Rallying the Troops

Fr. Z. posted today about how the USCCB stated that Catholic bloggers

. . . have a critical role in this great struggle for religious liberty. We call upon them to use their skills and talents in defense of our first freedom.

He noted that the Vatican recently held a special conference for Catholic bloggers, and he asked fellow Catholic bloggers to call the USCCB to do the same.

Religious liberty (particularly the ability to be Catholic in the public square) is under great attack in the US--by forces both within and without.

The HHS mandate has been an open shot against the Church in what has been a mounting assault of subtle attacks:

• Changing "freedom of religion" to "freedom of worship"
• Trying to keep religious institutions from being able to hire based on religious criteria (which was unanimously shot down by the Supreme Court)
• Cessation of funds to the USCCB's program to combat human trafficking

We Catholics make up about 24% of the US. I am not alone in seeing these acts as "poking the sleeping giant." Fr. John Hollowell recently posted a YouTube video in response to Planned Parenthood (who seem to be in cahoots with the current administration), and at the end, he quoted Tolkien: "The board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last--the great battle of our age."

Along these lines, I cannot help but see Fr. Z's call for a US Catholic blogger summit to be like the summons to the great Council of Elrond at Rivendell, bringing together parties who (as Fr. Z pointed out) at times may have had their own disputes. Regardless, now they all unite under the same banner for the sake of the good of all mankind.

There is work to be done--both in prayer and in action. Let us set about doing them both, and working together to fight the oppression that is slowly trying to strangle the life of Catholics in America and abroad.

Endeavoring to do my part,

Casey