Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage for Life

January 22 marks the 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in America.  Beginning today, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on American Catholics to participate in Nine Days of Prayer, Penance, and Pilgrimage for the healing and conversion of elected officials who support abortion and people whose lives have been changed by abortion. The novena ends on January 27.

See their site for more information, and remember to pray for those pilgrims who will participate in Marches for Life throughout the nation this coming Friday. 

With Election Day Around the Corner, Pray for Religious Liberty

We’ve written about the importance of religious liberty here on Open Wide the Doors before. As people inspired by the life and legacy of Blessed John Paul II and as faithful members of the Church, it is important that we continue to pray for religious liberty in America and around the world.

Election Day is tomorrow, and it is crucial that we cast our votes for religious freedom and for the dignity of every human life. Bishop David Ricken from the diocese of Green Bay reminded Catholics of the “non-negotiables” on the ballot, which “are areas that are ‘intrinsically evil’ and cannot be supported by anyone who is a believer in God or the common good or the dignity of the human person.”

The U.S. Bishops designate six issues as “intrinsically evil” and that “must always be rejected and opposed”:

·       Abortion
·       Embryonic stem-cell research
·       Same-sex marriage
·       Violation of religious liberty
·       Cloning
·       Euthanasia 

They designate six additional issues that do not carry the same weight, but are serious and should be taken into consideration as well:

·       Racism
·       Unjust discrimination
·       Death penalty
·       Unjust war
·       Lack of health care
·       Unjust immigration policy

In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Blessed John Paul II wrote:  

…certain that moral truth cannot fail to make its presence deeply felt in every conscience, the Church encourages political leaders, starting with those who are Christians, not to give in, but to make those choices which, taking into account what is realistically attainable, will lead to the re-establishment of a just order in the defense and promotion of the value of life. 

With our prayers and with our votes tomorrow, let us encourage political leaders to recognize the freedom and dignity of every human life. 

Let Freedom Ring!

Today we celebrate Independence Day! On this day in 1776, the United States declared independence from a tyrannical England—solidifying the young country’s commitment to liberty and justice for all.

Today also marks the end of the Fortnight for Freedom, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ campaign to help the faithful understand how important religious liberty is to America and to point out the current threats to our most precious freedom.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop of Washington D.C., His Eminence Cardinal Donald Wuerl said, “We have always had these rights – they are guaranteed in our Constitution…We need to lift up for people to see, that some of [these rights] are being eroded.”

Dioceses throughout the country held Bible Studies, rallies, and other educational events in order to “lift up” the challenges our Church faces today. And at noon Eastern (9am Pacific) today, all houses of worship are asked to ring their bells—to “let freedom ring.” The faithful will be united, and they will make their presence known.

Most appropriately, the Fortnight will close with the sacrifice of the Mass—our highest form of prayer. This closing Mass will be celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington, D.C. The celebrants and the congregation will offer up their efforts and ask God for His favor in securing the right to religious freedom in America.

Let us pray with them today, that our right to live like Christ in the public square is upheld and protected.

US Bishops look to New Media for New Evangelization

Bishop John Wester, Chair of the Communications Committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gave an address at the General Assembly two weeks ago about the importance of keeping up with new media in the age of a new evangelization.

Truth and Tradition have not changed, but the Catholic Church is behind the times when it comes to technology. Many Church documents are difficult to find on the internet, Bishop Wester said, and people struggle to make online donations and search for Church communities. He continued:

We cannot meet these challenges—and the ones around the corner—without embracing a culture of innovation and experimentation in communications. This can not be overemphasized. The new platforms of communications are continually shifting. Who knew, just two years ago, that "iPad" would become such a common household term?

Historically, the church has patiently waited for new technologies to settle in to people's normal rhythms. We do not have that luxury today.

Bishop Wester identified three paths the USCCB is taking to best facilitate the new evangelization using the new world of communications:

·         Identifying and sharing the overall best communication practices

·         Developing digital content that meets the needs of different audiences

·         Striving to build a culture of innovation with digital communications

SS. John Fisher and Thomas More, Pray for Us!

In 1982, Blessed John Paul II went on an apostolic journey to Great Britain. This was the first time in history that a Bishop of Rome had ever set foot on English soil. In a homily given during his visit, John Paul II said that he was deeply moved by this thought and that he was happy to finally celebrate Mass in this country with “a tradition embedded in the history of Christian civilization.”

This history was built by outstanding members of the Church, two of whom John Paul II recognized specifically:

John Fisher, the Cambridge scholar of Renaissance learning, became Bishop of Rochester. He is an example to all Bishops in his loyalty to the faith and in his devoted attention to the people of his diocese, especially the poor and the sick. Thomas More was a model layman living the Gospel to the full. He was a fine scholar and an ornament to his profession, a loving husband and father, humble in prosperity, courageous in adversity, humorous and godly. Together they served God and their country - Bishop and layman. Together they died, victims of an unhappy age. Today we have the grace, all of us, to proclaim their greatness and to thank God for giving such men to England.

Both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were “victims of an unhappy age,” indeed. In 1535, both were beheaded because they resisted in the matter of King Henry’s VIII’s divorce. We should be inspired by their courage, especially during a time when Americans can no longer take their right to religious liberty for granted.

Our First and Most Precious Freedom

Shouldn’t a widow be allowed to hold a Christian burial for her veteran husband? Shouldn’t a man be able to choose a health care plan that doesn’t violate his religious beliefs? And shouldn’t timeless religious memorials be allowed to stand?

One would think. But in a country founded on religious liberty, the government now says “no” in every single one of those situations.

This is why our U.S. Bishops have called upon American Catholics to use our voices, our votes, and our prayers to fight for our first and most cherished freedom.

Two weeks ago, 43 Catholic institutions filed 12 separate lawsuits challenging the federal government’s healthcare rule. The Archdiocese of Washington is one of those institutions, and the Archbishop of Washington, His Eminence, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, gave a clear and powerful explanation of why they are suing:

[The] mandate, issued in February by the Department of Health and Human Services… requires religious organizations to provide health-care coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, even if their faith teaches that those drugs and procedures are wrong. That is what has prompted the Archdiocese of Washington to go to court to protect our First Amendment right to practice our religion without government interference.

The New Evangelization Begins with the Family

North Carolina voters answered Pope Benedict XVI’s prayers earlier this week. His general prayer intention for May is that: “initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be promoted within society.” The people of North Carolina did just that, voting in a constitutional amendment to make marriage between a man and a woman the “only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized.”

The family is the fundamental building block of society. Healthy marriages hold our communities together, and they strengthen the moral fiber of future generations. Pope Benedict said it best last December in his address to the Pontifical Council for the Family:

The family is a source of wealth for married couples, an irreplaceable good for children, an indispensable foundation of society and a vital community for the journey of the Church.

The family is good for husbands, wives, children and society, Pope Benedict said, and it is also good for the Church. He goes on to say:

The new evangelization depends largely on the Domestic Church (cf. ibid., n. 65). In our time, as in times past, the eclipse of God, the spread of ideologies contrary to the family and the degradation of sexual ethics are connected. And just as the eclipse of God and the crisis of the family are linked, so the new evangelization is inseparable from the Christian family. The family is indeed the way of the Church because it is the “human space” of our encounter with Christ.

The Church needs families to be witnesses to the world—to be lights to the world. The Church needs models of the Holy Family. Most of all, the Catholic Church needs the “Domestic Church” for the new evangelization, to pass the beauty of the faith on to future generations. The U.S. Bishops touch on this in their recent publication, Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization: