Defending our first freedoms

John Hunt: We’re engaged in a struggle for the soul of the Church in America . . .

John J. Hunt

As Legates bask in the glow of the organization’s quarter century of service to the Catholic Church, we find ourselves engaged in a struggle for the very soul of the Church in America. The technological and cultural advances we enjoy in the 21st century have been met with a corresponding slide in morality, ethics and objective truth in the marketplace, the academy and, on occasion, even within our families.

For many Legates, the attack on religious freedom espoused in the Health and Human Services contraception mandate incorporated into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) provides the rallying call to defend our First Amendment right to religious freedom.

In order to defend this God-given liberty, Legatus has filed a federal lawsuit against the HHS mandate that requires insurance coverage for contraception and sterilization. “This is a case about religious freedom,” the lawsuit’s 42-page complaint begins. It charges that the mandate “forces employers and individuals to violate their religious beliefs because it requires employers and individuals to pay for insurance from insurance issuers, which fund and directly provide for drugs, devices, and services” that they believe are sinful.

Today, unlike any other time in modern history, freedom of religion is in real danger. The natural law truths — marriage between one man and one woman, recognition that life begins at conception and must be protected until natural death, unchanging and sacred understanding of the goodness of an all-loving God — are not only being ignored, they are being reviled by a culture that seeks its own “truth.”

A dichotomy exists in this age of progress and plenty, and we in the United States — particularly we of Legatus — are called to lead in this cultural conflict. It is a period of fundamental change that threatens the very life of the Church in America. We are blessed to live in a time when each of us can and must contribute to the Church’s apostolic fruitfulness in the face of challenges from all sides. This spiritual battle between good and evil can only be surmounted by a complete reliance on, trust in, prayer to, and love of Jesus Christ.

As you offer your daily prayers and attend Mass, I ask that you include the intention of success in the litigation to which duty has called us.

John Hunt is Legatus’ executive director. He and his wife Kathie are charter members of Legatus’ Chicago Chapter.