{"id":7008,"date":"2014-07-22T22:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm-88611\/"},"modified":"2014-07-22T22:55:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T22:55:00","slug":"religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious liberty ‘fundamental’ to human dignity, bishops affirm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelization.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cLet me just say that religious liberty is so fundamental to the dignity of the human person,\u201d Archbishop Lori stated, continuing that \u201canyone who is an impartial observer of the culture would say that in recent times, the challenges to religious liberty have accelerated.<\/p>\n

\tBecause of these situation, the archbishop said that the American bishops have dedicated themselves to upholding religious freedom, and will continue to discuss the \u201cmultifaceted challenges\u201d faced by the Church.<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori noted that the right to religious liberty \u201cis very much related to truth,\u201d and \u201cdoes not just depend on (the content of one's) belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cGod gave us the gift of religious liberty so that we could sincerely seek the truth, and embrace it once we have found it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe added that \u201cto attenuate religious liberty is to attenuate the search for truth. So that is the fundamental level at which we are committed to religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori also discussed the \u201clinguistic and philosophical gulfs between the teaching of the Church, and the culture,\u201d because \u201cthere are those who think religious liberty is really a guise for some right to discriminate, that the Church or others are seeking. So, we have to break those things down, in our catechesis and our evangelization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe vast differences in philosophical outlook and in use of language, between the Church and the mainstream culture, are important for Church leaders to take into account, he said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cFor those who preach and teach, it's important that we break down the language that we use into terms that are, in fact, preachable and teachable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori reflected on the U.S. bishops' decision last month to renew for another three years its ad hoc committee, which he chairs, on religious liberty.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI'm happy that they reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the work of the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis committee deals with affronts to religious liberty coming from such things as international persecution of minority religions; the re-definition of marriage; and challenges to religious practice and speech on university campuses.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn setting up the ad hoc committee, the conference heard from bishops all around the country who have faced these kinds of challenges at the very local level, and now we're seeing them at the federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tEchoing the Baltimore prelate's sentiments, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville said to CNA that he had heard from bishops that \u201cnot only has this been worthwhile on a national level in helping us to craft approaches to public policy, but it\u2019s been helpful to people in our parishes, and\u00a0 to bishops in their dioceses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Kurtz also reflected how the ad hoc nature of the committee means precisely that the U.S. bishops will have to continue discussing the committee's ambit: \u201cwe\u2019re not where we were three years ago, so are there new things that need to be done in composition, as well as the scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI heard Archbishop Lori say they are already anticipating, the existing committee is already recommending things, and they probably see the horizon better than any of us. And so I am sure we will be focused very much on the horizon, and the observations that the present committee has, as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori concluded that the bishops' affirmation of the religious liberty committee indicates the episcopate continues to experience challenges to the exercise of religious freedom, \u201cand that this is not at all a narrow focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThis is a very fundamental focus on the life and dignity of the human person, and the ability of the Church to contribute to the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nReligious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Archbishop_William_E_Lori_takes_part_in_a_press_conference_at_the_USCCBs_Fall_General_Assembly_in_Baltimore_on_Nov_11_2013_Credit_Addie_Mena_CNA_CNA_11_11_13.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/\",\"name\":\"Religious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Religious liberty ‘fundamental’ to human dignity, bishops affirm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Religious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm","description":"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Religious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm","og_description":"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Archbishop_William_E_Lori_takes_part_in_a_press_conference_at_the_USCCBs_Fall_General_Assembly_in_Baltimore_on_Nov_11_2013_Credit_Addie_Mena_CNA_CNA_11_11_13.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/","name":"Religious liberty 'fundamental' to human dignity, bishops affirm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-22T22:55:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Baltimore, Md., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:55 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a recent interview with CNA, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore reaffirmed religious liberty as a priority for the U.S. bishops, emphasizing its relation to personal dignity and evangelizat...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/religious-liberty-fundamental-to-human-dignity-bishops-affirm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Religious liberty ‘fundamental’ to human dignity, bishops affirm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}