". . .the age of martyrdom has not passed."For background, read The Pope, and Obama's War on Christianity and also read Obama Feeds Catholics 'A Bunch of Bull' as well as Bishops Say Obama Destroying Societal Norm
UPDATE 9/20/12: President Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity
UPDATE 5/21/12: Cardinals, Bishops, and dozens of Catholic institutions sue Obama administration
-- From "Catholic bishops issue 'call to action' on religious freedom" by Julian Pecquet, The Hill 4/12/12
All Americans should be "on guard" as the Obama administration threatens religious liberty, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared Thursday.
The call to action is spelled out in a document, "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty," developed by the conference's Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty. It urges laity to work to protect the First Amendment and calls on dioceses across the country to schedule a "religious liberty fortnight" June 21 to July 4 to focus "all the energies the Catholic community can muster" for religious liberty.
"We need … to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time," the document says. "As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad."
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From "Bishops urge Catholics to resist unjust laws" posted at Kansas City Star 4/13/12
In a 12-page document that quotes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the bishops said priests, laypeople, public figures and others must be involved in the effort to change recent state and federal laws that church leaders believe violate religious freedom.
The highest-profile clash has been over the mandate in the Obama administration’s health care overhaul that most employers cover birth control costs for workers.
Several bishops have shut down their adoption and foster care programs where the government would require them to place children with same-sex couples. Church leaders have also been fighting tough immigration laws in Alabama and elsewhere that many religious groups say make it impossible for them to aid illegal immigrants.
Catholic leaders have also protested a decision by federal officials not to renew a church contract for work with sex-trafficking victims. Church officials would not provide the women birth control or abortion services.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Catholic Bishops Urge Campaign for Religious Freedom" by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times 4/12/12
For more than half a year, the bishops have put the religious liberty issue front and center, but it has not yet galvanized the Catholic laity and has even further polarized the church’s liberal and conservative flanks. In an election year, liberal Catholics have accused the bishops of making the church an arm of the Republican Party in the drive to defeat President Obama, an accusation the bishops reject.
“This ought not to be a partisan issue,” the bishops say in their statement in a section addressed to political leaders. “The Constitution is not for Democrats or Republicans or Independents. It is for all of us, and a great nonpartisan effort should be led by our elected representatives to ensure that it remains so.”
Quoting from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the bishops say that unjust laws should be either changed or resisted.
“In the face of an unjust law,” the bishops wrote, “an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them.”
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From "Catholics urged to resist unjust laws, join in 'fortnight for freedom'" by Nancy Frazier O'Brien, Catholic News Service 4/12/12
Made public April 12, the document was approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Administrative Committee during its March meeting for publication as a committee statement.
The ad hoc committee opened its statement with several "concrete examples" of recent threats to religious liberty, saying that "this is not a theological or legal dispute without real-world consequences."
"An unjust law cannot be obeyed," the bishops' statement said. "In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices."
"If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them," it added. "No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
For the complete text of the bishop's document, CLICK HERE.
