This year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is again asking the nation's Catholics and non-Catholics alike to participate in the fourth annual Fortnight for Freedom from June 21 to July 4. This will be a period of prayer, fasting, and advocacy to respond to the many threats to religious liberty the United States now faces.

This year, during the fourth annual Fortnight for Freedom, share with your Council and Assembly members and fellow parishioners the importance of praying for our country during the days of the fortnight.  Encourage them to attend or coordinate an evening prayer vigil at a government building, a religious-themed concert, an art show, a procession, a panel discussion or a march for religious freedom. Your Council or Assembly could also sponsor a special showing in your parish of the film For Greater Glory, about the struggle for religious freedom in Mexico. As the fortnight takes place when the liturgical calendar celebrates several great martyrs, including St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, another option is A Man For All Seasons, the Oscar-winning film about St. Thomas More's commitmennt to the faith despite persecution.

This is a time to remind our brothers and fellow parishioners that one of the Order's core principles, patriotism, teaches us to "love our country so much that we want it to embrace what is true and good. We want our country to be a place where human dignity is recognized and respected from conception until natural death, a place where religious freedom is robustly fostered, not just tolerated. Out of love for country we are vigilant, lest our freedoms be unduly curtailed for political reasons" (Supreme Chaplain Most Rev. William E Lori, The Meaning of Patriotism, 7 Jan. 2013).

For more information, visit fortnight4freedom.org