US bishops’ religious liberty Mass in DC attracts thousands of pilgrims

A standing-room-only crowd of an estimated 6,000 people attended the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Mass and Pilgrimage for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. last Sunday, which took place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

Catholic leaders have expressed increasing alarm about the state of religious liberty in the United States, especially as ObamaCare and the associated HHS birth control mandate loom large on the political horizon. In his homily, Archbishop Lori minced no words about the issue.

“For some time now both life and liberty have been under assault by an overarching, Godless secularism, replete with power and money, but sadly lacking in wisdom, both human and divine: a secularism that relentlessly seeks to marginalize the place of faith in our society,” the archbishop said.

“Secularism is able to make such inroads against life and liberty,” he said, “primarily because so many people have set aside their religious faith by ceasing to practice their faith or by compartmentalizing it in their lives, like elected officials who say they are personally opposed to intrinsic evils such as abortion while doing everything in their power to promote them.”

Vice President Joe Biden and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are just two of the prominent Catholic politicians who have taken controversial positions against Church teaching in recent months.

The bishop mentioned the HHS mandate by name, pointing out that “many of the secularist threats to religious liberty seem to hinge on the Church’s teaching with regard to the sanctity of human life.” [More]

SOURCE

LifeSite News