Fortnight For Freedom Mass:
Bishop Charles C. Thompson celebrated Mass at St. Benedict Cathedral on June 22 to begin diocesan observation of the annual Fortnight for Freedom.
The Fortnight for Freedom, declared by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is a two-week period in which the faithful are called to pray for and defend religious liberty.
It is celebrated, according to USCCB, at “a time when our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power — St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome.”
This is the fourth annual Fortnight, and its theme is “Freedom to Bear Witness.” The Fortnight for Freedom ends on July 4, though the diocesan observance will end on July 3 with a vespers prayer service at 6 p.m. at St. Benedict Cathedral. The bishop will lead this service.
To open the June 22 Mass, Bishop Thompson emphasized that this Fortnight presents an opportunity to allow ourselves and the ways we defend human dignity to be transformed.
In his homily, Bishop Thompson connected the theme of bearing witness to the lives of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, two martyrs whom the Church celebrates on June 22. He said of these saints, “Despite incredible pressure to conform to injustice, even coming from an earthly king, they remained steadfast in witness to the truth of the Gospel, anchored in the principles of the Catholic faith, to the very end.”
Bishop Thompson then listed some of the Church’s teachings that are threatened today, including “the dignity of the person, the sacredness of life, the definition of marriage, the sanctity of the family and the right of religious liberty.”
After reviewing the first reading (1 Peter 4:12-19) and the emphasis it places on uniting our suffering to that of Christ, Bishop Thompson described the ways in which, today, the world often sees Christian thought as “being outdated, discriminatory and even morally deficient.”
To emphasize this point, he referred to the thoughts of a sociologist from the University of Notre Dame about the “excessive individualism” that he perceives in American society — an individualism that causes us to “lose a sense of appreciation for the common good.”
Bishop Thompson then discussed the Gospel reading (Matthew 10: 34-39), in which Jesus warns the disciples about the immense trials and persecution they will face as His followers.
The bishop connected these trials to our need to remain steadfast as we defend the dignity of all people, including “the sick, the poor, the homeless, the unemployed as well as the underemployed, the immigrant, those in prison and the dying.”
Bishop Thompson encouraged those in attendance to remember that protecting religious liberty is essential if we are to bear witness to the Gospel at all times.
He also reminded the crowd that bearing witness to the gospel is a daily calling, as he said, “the credibility of our witness must be realized in our consistent living of the gospel in truth and charity.”
He ended his homily by calling upon the saints who were celebrated at the Mass, saying, “To that end, we implore the intercession of the saints: St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, pray for us.”
