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Render Unto God . . .

Before a full house in our nation's largest Catholic Church -- Washington, DC's 5,000-seat Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception -- is the homily given at the closing Mass of the US bishops' Fortnight for Freedom by Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap. of Philadelphia....
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Offer youself these few minutes (16), I think you'll be blessed by his words:

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Archbishop Charles Chaput -- Fortnight for Freedom Closing Homily from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.

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Thoughts for the Holiday

The Fortnight4Freedom (or as is sometimes referred to as: “the Fortnight for Religious Liberty”) comes to a conclusion today. These previous 2 weeks were offered to us U.S. Catholics by our Bishops to concentrate through prayer and reflection on the importance of Religious Freedom in our country, that we might understand why these days are most significant to all that is a Catholic way of life for us. Hopefully we realize that we are called to be pro-active, not just reactive, about Catholicism in America. Today: Celebrate Catholic identity in public life.

American Catholics have too often fallen into a self-defeating pattern. Call it the ghetto syndrome.

The ghetto syndrome started years before the ghetto, in 1634 when Cecil Calvert’s Catholic settlers headed to Maryland on The Ark. They were afraid of upsetting their Protestant crew, so they heard Mass in hiding on their ship. It was a bad way to start. Why should Catholics feel that the Mass is something upsetting and almost shameful? By 1692 Catholicism was illegal in Maryland.

A much bigger wave of Catholic immigrants came at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, with Europeans fleeing in droves to the United States. They were leaving poverty behind seeking prosperity. But many of them were also leaving deeply Catholic countries behind and entering a thoroughly Protestant one.

Catholics stayed poor at first – and stayed Catholic, too. But as we rose out of the ghetto, too many of us began behaving like those Catholics on The Ark, as if our faith was something very private that might cause offense.

Assimilation is a necessary thing for immigrants, but it is also dangerous. Our desire to be like our neighbors is powerful enough to create a united nation, E Pluribus Unum – but also powerful enough to erode religious identity.

The Old Testament is filled with cautionary tales about assimilation with pagan societies. Catholics today can relate to that.

The children of the first immigrant Catholics had a very rough time of it. They knew they had to drop their accents and change their clothes to fit in. But strong anti-Catholic currents wanted more than that.
The Know Nothings, the American Protective Association, and the Ku Klux Klan spread their mistrust of Catholics far and wide in the 19th century. As recently as the mid-20th century their sentiments were echoed by writers such as Paul Blanshard and the organization, Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (now shortened to “Americans United”).

The theory of inferiority they touted:

• Catholics were intellectually and religiously inferior, because their minds and faith was beholden to the teachings of an Italian pope;

• Catholics were racially inferior, because they came largely from the swarthier Southern European people, not the northern Europeans;

• Catholics were socially inferior, because the Irish and other new immigrants were the unskilled labor of their day.

Some Catholics were cowed into submission by the onslaught; some fought back boldly.

At any rate, the faith was something too powerful to be easily dropped. That took longer. Maybe the turning point came when the new generation was finally grown up and moving into positions of leadership. Many thought it necessary to distance themselves from the “ghetto” they came from.
Take higher education, for instance. In 1970, the nation’s top Catholic university leaders signed the “Land o’ Lakes Statement” that redefined the Catholic mission in education.

No longer were our universities to be places where Catholic intellectuals would mine the rich veins of magisterial teaching and apply Catholic principles to the problems of our day. Now Catholic universities were to be places that evaluated and sifted the teachings of the Church – and often found them wanting. What they would offer their students wasn’t the enduring wisdom of the Church, but whatever was currently popular in academia.

The same ghetto syndrome played out in parochial schools, parish religious-education programs and even liturgical planning. Everything became less jarringly Catholic, and more acceptably “Protestant.”
Hopefully, things are beginning to change.

In our generation, Catholics either believe the Church, and stay in it, or disbelieve the Church, and leave it. Those who stay see its rich teaching as a beautiful answer to the world’s problems. Their experience of the world’s wisdom is more like the woman in last Sunday’s Gospel. “She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped, but only grew worse.”

Stand up for your Catholic faith. How can we stand by and watch as it erodes at the hands of those who no longer believe. The time for relaxing in our faith is over. As we celebrate the birth of our country today, let us also celebrate a renewed commitment to our Catholic faith.




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Happy . . .

Uh, Oh - yikes - oh, gosh!

My email server has been down for over 24 hours now, so I am posting my Daily Connection for today on my blog:

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Today is Wednesday, July 4, 2012.

Good Morning.

A thought for the day:
“The Messiah comes knocking at the door of our hearts many times in life and …”

The Church’s Gospel text for today: Matthew chapter 8 verses 28-34
… read this first if you can …



Wally was big for his age--seven years old. Everyone wondered what role the teacher would give him in the annual Christmas play. Especially considering the fact that he was also a slow learner. Perhaps he could pull the curtain. To everyone's surprise the teacher gave Wally the role of the innkeeper. The boy of course was delighted. After all, all he had to learn was one line: "There is no room in the inn." He had that down in no time.

Then came the night for the program. The parents took their places. Every seat in the auditorium was filled. The children entered singing "Oh come all ye faithful." The lights dimmed. A hush moved over the audience. The curtain opened on Scene One. Mary and Joseph entered the stage and walked up to the inn. "Please sir, my wife is not well. Could we have a room for the night?" Wally was ready for his line. He had rehearsed it all night. He began, there is...and he hesitated. He started over again. There is. . .and again his mind went completely blank. Everyone was embarrassed for him but poor Wally just didn't know what to do. Joseph thought he would improvise and started walking away toward the stable on stage left. Seeing him walking away Wally in desperation called out: "Look, there's plenty of room at my house, just come on home with me."

In our Scripture this morning the tragedy isn’t that there is no room for Jesus – there is PLENTY of room for Jesus. The people just don’t want Him there with them. Where we, in our weakness, may want to place the blame ( you know: fear, doubt, lack of faith), the simple truth is – there are some people who do not want the Savior of the World, the Son of God, in their lives.

On this Fourth of July, as we give thanks to Almighty God for the blessing of our country perhaps we might whisper a prayer that we always find a place in this land of the free and home of the brave and offer it to Him, the Word made Flesh. We need Him among us.

God bless,
Father Pat


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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 14 - Final Day

The fact is that men of the present day want
to be able freely to profess their religion in private
and in public. Religious freedom has already been
declared to be a civil right in most constitutions, and
it is solemnly recognized in international documents.
The further fact is that forms of government still exist
under which, even though freedom of religious worship
receives constitutional recognition, the powers of
government are engaged in the effort to deter citizens
from the profession of religion and to make life difficult
and dangerous for religious Communities.
This sacred Synod greets with joy the first of these
two facts, as among the signs of the times. With sorrow,
however, it denounces the other fact, as only
to be deplored. The Synod exhorts Catholics, and it
directs a plea to all men, most carefully to consider
how greatly necessary religious freedom is, especially
in the present condition of the human family.
All nations are coming into even closer unity. Men
of different cultures and religions are being brought
together in closer relationships. There is a growing
consciousness of the personal responsibility that
weighs upon every man. All this is evident.
Consequently, in order that relationships of peace
and harmony may be established and maintained
within the whole of mankind, it is necessary that
religious freedom be everywhere provided with an
effective constitutional guarantee, and that respect be
shown for the high duty and right of man freely to lead
his religious life in society.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 15
December 7, 1965

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Reflection for Day Fourteen:

In concluding its Declaration of Religious Freedom,
the Council rejoices in the fact that religious freedom
has been enshrined in the constitutions of many
countries as well as in international statements. However,
the Council Fathers are well aware that religious
freedom is not guaranteed merely when it is stated on
a piece of paper. It must be exercised by a living body
of people. Moreover, there are actual governments
that act against religious communities, sometime in
the name of religion. The Council Fathers find such
situations appalling and ask that Catholics and all
people of goodwill work to rectify this injustice.

Since the Vatican Council, has religious freedom
improved or deteriorated throughout the world?

What is the relationship between growing religious diversity,
as well as growing interactions among people of different
faiths, and religious liberty?

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 13

In turn, where the principle of religious freedom
is not only proclaimed in words or simply incorporated
in law but also given sincere and practical
application, there the Church succeeds in achieving a
stable situation of right as well as of fact and the independence
which is necessary for the fulfillment of her
divine mission. This independence is precisely what
the authorities of the Church claim in society.

At the same time, the Christian faithful, in common
with all other men, possess the civil right not to
be hindered in leading their lives in accordance with
their conscience. Therefore, a harmony exists between
the freedom of the Church and the religious freedom
which is to be recognized as the right of all men and
communities and sanctioned by constitutional law.


Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 13
December 7, 1965
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Reflection for Day Thirteen:

While insisting upon the religious freedom of the
Church, the Council Fathers do not wish to give the
impression that in some manner the Catholic Church
is special when it comes to religious liberty. Thus, the
Council first states above that where the principle
of religious liberty is present, the Church is able to
peaceably fulfill her divine mission. It is this amicable
relationship between herself and civil authorities that
the Church always wishes to pursue and ensure.

In the light of this, the Church also champions
the religious and civil rights of all so that all
people can live “their lives in accordance with their
conscience.” In this way there is no conflict with
what the Church demands for herself and what she
demands for others—the freedom to follow one’s
conscience in matters religious. This religious freedom
for all is what the Council once more believes should
be acknowledged and sanctioned within the constitutional
law of countries.

In the United States, religious freedom is protected
in the Constitution, as the Council desires.

Are those constitutional protections enough?

Are they growing stronger or weaker in our society today?

What else, apart from the law, can strengthen or
weaken religious liberty?

What should Catholics do to defend and foster religious liberty
in America today?

What have Catholics done in the past when religious
liberty was threatened?


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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 12

Among the things which concern the good
of the Church and indeed the welfare of society here
on earth—things therefore which are always and
everywhere to be kept secure and defended against
all injury—this certainly is preeminent, namely, that
the Church should enjoy that full measure of freedom
which her care for salvation of men requires. This
freedom is sacred, because the only-begotten Son
endowed with it the Church which He purchased with
His blood. It is so much the property of the Church that
to act against it is to act against the will of God. The
freedom of the Church is the fundamental principle in
what concerns the relations between the Church and
governments and the whole civil order.

Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 13
December 7, 1965

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Reflection for Day Twelve:

In Chapter I, the Council Fathers considered the
nature of religious freedom from a rational and philosophical
perspective—the dignity and equality of
human beings and the natural right to religious liberty.
In Chapter II, they turn to examining religious
liberty in the light of Christian Revelation.
In this context, the Council Fathers forthrightly
insist that the Church must “enjoy that full measure
of freedom which her care for salvation of men
requires.” Jesus became man, died, and rose from the
dead so that all men and women would come to salvation—
to know the fullness of truth and the fullness of
the Father’s love. This is why the Church’s religious
freedom is “sacred.” Jesus, through the Holy Spirit,
founded the Church as the means by which his saving
message and presence would go forth to all the world.

Only then would Jesus’ Gospel be lived out among
all nations and peoples. Only if the Church is free
can she rightly fulfill her divine commission. This is
why the Church jealously guards her freedom while
simultaneously fostering harmonious, appropriate, and
just relations with various governments throughout
the world.

What present circumstances threaten the freedom
of the Catholic Church particularly?

Are threatsto the Church’s freedom always from without, or do
threats arise from within the Church itself?

What threats in the past has the Church in our country had
to contend with?

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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 11

Furthermore, society has the right to
defend itself against possible abuses committed on
pretext of freedom of religion. It is the special duty
of government to provide this protection. However,
government is not to act in arbitrary fashion or in an
unfair spirit of partisanship. Its action is to be controlled
by juridical norms which are in conformity with
the objective moral order.

These norms arise out of the need for effective safeguard
of the rights of all citizens and for peaceful settlement
of conflicts of rights. They flow from the need
for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which
comes about when men live together in good order
and in true justice. They come, finally, out of the need
for a proper guardianship of public morality. These
matters constitute the basic component of the common
welfare: they are what is meant by public order.

For the rest, the usages of society are to be the
usages of freedom in their full range. These require
that the freedom of man be respected as far as
possible, and curtailed only when and in so far
as necessary.

Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 7
December 7, 1965


Reflection for Day Eleven:

The Council Fathers are well aware that, while various
religious groups are meant to live in harmony,
each accepting the equal rights of others, yet, in
reality, conflicts frequently arise between various
religions. This may be due to what a specific religion
holds concerning the nature of its own beliefs in relation
to the beliefs of other religions. While each religious
group has the right to profess that its religious
beliefs are true and that other religious beliefs are
either inadequate or contain erroneous tenets, no
religious group has the right to persecute or seek to
suppress other religious groups. Similar conflict may
arise within a religion, in which case, the cause of
the conflict does not reside in the religious belief as
such, but in a misinterpretation of those beliefs that
prompts misguided attacks on other religious groups.

Given the reality of such religious conflicts, the
Council Fathers acknowledge that the government
is responsible for keeping public order, not by taking
sides, but by enacting just laws and guarding the equal
rights of all.

What causes religious conflicts today?

Do governments always adequately respond to such conflicts?

What distinguishes “public order” (which limits
religious freedom) from an ordinary policy preference
of government (which does not)?


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And it keeps on growing:

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A good idea of its size: in comparison!

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 10

Finally, government is to see to it that the
equality of citizens before the law, which is itself an
element of the common welfare, is never violated for
religious reasons whether openly or covertly. Nor is
there to be discrimination among citizens.
It follows that a wrong is done when government
imposes upon its people, by force or fear or other
means, the profession or repudiation of any religion,
or when it hinders men from joining or leaving a
religious body. All the more is it a violation of the will
of God and of the sacred rights of the person and the
family of nations, when force is brought to bear in any
way in order to destroy or repress religion, either in
the whole of mankind or in a particular country or in a
specific community.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 6
December 7, 1965

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Reflection for Day Ten:

Because all human beings possess equal dignity, value,
and worth, the government is to ensure that this
equality is maintained both for the good of the individual
and for the good of society as a whole. This
equality specifically should not be violated on religious
grounds. Each religious body and the members
of that body have equal rights to religious liberty. This
equality demands that there be no discrimination
based upon one’s religious beliefs.

The Council Fathers now stress that, based upon
this equality among its citizens, no government is
permitted to impose in any way “the profession or
repudiation of any religion.” Such an imposition is a
violation of the right to be true to one’s conscience.
Because of the freedom of conscience, the government
is also not permitted to deny a person the right
to join or leave a religious body. The government
has no right to stipulate what a person can or cannot
believe.

If the above is true, then the Council states that
it is all the more wrong when “force is brought to
bear in any way in order to destroy or repress religion.”
This not only applies to governments but also
to religious bodies themselves. No religious body is
permitted to harass or seek to eliminate another religious
group.

Within our contemporary world, where is religious
equality denied or religious discrimination tolerated?
Are there instances where one religion violates
the rights of other religions?

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Building a Ferris Wheel on Pensacola Beach

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 9

The protection and promotion of the inviolable
rights of man ranks among the essential duties
of government. Therefore, government is to assume the
safeguard of the religious freedom of all its citizens, in
an effective manner, by just laws and by other appropriate
means. Government is also to help create conditions
favorable to the fostering of religious life, in order
that the people may be truly enabled to exercise their
religious rights and to fulfill their religious duties, and
also in order that society itself may profit by the moral
qualities of justice and peace which have their origin
in men’s faithfulness to God and to His holy will.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 6
December 7, 1965



Reflection for Day Nine:

Once again, the Council Fathers turn to what they
consider a very important issue. It is not simply that
governments should not deny or impede the religious
freedom of their citizens, it is also of the utmost
importance that they positively, through just laws, be
the guardians of religious freedom, so that no constituency—
religious or secular—within society would
seek to undermine the religious freedom of all. While
few today would consider this, the next point that the
Council Fathers make is also very significant. Governments
should actually “help create conditions favorable
to the fostering of religious life.” While governments
do not control religions, they should recognize
their value and so promote their well-being. This
allows all religious bodies and their members to exercise
their religious rights and “fulfill their religious
duties.” The government’s fostering the religious life
of its citizens not only benefits those citizens but also,
the Council states, contributes to the good of society
as a whole. It helps society grow in its understanding
and implementation of what contributes to justice
and peace. This justice and peace find their origin in
God, who desires the good of all.

How do governments protect and promote the
religious life of their citizens? Do governments take
this into consideration today? In the U.S., how does
the government foster religious life while respecting
the principle of separation of church and state?


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Coldwater: River north of Milton, FL (brrr)

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 8

Since the family is a society in its own original
right, it has the right freely to live its own domestic
religious life under the guidance of parents. Parents,
moreover, have the right to determine, in accordance
with their own religious beliefs, the kind of religious
education that their children are to receive.
Government, in consequence, must acknowledge
the right of parents to make a genuinely free choice of
schools and of other means of education. The use of
this freedom of choice is not to be made a reason for
imposing unjust burdens on parents, whether directly
or indirectly. Besides, the rights of parents are violated
if their children are forced to attend lessons or instructions
which are not in agreement with their religious
beliefs. The same is true if a single system of education,
from which all religious formation is excluded, is
imposed upon all.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 5
December 7, 1965

+ + + + + + + + + +


Reflection for Day Eight

The Council Fathers now address the religious freedom
that is enjoyed by the family. Families have the
right to live out their faith within the family. Moreover,
parents have a natural right to religiously guide
their families. They are the ones who have primary
responsibility for the care and education of their
children, and this is especially true of the religious
education of their children. Thus, while parents are
primarily responsible for the religious education, they
are also free to choose the kind of religious education
their children receive.
From within the Catholic tradition, Vatican II
stated that the family is a “domestic church,” that is,it is within the family that children are first taught the
Gospel, are taught to pray and to keep the Commandments.
Together the members of a family live out the
Gospel life of love. In keeping with this, the Council
states that parents must be free to choose their children’s
schooling. The exercise of this freedom should
not be the cause of undue financial burdens upon
the family. Likewise, children should not be forced
to attend instruction that is contrary to the religious
belief of their families. Lastly, if there is only one form
of education within a country, this does not mean that
all religious instruction should be forbidden. Accommodation
is to be made. What we see here is the
Church ardently wanting to assure a broad and extensive
scope for families to live out their faith as families,
and this extends to the education of children.
Why is the above important for parents and their
families? Are the above aspects of domestic religious
freedom jeopardized today?

Where Am I ?

Lost between here and there"
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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 7

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Religious bodies also have the right not
to be hindered in their public teaching and witness
to their faith, whether by the spoken or by the written
word. However, in spreading religious faith and in
introducing religious practices, everyone ought at all
times to refrain from any manner of action which might
seem to carry a hint of coercion or of a kind of persuasion
that would be dishonorable or unworthy, especially
when dealing with poor or uneducated people.
Such a manner of action would have to be considered
an abuse of one’s own right and a violation of the
rights of others.
In addition, it comes within the meaning of religious
freedom that religious bodies should not be
prohibited from freely undertaking to show the special
value of their doctrine in what concerns the organization
of society and the inspiration of the whole of
human activity. Finally, the social nature of man and
the very nature of religion afford the foundation of the
right of men freely to hold meetings and to establish
educational, cultural, charitable, and social organizations,
under the impulse of their own religious sense.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 4
December 7, 1965

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Reflection for Day Seven

While the Council Fathers insist that religious bodies
must be free to teach and bear witness to their faith,
they equally stress that this freedom must never be
abused. It is not only govern
ments that can deny their
freedom; in attempting to spread their own beliefs,
religions should not force others, physically or psychologically,
to convert. Rather, each person’s dignity
and freedom must be maintained. The accepting of
religious beliefs must be an act of freedom, otherwise
it is done not because it is believed to be true but
rather out of fear and force. The right to profess and
proclaim one’s own faith cannot violate the same
right of another.
That being said, religious bodies should be free to
provide reasons as to why their beliefs are true and
why it would be of value for others to believe what
they believe. They should also be free to address how
their beliefs contribute to the good of society.
What contemporary examples are there of religious
bodies using coercion in an attempt to spread
their faith or hindering others from exercising their
faith? What contributions does the Catholic Church
make to society and culture?

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 6

The freedom or immunity from coercion in
matters religious which is the endowment of persons
as individuals is also to be recognized as their right
when they act in community. Religious bodies are a
requirement of the social nature both of man and of
religion itself.
Provided the just requirements of public order are
observed, religious bodies rightfully claim freedom in
order that they may govern themselves according to
their own norms, honor the Supreme Being in public
worship, assist their members in the practice of the
religious life, strengthen them by instruction, and promote
institutions in which they may join together for the
purpose of ordering their lives in accordance with their
religious principles.
Religious bodies also have the right not to be
hindered, either by legal measures or by administrative
action on the part of government, in the selection,
training, appointment, and transferral of their own ministers,
in communicating with religious authorities and
communities abroad, in erecting buildings for religious
purposes, and in the acquisition and use of suitable
funds or properties.
Declaration on Religious Liberty

Reflection for Day Six

The Council once more addresses the public nature of
religious belief. Religious communities have a right to
act as a community of faith, for this is inherent within
the social nature of human beings and religious belief
itself. Provided that the just civil and religious rights
of others are not transgressed, religious bodies must
possess the freedom to live out publicly what they
believe. They must be free to gather for worship, to
instruct their members, and to develop institutions
that further the religious life of their members. From
within the Catholic tradition this would include religious
institutes and orders, schools, fraternities and
sodalities, prayer groups, and Bible study groups.
Likewise, religious bodies must be free to appoint
and train their own ministers. For Catholics, that
means the Church’s freedom at least to appoint
bishops and ordain priests. It also means that Catholics
are free to be loyal to their church and its leaders
while also being loyal to their country and its leaders.
Religious bodies should also be free to govern themselves
financially.
Consider examples in contemporary life where
governments—federal, state, or local—fail to respect
the above rights? What is the relationship between
the religious freedom of individuals and institutions?

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 5

There is a further consideration. The religious
acts whereby men, in private and in public and out
of a sense of personal conviction, direct their lives to
God transcend by their very nature the order of terrestrial
and temporal affairs. Government, therefore,
ought indeed to take account of the religious life of the
people and show it favor, since the function of government
is to make provision for the common welfare.
However, it would clearly transgress the limits set to its
power were it to presume to direct or inhibit acts that
are religious.

Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 3
December 7, 1965



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Reflection for Day Five

What the Council Fathers teach in this short paragraph
is very important. They previously stated that
governments should not deny religious liberty. Here
they state what governments should positively do
with regards to religion. Since people, through their
religious beliefs, direct their lives toward God, governments
are positively to take this into account. Not
only should governments not hinder religious life,
they should also “show it favor.” Since religious belief
is a good within culture and society, governments
should foster and aid the good that religion brings
to the commonwealth. This does not mean that a
government should favor one religion over another or
that it should attempt to direct what religions should
believe or do. Rather, governments are to create an
environment in which religious life flourishes for the
good of all. In providing such an environment where
religious life prospers, governments contribute to the
good of individuals as well as to the good of society as
a whole.

How does religion contribute to the good of society?
In what ways might it hinder the good of society?
Do contemporary Western governments view religion
in a positive or negative light? How can governments
today foster or aid the good of religious belief?

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 4

On his part, man perceives and acknowledges
the imperatives of the divine law through the mediation
of conscience. In all his activity a man is bound to
follow his conscience faithfully, in order that he may
come to God, for whom he was created. It follows
that he is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary
to his conscience. Nor, on the other hand, is he to be
restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience,
especially in matters religious.

For, of its very nature, the exercise of religion
consists before all else in those internal, voluntary, and
free acts whereby man sets the course of life directly
toward God. No merely human power can either command
or prohibit acts of this kind.

However, the social nature of man itself requires
that he should give external expression to his internal
acts of religion; that he should participate with others
in matters religious; that he should profess his religion
in community. Injury, therefore, is done to the human
person and to the very order established by God for
human life, if the free exercise of religion is denied in
society when the just requirements of public order do
not so require.

Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 3
December 7, 1965






Reflection for Day Four

It is through their consciences that human beings
perceive the requirements of the divine law. Human
beings must follow faithfully their conscience if they
are to grow in their knowledge of and union with
God. Again, the Council restates that, because of
this, no one should either be forced to act contrary to
his or her conscience or be forbidden to act in accordance
with his or her conscience. This is especially
the case when it involves one’s religious beliefs. The
Council Fathers note that this applies not only to
one’s internal private religious acts but also to public
communal religious acts. Human beings hold religious
beliefs within a community of like-minded believers
and so have the right to publicly live out their beliefs.
To forbid the just and proper public expressions of
religious belief would be contrary to the order that
God has established for human beings as social and
religious beings.

The Council Fathers want to ensure that religious
liberty is understood to be both private and public. It
cannot be limited to what takes places in houses of
worship. Rather, since religion is by its nature a social
phenomenon, its presence within the broader society
and culture should not be hindered or forbidden.

In what ways is religion being reduced to the
merely personal and private? Why should religion
have a voice in the public square?

Fortnight4Freedom: Day 3

Further light is shed on the subject if one considers
that the highest norm of human life is the divine
law—eternal, objective, and universal—whereby God
orders, directs, and governs the entire universe and all
the ways of human community, by a plan conceived
in wisdom and love. Man has been made by God to
participate in this law, with the result that, under the
gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to
perceive ever increasingly the unchanging truth. Hence
every man has the duty, and therefore the right, to seek
the truth in matters religious, in order that he may with
prudence form for himself right and true judgments of
conscience, with the use of all suitable means.
Truth, however, is to be sought after in a manner
proper to the dignity of the human person and his
social nature. The inquiry is to be free, carried on with
the aid of teaching or instruction, communication, and
dialogue. In the course of these, men explain to one
another the truth they have discovered, or think they
have discovered, in order thus to assist one another in
the quest for truth. Moreover, as the truth is discovered,
it is by a personal assent that men are to adhere to it.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 3
December 7, 1965



Reflection for Day Three

God is the author of all truth and all good. All of
what is true and good in our world and cosmos finds
its source in God, the Creator of all. Moreover, what
is true and good about ourselves as human beings
finds its source in God in that he created us in his
image and likeness. Thus, for the Council Fathers, all
that exists is in conformity with the divine law, the
providential plan of God.
Because of this, the Council emphasizes that
truth must be “sought after in a manner proper to the
dignity of the human person and his social nature.”
This means that human beings must be free to seek
the truth. However, human beings do not seek the
truth as isolated individuals. The search for the truth
is common to all, and so all share in the finding of
truth and all share in the receiving of truth from others.
Because the search for truth, the finding of truth,
and the sharing of truth is a social exercise, human
beings must not only be free to search for truth in the
hope of finding it, they must also be free to communicate
and discuss together the truth they believe they
have found. It is through our free assent that we each
personally lay hold of the truth.
What are the contemporary means of seeking,
finding, and sharing truth? In what ways can this freedom
to seek, to find, and to share be inhibited?

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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 2

It is in accordance with their dignity as persons—
that is, being endowed with reason and free
will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility—
that all men should be at once impelled by
nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek
the truth, especially religious truth. They are also
bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and
to order their whole lives in accord with the demands
of truth.
However, men cannot discharge these obligations
in a manner in keeping with their own nature
unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion as
well as psychological freedom. Therefore, the right to
religious freedom has its foundation, not in the subjective
disposition of the person, but in his very nature.
In consequence, the right to this immunity continues to
exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation
of seeking the truth and adhering to it. Nor is the
exercise of this right to be impeded, provided that the
just requirements of public order are observed.
Declaration on Religious Liberty
(Dignitatis Humanae), no. 2
December 7, 1965



Reflection for Day Two
The Council Fathers note that it is precisely because
human beings are “endowed with reason and free
will” that they naturally seek what is true and good
and also, then, have “a moral obligation” to search
for the truth. This is especially the case of seeking
religious truth. Moreover, the truth they believe
they have come to know binds them to that truth.
Even if the “truth” they believe is not actually true,
yet, because they believe it is true, they are bound to
follow their conscience. As long as what they believe
does not infringe the just rights of others, they cannot
be coerced into giving up or changing what
they believe.
Moreover, the Council states that in order for
human beings to fulfill their obligation to seek the
truth and live by it, they must be free to do so. No
one or no authority is to force them to believe something
to which they themselves have not freely given
their consent.
Why does the Council stress the need to seek
freely religious truth? Why do those who believe what
is actually false still possess religious freedom?

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Fortnight4Freedom: Day 1

Reflection for Day 1

In the opening chapter of Declaration on Religious
Liberty, the Council Fathers at Vatican II forthrightly
declared that “the human person has a right
to religious freedom.” This right is founded upon the
intrinsic dignity of the human person. From God’s
revelation we know that the dignity of human beings
resides in their being created in the image and likeness
of God (Gn 1:27). Like God we are intelligent
beings with free will. Because of this we can know
the truth and perform God-like actions, such as being
loving, kind, forgiving, etc. Reason itself, in knowing
what a human being is, confirms that we possess
a dignity and worth that exceeds the rest of creation
and that cannot be violated, but rather needs to be
protected and fostered.
What human beings believe concerning God is of
supreme importance. Religious belief lies at the very
center of who we are in relation to what is most central
and cherished in our lives. Therefore, the Council
insists that the religious convictions of individuals
or groups should never be coerced but must be held
freely, protected by a civil constitutional right.
What challenges to religious liberty do you see
within our contemporary world? When the Council
says that religious liberty must be upheld “within due
limits,” what would fall outside of “due limits”? What
religious belief would seriously offend the moral order
or a just law?

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Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty
O God our Creator

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

(Say this prayer every day thru July 4)



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A stolen few hours on Bayou Texar:

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Time for a little shade under the Cervantes St bridge into East Pensacola Heights:

The side of the 17th Ave Bridge you don't usually see:



Small home on the Bayou:


A Train waits:


Ok, you're close enough:

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Back home again.

Today is the First Day of Summer: 2012

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Enjoy some time with yourself and with your family. And, of course, with God.
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