Archbishop William Lori, chairman of the USCCB ad hoc committee on religious liberty, just announced that there will be another Fortnight for Freedom in 2015 and the theme will be "Freedom to Bear Witness." I cannot believe that the conference really wants to devote resources to this failed effort, which never seems to reach anyone who does not watch EWTN on a regular basis. And, I am the only one who is perplexed by the fact that Archbishop Lori's plans do not seem to have much to say about the challenges to religious liberty in countries where Christians are being crucified. (In his close, he gave a brief, fleeting mention of the situation abroad.) No, the first item on his list of current issues remains the HHS contraception mandate. Item #2 is same-sex marriage laws. The third item looks at mandatory insurance coverage of all abortions, which is a very important issue, and the fourth is mounting a defense of RFRA, which is something that the bishops only jeopardize by being excessive and sometimes foolish in their defense of religious liberty.
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