Religious Freedom Week 2021
Solidarity in Freedom
“Solidarity means much more than engaging in sporadic acts of generosity.
It means thinking and acting in terms of community”
(Fratelli tutti, 116).
Religious freedom allows the Church, and all religious communities, to live out their faith in public and to serve the good of all. The week begins with the feasts of Saints Thomas Moore and John Fisher, includes the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and concludes with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) invites Catholics to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom using the Pray-Reflect-Act series (available at the USCCB website) which aims to help Catholics build solidarity with people of faith who are persecuted abroad and to find strength to carry out the mission of the Church here in the United States.
The Church’s promotion of religious freedom expresses her solidarity with all people everywhere who seek the good and who hope for fulfillment in the truth which the Church teaches is ultimately found in Jesus.
Pray-Reflect-Act
Prayer for 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,
bringing 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 of 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.
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