our family into my mom’s parish, St. Anthony of Padua in The Woodlands, I felt a sense of satisfaction that the Fortnight for Freedom prayer cards were out and the congregation was engaged.

One of the many things I love about our Church is that Mass is always Mass—no matter where I go, what time it is, I can count on familiarity of Mass—even with a baby and a toddler wiggling on my lap. The prayers and images of the Church bring comfort. As my family sat in Mass this Sunday, my almost three-year-old pointed up to the ninth station of the cross and proclaimed, “That’s my Church!” I looked from her to the station and back at her, trying to figure out what my little one was thinking, and thought about what the image says about the Church today.

The station image depicts Jesus on his knees, shouldering the burden of the cross. A popular reflection on the station describes this moment of strength and weakness: “Summoning all of his remaining strength, supported by his inner trust in God, Jesus collapses under the weight of the cross.” From the mouth of my babe came a highly theological analogy of Christ’s suffering to the situation of the American Church.

Faced with threats toward our first freedom of religious liberty, the U.S. Catholic Church is a Church being pushed by civil authorities and interests which fail to honor the role of the Church in the common good and the public square. Catholic Charities in some parts of the country have been forced out of the adoption business due to requirements that they place children with same-sex couples. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was denied a grant for which they scored the most effective provider for human trafficking services because they refuse to refer victims to abortion services. The recent Health and Human Services Mandate is yet another blow that attempts to define our faith and force the Church to pay for contraceptives.

We have spent the two weeks of the Fortnight for Freedom praying, reflecting, and talking about what it means to be free. While the two-week campaign has ended, the Church must remain on our knees in prayer for the protection of our religious liberty. The Holy Father’s remarks for the Fortnight’s concluding Mass urged American Catholics to continue to “bring the wisdom and insight born of their faith to the task of building a society worthy of America's highest moral and constitutional principles.”

As a Church we must anchor ourselves in faith and trust in God as we participate in political matters. Jesus had the strength to keep going after the third fall because of this inner trust in God and the desire to do his Father’s will. In this time of political games, let us remember our inner trust in God and pray that we can fulfill our role in his will. A simple way to continue your Fortnight efforts is to educate and act on issues of importance is to join the Texas Catholic Network at www.TXcatholic.org. Texas Catholic Network members stay informed and active on policy issues by receiving news updates and action alerts on important issues relevant to our Catholic faith.