By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic
Photographer: TOM TRACY
A parishioner prays at the start of a July 3 Holy Hours closing ceremony at St. Gregory Parish in Plantation closing the 2014 Fortnight of Freedom. For the third year running, the 4th of July marks the finale of the U.S. Bishop's national initiative in response to Obamacare contraceptive and other mandates that impact Catholic entities and their ability to serve the poor and vulnerable in accord with human dignity and the Church's teaching.
MIAMI | This year’s Fortnight for Freedom program of the U.S. bishops gets a boost of added importance in South Florida as the U.S. presidential election revs up this summer.
Running nationally from June 21 to July 4, the Fortnight program is largely a response to the healthcare contraception mandate and new federal directives impacting the ability of Catholic organizations to serve the poor and vulnerable in accordance with human dignity and the Church's teaching.
The Fortnight is a call to U.S. Catholics to defend their freedoms of religion and monitor ongoing threats against religious liberties that impact Church entities nationwide. Adding fuel to the conversations this year is the same-sex marriage debate, including a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on the matter.
In Plantation, St. Gregory the Great Church is in its fourth year of observing the Fortnight for Freedom. The parish is inviting the public to five events, beginning with an evening prayer service June 22 and concluding with a candlelight ceremony on July 3. The schedule includes expert speakers, a film showing and discussions of public policy.
The program corresponds with similar parish celebrations of the Fortnight for Freedom in other locations around the Miami Archdiocese and a separate Fortnight for Freedom pilgrimage in the Florida Keys.
St. Gregory is also getting ready to do a voter registration drive with its 5,000 families, including talking points and religious liberty statements from the Florida Catholic Conference.
Parishioner Mary Sturm, heading up the Fortnight program at St. Gregory, will lead one of the Fortnight talks on a state-by-state movement to defend the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.
"We have a responsibility to participate in the process," said Sturm, a graduate of the archdiocesan lay ministry program. "We think that in Broward County, as many as half of Christians didn’t go out and vote for either candidate (during the last presidential election).
"Certainly if people do not go out and engage, we abdicate our right to represent ourselves," she added. "We don't tell anyone how to vote, of course, but we can talk about issues. And we need to discern correctly what the candidates stand for."
Fortnight for freedom logo. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Sturm said she prepared herself for the Fortnight programing by reviewing relevant statements and teachings of both the U.S. bishops and Pope Francis, whom she said will give a boost to religious liberty issues during his September U.S. visit and meeting with lawmakers in the nation’s capital.
Speaking earlier this year to the Broward County legal community, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski noted that the Fortnight will focus on a "freedom to bear witness" to the truth of the Gospel. He warned that discrimination against religion in general, and Catholic Christianity in particular, is growing.
Here is the full schedule at St. Gregory, as well as other archdiocesan parishes:
St. Gregory the Great
200 N. University Drive, Plantation FL 33324
Monday, June 22: Prayers for the Nation at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, June 23: Conversation on Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty at 7 p.m.
Friday, June 26: Holy Hour at 6 p.m., , followed by a documentary, Dinesh D’Souza’s "America: Imagine the World Without Her." Included is an Italian-style dinner.
Monday, June 29: Prayers for the Nation at 7 p.m.
Friday, July 3: Candlelight Prayer Service at 7 p.m., following by refreshments.
For further information: Mary Sturm, 954-851-3345
Little Flower Church
2711 Indian Mound Trail, Coral Gables
Saturday, June 20: Opening Mass at 5 p.m.
Friday, June 26: Movie, "Of Gods and Men," at 7:30 p.m., about French monks threatened by terrorists during the Algerian Civil war in 1996.
Tuesday, June 30: Annual Patriotic Prayer Service, starting 7:30 p.m. With readings, litanies, reflections, patriotic music and intercessory prayer.
For further information: Jena Getchell, 786-484-3367, or Parish Office, 305-446-9950
Florida Keys
Saturday, June 27: Pilgrimage to the five parishes of the Keys, starting 8:30 a.m. at St. Justin Martyr Church, 10550 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, and ending 2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, 1010 Windsor Lane, Key West.
For further information: San Pablo Church, Marathon, 305-289-0636
Fortnight for Freedom movement started after "Obamacare" mandated that employers provide sterilization, contraception and abortion-inducing drugs as part of their healthcare plans, forcing religious institutions to support or fund a product contrary to their moral teaching.
Other mandates or laws impact adoption and foster care services, immigration services and Catholic humanitarian services.
The federal government also tries to define which religious institutions are "religious enough" to merit protection of their religious liberty, according to past statements of the U.S. bishops.
For more information about religious liberty and Fortnight for Freedom, see the bishops' Religious Liberty website or their First American Freedom site.
