'Fortnight for Freedom'

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The Christian Post:

 

 

 

'Fortnight for Freedom' to Call Attention to Religious Freedom Issues

 

By Napp Nazworth , Christian Post Reporter

June 21, 2012|6:09 pm

The U.S. Catholic Church, beginning on Thursday, will spend two weeks focusing attention on the issue of religious freedom. The "Fortnight for Freedom" will end, appropriately, on the Fourth of July. While it was planned long before, the Obama administration's birth control mandate will now be a central focus of the event.

The two weeks of prayer, study and public action will remember Christians who were persecuted for their faith, such as John Fisher, Thomas More, and Apostles Peter and Paul.

The kickoff event will be a 7 p.m. Thursday Mass as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption, Baltimore, Md. The closing Mass will be at 12:10 p.m., July 4, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Various events will also be held at dioceses and parishes across the country. Supporters can also send the text message "freedom" or "libertad" (Spanish for "freedom") to 377377 to receive information regularly during the event.

"Across America, our right to live out our faith is being threatened – from Washington's forcing Catholic institutions to provide services that contradict their beliefs, to state governments' prohibiting religious charities from serving the most vulnerable," said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, in a statement Thursday.

The birth control mandate controversy began in January when the Department of Health and Human Services announced that, under the Affordable Care Act, employers who provide insurance to their employees would be required to cover contraception, sterilization and some abortifacient drugs without a co-pay. There is a religious exemption, but the exemption is so narrow that most religious employers, such as Catholic schools and hospitals, would not qualify.

Due to the controversy, President Obama announced in February that religious employers with objections would not need to provide the coverage but Read More

http://www.christianpost.com/news/fortnight-for-freedom-to-call-attention-to-religious-freedom-issues-77057/