Statement of Bishop Robert W. Muench, Bishop of Baton Rouge, on Religious Liberty (April 13, 2012)
On April 12, the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement: “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty,” outlining the bishops’ concerns over threats to religious liberty, both at home and abroad. This comprehensive and cogent document covered a plethora of issues which have arisen in the last several years, spanning national, state, local, and even international, areas: {readmorelink}readmore...{/readmorelink}
- The Health and Human Services mandate; forcing all employers, including religious organizations, to provide for and pay for coverage of employees’ contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs even when they have moral objections to them.
- State immigration laws; that forbid what the government deems “harboring” of undocumented immigrants – and what the Church considers Christian charity and pastoral care; for example, an Alabama law making it illegal for a priest to celebrate many of the Catholic sacraments with, or preach the Word of God to, an undocumented immigrant.
- The altering of Church structure and governance; with the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut legislature proposing to force Catholic parishes to be restricted according to a congregational model, prefiguring the federal government’s attempts to redefine for the Church the terms “religious minister” and ”religious employer” in the years since.
- Denial of rights of Christian students; in its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, The Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.
- Driving Catholic foster care and adoption services out of business; Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and the State of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of adoption or foster care services by revoking them licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both – because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
- Discrimination against small churches; New York City enacted a rule that barred sixty churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for other purposes.
- Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services; foregoing years of excellent performance by the USCCB’s Migration and Refugees Services in administering contract services for the victims of human trafficking by the federal government which required the providing for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching.
- International religious freedom abridgement; where Christians have been targets of assassinations, bombings and other atrocities.
- Limiting religious freedom to freedom of worship; instead of allowing people of faith to continue to contribute to the common good of all Americans, as required by their faith.
The document quotes the support of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King from his famous 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and even a recent unanimous Supreme Court judgment affirming the importance of religious freedom as the first freedom.
The statement concludes with a call, suggesting the fourteen days from June 21 to July 4 “be dedicated to this ‘fortnight for freedom’, in which special events might be arranged to highlight the importance of defending our first freedom.”
I will be taking up this matter with our priests in our monthly presbyteral council meeting to plan how we might implement this suggestion in the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
In the meantime I ask all of us to pray and commit ourselves for this critical matter before us.
Robert W. Muench
Bishop of Baton Rouge