Fortnight for freedom Catholics will Pray, Speak out and VOTE

As a catholic I have been listening to masses since Thursday when Fortnight started. I have only heard the reference to contraception and abortion morning after pills once. This is much more than handing out contraception pills. It is about the attacks on the church, and other christian faiths as well. A growing secularist movement that has brought us to a critical turning point.

The Catholic church is one of the biggest providers of charity services. These services are provided to people of any faith, and to those who do not believe in God. They have food banks in just about every town and city, they have hospitals, they operate homeless shelters, they take in orphaned children, operate centers for battered wives, councel drug addicts, and operate schools, as well as helping out flood and fire victims with food and clothing.

However, there has been a growing movement to force the Church to except as employees those who commit actions the Church does not condone. They are being forced to provide abortions as well as contraceptions in the new health care bill. When the Church protests, they are met with closing down thier charitable facilities when they do not comply. This has happened on mass scale in Ill. as well as the cities of San Francisco, Boston, and D.C. At a time when so many people are down and needy, the government is saying we can do better than the Church and we are taking over for them.

This protest is about defending the right to be Christian. It is about acknowledging our Christian heritage and influence throughout this nation's history. It is about saying we christians want our voices heard and our right of worship to be a liberty not taken away or demonized, but respected. We are at a critical time in our nation's history. Fortnight is a call out that we will not go silently into the night to be no more.