Scripture Reading:

Responsorial Psalm – June 24, 2018 – Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist – Vigil

Catechesis videos 

(Pope Francis visit to the USA, September 2015)

(Rome Reports from July 2017)

Catechesis video questions:

7-12 grade

1. What does religious liberty/freedom mean according to the Catholic Church?
2. Can religious freedom be limitless?
3. What are some possible threats to religious liberty in the USA?
4. Religious freedom includes all people of faith. What are ways in which religious liberty is under attack against non-Christians in the USA?

Parish Leadership/Committees

1. What does religious liberty/freedom mean according to the Catholic Church?
2. When speaking about faith traditions other than Catholic, including non-Christian faiths, how does your parish respect religious liberty and inter-religious dialogue?
3. What are some possible threats to religious liberty in the USA?
4. Religious freedom includes all people of faith. What are ways in which religious liberty is under attack against non-Christians in the USA?

Faith-sharing/Bible Study

1. What does religious liberty/freedom mean according to the Catholic Church?
2. Can religious freedom be limitless?
3. What are some possible threats to religious liberty in the USA?
4. Religious freedom includes all people of faith. What are ways in which religious liberty is under attack against non-Christians in the USA?

Witness Video

Witness video questions:

7-12 grade

1. St. Charles Lwanga and companions faced persecution for their faith. What lessons can be learned by his choice to remain faithful?
2. If faced with a similar choice, what might be your response?
3. It is one thing to defend your own right to religious freedom but another to defend others’ freedoms. In what ways might you defend the rights of other faiths, including non Christian faiths, in your school, community, state, nations?

Parish leadership/Committees

1. How can your parish help to promote and ensure religious liberty for all in your community?
2. St. Charles Lwanga and companions gave their lives for their faith. What are the challenges to fulfilling one’s own faith in the face of opposition or oppression?
3. Are there people within your own community who are facing infringements on their religious liberty (including non Christians)?

Faithsharing/Bible Study

1. Imagine yourself in the position of St. Charles Lwanga and companions. How might you have responded to the king?
2. Is religious liberty limited only to those religions with which we agree? How might religious liberty be under threat in your own community?
3. What challenges exist that may coerce people to disobey or give up their faith?

Action Steps

7-12 grade

1. Pray for your community and government leaders that religious liberty is safeguarded for all.
2. Reach out to people of other faith traditions and discover if their religious liberty has ever been attacked or infringed upon.
3. Become more active in your parish and learn more about your faith. Choose a parish ministry to get involved with and dedicate time to it.

Parish Leadership/Committees

1. Include petitions and prayers during liturgies that pray for religious liberty.
2. Defend the right of religious liberty for all in your community by contacting legislators to ensure that people’s faith traditions are not unjustly infringed upon.
3. Hold a group discussion on religious liberty, possibly inviting people from other faith traditions, including non-Christian faith traditions to join in on the discussion.

Faithsharing/Bible Study

1. Pray a rosary, spend an hour in adoration, silent prayer, or singing for religious liberty in the USA and around the world.
2. Identify a current issue that is going on in your community, Iowa, or the USA that directly relates to religious liberty and communicate your concerns to the appropriate officials.
3. Talk with others about the need to safeguard religious liberty for people of all faiths, not just the Catholic faith.

Closing Prayer

O God, who have made the blood of Martyrs

the seed of Christians,

mercifully grant that the field which is your Church,

watered by the blood

shed by Saints Charles Lwanga and his Companions,

may be fertile and always yield you an abundant harvest.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen