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Fortnight for Freedom commentaries

CWN - June 22, 2012

Writing for Crisis, Father George William Rutler welcomes the Fortnight for Freedom initiative as an overdue Catholic reaction against a long trend toward secularization. He writes:

If Fidel Castro is the unwitting founder of modern Miami, so Barrack Obama may be remembered for unintentionally energizing the Catholic bishops.

In the Boston Pilot, law professor Dwight Duncan notes that the battle for religious freedom, in the Anglo-American tradition, goes back to the Magna Carta, and runs through the conflict between King Henry VIII and the Catholic Church. In a column that appeared on the feast of St. John Fisher, he observes:

There were 13 other bishops in England at the time. Do you remember any of their names? Probably not, because when the winds blew their house caved in. We remember Thomas More. But there were many more lawyers and government officials at the time. They heard what the lion wanted, and they gave it to him.

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  • Posted by: Bernadette - Jun. 25, 2012 12:47 AM ET USA

    Frodo, you took the words right out of my mouth! Exactly, bishops, what are you going to do [if] you get your newfound freedom? More of the same? Business as usual? Or, have you learned your lesson and will you get out of politics and go home and take care of your flocks and your overburdened priests and preach and teach and care for the poor in your own locale and stop relying on govt. monies. And how about being men of prayer seeking holiness. That in itself will go a long, long way.

  • Posted by: Frodo1945 - Jun. 23, 2012 11:19 AM ET USA

    In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace asks "What are you going to do with your freedom?" I would like to ask the bishops the same question today. Will you use your freedom to speak the truth, about widespread acceptance of contraception (which emboldened the HHS). Or will it be business as usual, with more statements about the environment and higher federal spending?

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