Fortnight for Freedom

The Catholic Bishops of the United States are asking Catholics and all people of faith to join in prayer for our nation in thanksgiving for our freedom and for ongoing protections of conscience rights and religious liberty from Tuesday, June 21st – Mondau, July 4th.

“Keeping the spirit of the Gospel means that Catholic institutions are to bear witness in love to the full truth about the human person by providing social, charitable, and educational services in a manner that fully reflects the God-given dignity of the human person.” – Archbishop William E. Lori, Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, on the “Freedom to Bear Witness”s

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, brining the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength if mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; Give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters Gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome-for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us – this great land will always be “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.