Dear Brothers and Sisters,

American Saint, Frances Cabrini once said, “I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him.” This seemed to be the conviction of all our American saints who founded hospitals, grade schools, churches, universities, leper colonies, orphanages, missionary outposts, soup kitchens and more. To remind others of the goodness of God and Christ’s redeeming love, so many saints, canonized or not, functioned as building blocks of our country. Catholics, in other words, have played a huge part in American history.

We celebrate our freedom as a nation on the Fourth of July this week! As Catholics, we especially pray and give thanks to God for the religious liberty that is at the heart of our nation. Religious freedom, after all, is one of the primary reasons that people came to America, many fleeing from religious persecution.

The Church’s focus on religious liberty in recent years is in response to the general anti-Christian cultural movement. The anti-Christian movement is rooted in secularism and relativism, which seeks to limit the role of religion in public life. Many politicians today have defined religious freedom only in terms of the “freedom to worship’ within the walls of a church building. But once we leave the building, we are told to hide our faith under a bushel basket.

Discouraging and even oppressing the practice of one’s faith was certainly not the intent of our founding fathers. They recognized the essential role of religion and the virtues that faith inspires. Those virtues provide the foundation for the success of a peaceful society. The erosion of our faith and our depraved moral compass is directly related to the erosion of our religious practice.

It is a fact that our founding fathers believed in God. They also believed that morality based on the natural law was an essential foundation for our success. George Washington himself once declared that, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

In an effort to defend and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Chrsit, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are encouraging our nation to celebrate “Religious Freedom Week 2024: Called to the Fullness of Dignity.” The bishops recognize that religious freedom allows the Church, and all religious communities, to live out their faith in public and to serve the good of all. Beginning June 22nd, the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, the USCCB invites Catholics to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom.

We must pray that all people of faith would be free to gather in houses of worship without fear. The very nature of a sacred space is that it is set apart from other spaces as a place to seek communion with Our Lord and thus should be treated with respect. In a pluralistic society such as ours, respect for sacred spaces is especially vital for the sake of civil peace, which is part of the common good.

In recent years, a wave of vandalism and arson has hit Catholic churches and statues. At least 333 incidents have occurred across 43 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. Incidents include arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism. This list shows incidents of vandalism, arson, or other destruction at Catholic sites that have been publicly reported in news media. It excludes incidents where circumstances suggest a motive other than hostility toward the Church. These attacks again the Catholic Church steadily continues to grow. This cannot continue in a civilized society.

Let us ask God for blessings upon our country and God’s people this week. Let ask God to protect the Catholic Church against all who wish to do harm against her. Let us call on the intercession of our beloved American Saints with this small but powerful Litany of the Saints.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Patron of teachers, Pray for us!
St. John Neumann, Patron of Catholic Schools, Pray for us!
St. Marianne Cope, Patron of Healers, Pray for us!
St. Katharine Drexel, Patron of Minorities, Pray for us!
St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai, Patron of Outcasts, Pray for us!
St. Junípero Serra, Patron of Missionaries, Pray for us!
St. Kateri Tekakwitha Patron of the Religiously persecuted, Pray for us!
Sts. Isaac Jogues and John DeBrebeuf, Patron of Native Americans, Pray for us!
St. Théodore Guérin, Patron of the ignorant, the sick and the dying. Pray for us!
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patron of immigrants. Pray for us!
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, Patron of Contemplatives, Pray for us!

God Bless,

Fr. Don Kline
Pastor

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