Fortnight for Freedom Grassroots Action Plan

June 21 - July 4

Catholics have been asked by our bishops to take action in defense of our religious liberty in the two weeks leading up to the 4th of July -- a "Fortnight for Freedom."  

This is necessary because the Obama Administration has engaged in a stunning attack on our right to practice our faith, most notably by mandating that virtually all employers, including religious employers like Catholic charities, schools, and hospitals, provide free abortion inducing-drugs, contraception, and sterilization in their health plans.

You can help by committing yourself to the following daily action items over the 14 days of the Fortnight -- each taking only two minutes or less.

TAKE ACTION

Please start now by sharing this 14-point action plan with 14 of your friends and asking them to join you in standing up for religious freedom!

1. Share The Catholic Association's one-minute video with 14 of your friends through email, Twitter, or Facebook.
2. Call your Member of Congress to ask them to support efforts to protect religious liberty and to oppose the HHS mandate.   Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and give the operator your zip code to be connected to your Representative's office.   Tell the staff person you speak with that you would like a response from your Representative and make sure they take down your address.
3. "Like" The Catholic Association on Facebook and ask 14 friends to do the same. 
4. The HHS mandate affects not just Catholics, but people of all faiths.  Many Christian colleges and non-religious employers have also sued the Obama Administration because of this affront to the First Amendment.  Watch this short video and forward it to 14 of your non-Catholic friends.
5. Say the following prayer for religious liberty that the bishops have asked us to pray -- and share the prayer with 14 friends:
   
   
           Almighty God, Father of all nations,
           For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
           We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
           the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
           Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
           By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
           We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
           and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
           with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
    
6. Follow The Catholic Association on Twitter at @CatholicsAsOne.
7. Donate $14 to your favorite Catholic institution (whether a charity, school, hospital) threatened by the HHS mandate "fine on faith."  See here for a list of just some of the institutions suing the Obama Administration. Catholic institutions such as these are facing fines of $100 per employee per day.
8. Let 14 friends know how your favorite Catholic institution is threatened by the mandate.  The HHS mandate's "fine on faith" is $100 per employee per day.  Employers like the Archdiocese of Washington, DC or the University of Notre Dame will face fines of millions of dollars per year for noncompliance. Watch this video from the Archdiocese of Washington to learn more. 
9. Make plans to go see the movie "For Greater Glory," a movie about the loss of religious freedom in the 1920's in Mexico.  Invite 14 friends to come along.
10. Sign a petition protesting the HHS Mandate: "Women Speak for Themselves", the Becket Fund's "I Still Believe", and "Conscience Cause" all have great petitions. 
11. Pray a decade of the rosary for religious freedom.
12. Let 14 friends know about these other threats to religious freedom that our bishops have outlined in their recent document, "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty."
13. Offer up one sacrifice today for the intention of religious freedom.  The bishops have called for both prayer and fasting.
14. Send out a tweet or a Facebook post at noon EST on the 4th of July with the words, "I Stand for Religious Freedom #Fortnight4Freedom" in synch with the nationwide coordinated ringing of church bells on the 4th of July.

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS 14-POINT ACTION PLAN (PDF)

Bill Sponsor Rep. Tom Sannicandro's Remarks on Prenatal Testing Bill

Stop the HHS Mandate

Soros group "Faith in Public Life" attacks US Bishops on HHS Mandate

We have to expect the Soros funded groups like Faith in Public Life to bring out the big guns. Dirty tricks, lies, and of course, soon they will mention the pedophilia scandal. Donohue is ready for them. 

 

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

June 21 marks the beginning of the “Fortnight for Freedom” events, the campaign for religious liberty being conducted by the nation’s bishops. Fair-minded persons may disagree with this effort, but there is something unseemly going on when those who work for a George Soros-funded group are quietly providing talking points to the media.

John Gehring is an official at Faith in Public Life, and it is his organization that lives off the bounty of the left-wing atheist billionaire, Mr. Soros. On June 7, Gehring sent a memo to his buddies in the media (a copy of which was generously leaked to me—click here) instructing them on how to handle the bishops. They should begin by questioning the prelates why the Obama “accommodation” wasn’t good enough. “You have to ask why the bishops can’t take yes for an answer,” he wrote.

Teaching them how to handle the “war on the Catholic Church,” Gehring advises, “Several bishops have used inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric that conflates a process of working through complex policy issues with a fundamental attack on the Catholic Church.” He also frets over the politicization of the religious liberty campaign, an effort made possible, he neglects to say, because of the politicization of religion by President Obama.

Not to be outdone, Gehring presses his lackeys to victimize the victim, beckoning them to ask the bishops—all of whom refuse to prostitute their principles—“Are you willing to sacrifice Catholic charities, colleges and hospitals if you don’t get your way on the contraceptive mandate?”

Finally, Gehring provides a go-to list of Catholic activists who can be counted on to subvert the bishops’ message. It’s what we would expect from a George Soros group.

Contact Gehring: Gehring@faithinpubliclife.org

Lessons Learned from "For Greater Glory"

  There's a thoughtful meditation on "For Greater Glory" over at Ignatium Today blog. (spoiler alert)

  a friendship forms between the priest and the boy. One day, José asks Father Christopher why he doesn’t go into hiding like many of the other priests. He tells the boy how God will watch over him in His house. The boy continues to insist, only for the priest to conclude, “There is no greater glory than to give your life for Christ.”  These words impress José very much.

The young man witnesses the priests martyrdom and is inspired to join the Cristeros fight for religious freedom and to martyrdom. And I mused, that the good inspired by Fr Christopher's example continued to inspire in the film.
 After Jose died, General Gorostieta confessed just in time to meet Our Lord, right after angrily asking Fr Vega the purpose of Jose’s death.  Fr Vega told the General about how God can turn tragedy into triumph.Just as He did with the Cross of Christ.

So, the legacy of Fr Christopher set off a chain of grace filled events, saving souls, giving witness to Christ, and winning partial victory for religious freedom.
This is the normal way priests work in the Church, one which our priests are too seldom given credit for, since this everyday action of grace has been overshadowed in the public eye by the sin of a handful of priests.

We should thank the Fr Christophers in our parish for their preaching and example, and perhaps buy them a movie ticket!
For more information about Blessed Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio look at this website.