Religious Liberty...

This week’s look into the Knights of Columbus is understanding what His Excellency, William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore and Supreme Chaplain recently said regarding Religious Liberty.

Archbishop Lori states, “According to the perspective of the administration and editorialists, the Church’s freedom extends only to worship, preaching and teaching. It does not extend to putting its teachings into practice through its own institutions when they hire or serve people of other faiths. But when freedom is reduced to individuals choosing whatever they want, so long as it’s a choice condoned by the government, religious liberty is severely limited…And the Church’s assertion that it is free to run its own institutions according to its own values, even when these are countercultural, is roundly rejected by pundits and power brokers.”

His Excellency’s critique of the current administration is spot on.  Our forefathers spoke clearly and distinctly about our right to be able to function according to our own religious understanding without government interference.  We have been severely challenged in this area by the healthcare mandate which was recently passed.  It affects Catholics in a special way because it defies our teaching and our belief in the immorality of birth control and abortion.

Signs are going up on the 4 main entrances to Humboldt.  They will speak to the importance of protecting life at conception.  Along with Zion Lutheran Church LCMS, St. Mary’s has made a concerted effort through the Knights of Columbus and Women of Spirit (formerly known as the Ladies’ Society) to make it known that we must stand up to the evils of the healthcare mandate in the form of abortion.

Part of our mission of being “In Service to One, In Service to All” is that we must be patriots.  We have the right as Catholics in America to practice our Faith freely and without reservation or fear of reprisal from the government.  We are not only to worship, but we are to live our lives not as American Catholics, but as Catholics in America.  It is our Catholic faith which helps to make us good citizens and good stewards of this great country we live in, not binding ourselves to the secular world first.  Please look to our website, www.humboldtkofc.org  May God Keep you close.