By now, most American Catholics are aware that bishops have asked us to spend two weeks in prayer and fasting between June 21 (the eve of the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher) and July 4 (Independence Day) for the preservation of religious liberty. The bishops believe (and a good many others agree with them) that religious liberty is under attack due to the now-infamous mandate of the Obama administration requiring employers to cover contraception on their employees' insurance, even if the employer is Catholic or a Catholic institution.
The bishops have even presented us with a prayer for the occasion, available here.
The reaction of many liberal Catholics to the bishops' effort has ranged from bewilderment to outright hostility. I don't really count myself as part of the liberal Catholic crowd, but Vincent Miller at America magazine summarized my own feelings succinctly: "I’ve wrestled with the USCCB Religious Liberty campaign for some time. I support its big-picture goals, but so much about its tone, argument, timing, and politics leaves me concerned."
Even though I practice the Church's teaching on contraception, I have a hard time seeing how the mandate violates my religious liberty. I have an even harder time seeing how the revised mandate (the much-maligned "accommodation") violates the religious liberty of Catholic hospitals and schools. And I have the hardest time understanding how, even if I am wrong, the mandate represents an "unprecedented threat," as some bishops are claiming, or why it justifies the type of civil action from Catholics that the bishops are asking for.
This is not the place to discuss why I think these things. Suffice to say I do, and I'd be happy to discuss it in another place.
However, there are a number of reasons to follow the bishops' request anyway. I intend to pray and fast during the Fortnight for Freedom, and would encourage others who disagree with the bishops to do the same. Allow me to list three reasons you should.
Reason One: It's never a bad idea to pray when the bishops ask us to pray.
I hear the complaint frequently that the bishops are turning into Republican politicians and aren't doing their job as spiritual leaders. I think that charge is overstated, but it is not without merit. Well, here they are asking us to do spiritual things like pray and fast. That can't be a bad thing.
In fact, such a thing should be encouraged. We should remember that Dorothy Day, our patron saint as Catholic Workers, thought prayer and fasting were indispensible parts of the spiritual life and lamented when parts of the hippie movement—with which she identified—lacked that discipline. If our bishops are asking us to pray more than the bare minimum, even if we question their goals and motives, we should rejoice and do it.
Reason Two: We might be wrong.
It's not pleasant to contemplate, but it's true. Obviously this doesn't mean we stop engaging in activism and it certainly doesn't mean we should pretend to agree with the bishops. But it does mean that when we approach God in prayer and expose our true selves with whatever good or evil we have done, we cannot pretend to be infallible. It is important to remember this, especially when we strongly disagree with those—such as the bishops—whom the Lord has called us to be in communion with.
One of the things I love most about the Catholic Church is the way it embraces the primacy of individual conscience while maintaining skepticism of individual judgment. Intuitively, we know and understand these two concepts—that we always have to do what we believe to be right and that so many of our own decisions turn out to be wrong. But to my knowledge, the Catholic Church is the only organization on earth that actively tries to live out that tension. Lord knows it doesn't always do so very well. But that doesn't mean we should abandon the tension and descend into self-righteous certitude.
It could be said that the bishops themselves have descended into self-righteous certitude. Maybe, but it's not our job to judge or even to worry about the bishops. Our job is to be Christ's love in the world, and part of that means acknowledging the possibility—however remote—that we might be wrong. For me, one way to acknowledge that is to pray with those I disagree with in the Fortnight of Freedom.
Reason Three: Living in a "big tent" Church cuts both ways.
Liberal Catholics like to complain that conservatives want to push them out of the Church. Conservative Catholics, particularly in the blogosphere, don't do the best job of disproving that opinion. Liberal Catholics in this country feel marginalized (sometimes it seems they like feeling marginalized) and talk about becoming Episcopalian, while conservative Catholics note (sometimes gleefully) the ongoing train wreck of the Episcopal Church, laying the blame on people in that church most like liberal Catholics.
At that point, liberal Catholics throw up their collective hands and appeal to the quote attributed—probably wrongly—to St. Augustine: "in essential things, unity; in non-essential things, liberty; in all things, charity." They ask conservative Catholics to accept them as part of the Church and let them be.
It's probably true that conservative Catholics have an overly broad view of what constitutes Church teaching. They should do a better job of extending the benefit of the doubt, but liberal Catholics must do the same thing. Maintaining the unity of the ark of salvation that subsists in the Catholic Church is of paramount, almost overwhelming, importance. It's not reasonable to expect that every single Catholic will agree on every single thing. Just as conservatives shouldn't accuse liberals of heresy when they arrive at a different prudential judgment on the contraception mandate, liberals shouldn't accuse conservatives of abandoning the poor because they are insufficiently committed to universal health care. While we agree on principles, we may freely disagree on the application of those principles and remain part of the same Church. Praying with the bishops during the Fortnight of Freedom is a good way to remember this unity in spite of the disagreement.
Though we may disagree with why the bishops are asking us to pray, all Catholics believe that God's providence ultimately will prevail. We also believe that Jesus Christ prefers unity in the Church to disunity, since he prayed, "I have given them the glory you [the Father] gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:22). If we cannot in conscience agree with the bishops, surely it is better to pray with them rather than against them. While it is appropriate to take our frustrations to God in prayer, it is even more appropriate to pray in conjunction with those who frustrate us, to show that we don't allow those frustrations to divide us. Rather than praying, "Lord, there they go harping on government and birth control again," we should pray, "Lord, they're harping on government and birth control again, but I love them anyway and trust in Your will on the matter."
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When it comes to the Fortnight of Freedom, I have mixed feelings on its goals and disagree with its tone. It also has a hokey name that reminds me more of freedom fries than the sublime mystery of Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, the Beard household will pray for religious liberty every night during those two weeks. I will try to fast a couple of those days as well (I make no promises: I suck at fasting). In doing so, I hope to contribute just a little to the "in all things, charity" part of the mantra, even if Augustine didn't say it.
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