National Catholic Prayer Breakfast - Uphold Religious Freedom; Enemies May Become Friends

Attendees to the Eighth Annual Breakfast in Washington Called to Action for their Faith

"We come to publicly offer thanks for the blessings of American liberty... We also come to publicly affirm our determination to preserve that liberty, for us and for our fellow citizens, and to ask the Lord's guidance in doing so." Supreme Knight Carl Anderson

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - The theme of religious liberty took center stage this morning at the eighth annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. Those in attendance were informed regarding where things are in the United States, how these challenges relate to similar issues on a global scale. Attendees were stirred and challenged by the ominous trial Christians are facing in America.

Then, the breakfast took a remarkable turn, as Mother Agnes Mary put these challenges in the context of the love of Christ and, during the Benediction, Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson reminded everyone of Augustine's perspective where adversity turns to opportunity for evangelization.

The speakers for the event were Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the current Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus and Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, Superior General of the Sisters of Life.

Carl Anderson was the first to speak on the theme and didn't waste time getting to the heart of the matter regarding a concern shared by most, if not all, of those in attendance.

Anderson began by saying, "We come together at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast to publicly offer thanks for the blessings of American liberty, a freedom which, in its extent and its endurance, is unique in human history.

"We also come to publicly affirm our determination to preserve that liberty, for us and for our fellow citizens, and to ask the Lord's guidance in doing so.

"There are times when we need that help more than others. This is such a time.

"I venture to say that, never in the lifetime of anyone present here, has the religious liberty of the American people been as threatened as it is today."

Taking lessons from our own history as well as quotes from our Founding Fathers, he reviewed the importance of God and religious liberty in the founding of our nation.

"Washington's Farewell Address," he explained, "insisted that religion and morality are 'indispensible supports of our political prosperity,' warning that 'reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can be retained without religion.'

"Adams asserted that 'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is,' he said, 'wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'

"Those views have echoed down through our history.

In contrast to those founding values, current rhetoric with regard to religious liberty is changing the goal posts in the middle of the game. He cited the case last year, Hosanna-Tabor vs EEOC, where the Administration pushed for placing limits on the autonomy of churches and religious organizations unlike anything in history.

They argued for a "ministerial exception" that would be limited to those employees who perform exclusively religious functions. As Anderson pointed out, "That caused Chief Justice John Roberts to ask during oral argument whether even the pope could meet the Administration's definition of a religious minister."

Anderson summarized the concern regarding government intervention saying, "A government willing to affect the faith and mission of the church is a government willing to change the identity of the church."

He invited the group to become part of the solution to the problem, particularly by uniting in prayer.

"As Christians we are called to be witnesses. But to be true witnesses we must preserve our Catholic identity-and like St. Thomas More-preserve it especially from the heavy hand of government.

"We are also called to sustain our witness through prayer.

"How appropriate then that our bishops have called upon us to take up a great fortnight of prayer for religious freedom from the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More to July 4th."

The Supreme Knight reminded the group of Blessed John Paul II's view of a "new springtime" for the Gospel. He mentioned that, had the Holy Father been an American, he might have referred to a "new Great Awakening" in our country.

Born and raised in India Archbishop Chullikatt has held diplomatic posts for the Vatican in Iraq and Jordon. At the breakfast he said that religious liberty is a subject very much close to his heart.

He talked about bishops, priests, deacons and the lay faithful across the world, many who were friends of his, that have been martyred for the faith. His call was plain and simple, to rise up now for the rights of the disenfranchised in other parts of the world.

"When religious freedom is recognized, it is not just a moral right but a civil right," he said. He went on to explain that this was more than just the freedom of worship, but must include the right to preach, educate, evangelize and participate in political life of a nation.

He warned the attendees that totalitarianism exists not just where there is a dictatorship but even where there is democracy.

He also applauded the bishops in the United States for their recent efforts in the area of religious freedom.

Sister Agnes Mary Donovan spoke last but not least. She began her talk with carefully chosen words, forcefully re-emphasizing the challenge that lay before us.

"We face a summons to action in response to a global and national reality which we are reluctant to perceive: Christians as the object of open persecution."

Just as forcefully she put our trial in context.

"A crisis such as the one," she remarked, "which the Catholic Church, Christians, and the faithful people of God of every religion, face at this moment in our nation can be a time for unprecedented growth and new life, if we respond with grace. 

"In spite of the pain, confusion and difficulties, this moment - which is our moment - contains within it tremendous spiritual potential.  This crisis is a summons."

She concluded by saying, "As inheritors of the Judeo-Christian faith, ours is the 'freedom story': A history of freedoms won and lost, both as a people and individually.  It is the story of a people who exercised the freedom to live the great dignity of the human experience becoming who we are - and this same freedom shamelessly surrendered in weakness to the sirens that excite our passions, in fear to oppressors, and in faithlessness to the idols of the age.

"Freedom is given us by God that we may choose to love, and follow the way of transformation in Christ allowing ourselves to become a total self-gift to another.  In the words of the Exultet, 'Awake, O sleeper,' for the crisis we face urgently demands that we exercise and grow in this precious freedom by loving others (in the words of Mother Teresa) 'until it hurts.'

".Seize that freedom! Avail yourselves of the sacrament which frees us from the bondage of sinfulness.  Secure that freedom! Receive from the treasury of grace at Holy Mass, in times of personal prayer and in the praise and adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  Be a witness to the greatest freedom of all - women and men fully alive in the Lord capable of reflecting the glory of God."

Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, the newly appointed Ordinary for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter concluded the breakfast with some remarks and a benediction. The words he chose, which came from Book I of St. Augustine's "City of God" clearly put the call to action heard throughout the morning in context.

From Augustine's writings, part of what he quoted said, ".But let this city bear in mind, that among her enemies lie hidden those who are destined to be fellow citizens, that she may not think it a fruitless labor to bear what they inflict as enemies until they become confessors of the faith.

"These men you may today see thronging the churches with us, tomorrow crowding the theatres with the godless. But we have the less reason to despair of the reclamation even of such persons, if among our most declared enemies there are now some, unknown to themselves, who are destined to become our friends."

The message each attendee took away underscored the need to stand for religious liberty, both here and abroad. This is not a localized condition and Christians everywhere are in the crosshairs.

But as we stand, we cannot let hatred or enmity take root in our hearts. The spirit of the Gospel and the grace available to all - including our enemies - must be of paramount importance. Some of our enemies are destined to become our friends!

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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