Fortnight Mass

By Jessica Valera
CFP correspondent

The closing celebration of the Fortnight for Freedom in the diocese called upon the influences of men in both the history of the church and the country.
“It is providential that we conclude our diocesan celebration of the Fortnight for Freedom on the liturgical memorial of Blessed Junipero Serra,” Bishop McManus said in his homily during the Mass for the Protection of Religious Freedom, Monday night at St. Stephen Church. “The faith preached and celebrated by Father Serra gave rise to the flourishing of Catholic institutions throughout the Southwest, and it is precisely the future of those types of Catholic institutions that are being threatened by the unjust mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services.”

Following the Mass, a presentation on “St. Thomas More: A Model of Public Virtue for Our Time,” by Attorney Frances X. Hogan, was held in the church hall. She began her talk by touching upon threats to religious liberty.
“I think our founding fathers would be shocked to see us where we are,” she said. “We’re seeking access to the most basic of rights of which this great country was founded - the right to religious liberty, the right to freedom of religion, the right to inviolability of conscience.”
Attorney Hogan went on to discuss Thomas More as, in the words of Erasmus, “a man of all seasons.”

(See full story in this week's The Catholic Free Press)

video of Bishop McManus' homily from the  Mass can be found at http://vimeo.com/69518493

video of Attorney Frances Hogan's talk can be found at http://vimeo.com/69550367