After Chick-Fil-A: Let's Make Election Day, Nov 6, 2012, Freedom Appreciation Day

By Keith A Fournier
8/7/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The antidote to what ails us is a robust return to truth - and leaders unafraid to call us to it again

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." Freedom's lamp still shines beside that golden door. However, that light is being diminished by counterfeit notions of freedom which fail to recognize its source, comprehend its promise, accept its obligations or believe in its potential to build a better future. I propose that we call Election Day 2012 Freedom Appreciation Day and mobilize for freedom. Freedom is not about the fact that we can choose but about how and what we do choose. This is what truly matters. Authentic Human Freedom will never be found in decisions that are made against God and against the Natural Law.

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, something extraordinary happened. Ordinary Americans went to Chick-Fil-A restaurants around the Nation because they had had enough. Enough of the threats to freedom and the bullying of people like the owners of that restaurant chain, precisely because they had the courage to voice their convictions in the public square.

Because they defended marriage as what it is, they were literally threatened, not only by the strident cultural revolutionaries who seek to enforce a new cultural order upon us all, but by Mayors of major cities who were willing to enforce that new cultural order at the expense of true freedom.

We see threats to freedom gathering everywhere around us like storm clouds. Recently, thousands around the United States gathered to Stand up for what this Nation has properly called the First Freedom, Religious Freedom.

The Catholic Bishops of the United States called for a Fortnight (14 days) of Prayer for Freedom and people gathered all over this Nation which has long spoken of itself as the land of the free and the home of the brave.

There is no word which echoes more passionately within the heart of Americans than that word freedom - or evokes a deeper response. This Nation was founded by men and women who experienced threats to freedom's promise and potential - and responded to them with heroism.

It has beckoned from its birth to all who hear freedom's invitation to come and see what true Freedom means.

These compelling words written by Emma Lazarus are engraved on the pedestal of the Lady Liberty in New York's Ellis Island: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Freedom's lamp still shines beside that golden door. However, that light is being diminished by counterfeit notions of freedom which fail to recognize its source, comprehend its promise, accept its obligations or believe in its potential to build a better future.

One of the architects of the freedom undertaking which brought down the Berlin Wall at the end of the last century, Blessed John Paul II wrote, "Human freedom belongs to us as creatures; it is a freedom which is given as a gift, one to be received like a seed and to be cultivated responsibly. It is an essential part of that creaturely image which is the basis of the dignity of the person."

The struggle of our age is being waged over the meaning of freedom. It is a contest with extraordinary implications. Almost every contemporary concern that we face can be positioned within this struggle. How one defines human freedom will influence the way that he or she views almost everything.

Freedom has consequences. Our choices have the capacity to not only change the world around us, but they make us to be the kinds of persons we become. The capacity to make choices is what makes us human persons. What we choose either humanizes us further or leads us, ultimately, into slavery. The capacity to choose reflects the "Imago Dei", the Image of God, present within every human person.

As the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church wrote in their document on the Mission of the Church in the Modern World, "Authentic freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine image within man." (Gaudium et Spes, "Joy and Hope", 17)
We should listen closely to the contemporary voices mouthing the word "freedom". What do they mean when they speak the word? We need to heed the voices of authentic freedom and reject the counterfeits.

Pope Benedict XVI warned of a "dictatorship of relativism" at work in the secularist age. Relativism is a philosophy which denies the existence of objective truths upon which we can build our life together. When there are no truths there can be no freedom.

The antidote to what ails us is a robust return to truth - and leaders unafraid to call us to it again. We need to reach down to the foundation stones upon which this experiment in ordered liberty called the United States of America was built and strengthen freedoms infrastructure by asserting again that "We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident" as proclaimed in the Nations Birth Certificate, the Declaration of Independence.

We need leaders who are unashamed to insist that there is such a thing as truth, which can be known through the exercise of reason. Freedom must be exercised in relationship to that truth. Otherwise, it is illusory and will lead to new forms of slavery and anarchy.

The men and women of this age are asking the fundamental questions men and women of every age have ...

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

Stephen
7 months ago
Join Chick-Fil-A Election Day Group Page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/280403258744366/
Kevin
9 months ago
But Deacon Keith, didn't RomneyCare in Massachusetts violate the consciences of Catholics the same way ObamaCare does? If the powers that be give us a choice between two candidates who don't believe in freedom, what then?
Kasoy
9 months ago
Calling all Freedom-loving Americans who still believe in "In God We Trust", let's promote "November 6, 2012, Freedom Appreciation Day" among our local churches, families, and friends. Make use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, local radio/TV news channels). How about a National Day of Prayer and Atonement on November 4, Sunday to be headed by all various religious groups who support life, religious freedom and traditional marriage as defined by God (organized at local churches after Sunday Mass - bring your picnic baskets on that day at your local churches, or organize a dine-in at your local Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, Carl's Jr or any of your favorite local fastfood after Mass on that day)? How about "Oratio Imperata" every Sunday Mass until November 4, 2012 to ask God for enlightenment and that He gives America God-fearing leaders to lead the nation once more? We hope to see big announcements from Mike Huckabee's Facebook account and Rick Santorum's "Patriot Voices". We hope and pray that you (Deacon Fournier) can convince many prominent religious leaders (Christians, Jews, Muslims) to join in this Freedom Appreciation Day. Lastly, how about "Mike Huck-a-B for VP"?

(It would be nice if you can come up with a T-Shirt design that will be used by all Freedom loving Americans to show their support - perhaps a red shirt signifying American heroes blood that purchased our freedom with a print of the US flag at the back and/or left breast with words like "Life and Religious Liberty". Shirts can be sold at local churches and/or at your favorite local fastfoods like Chick-fil-A)
Judy Claar
9 months ago
Deacon Keith, Bravo! And Amen! + Readers: This article was chock full of "quotes" supporting Freedom, our Catholic Faith, Christians, and all those of Good Will and Intention. This article was such a feast that there were room for seconds. In other words, it should be read more than > once, to enjoy such a meal. I really liked that you used today's "Father's of the Second Vatican Council" quote, to not only help put your point across, but the fact, that it exudes "Joy and Hope". That is what is missing in "anarchic freedom". Joy and Hope is part of the Truth which they reject. It can not be said any other way: Truth Is Freedom. Your anti-dote was a perfect script. As someone said in a latter post, I paraphrase: "Once we die to self here, in our Now, we prepare, and begin our life Eternal on earth". That is Freedom! And to spread that Freedom in our country should be our heart's desire! Religious Freedom of our Founding Fathers. Keeping with the Freedom of our nation, by way of their laws and creeds, by the way of their own Freedom. In creating the Dec. of I. they seemed to have died to self, wishing to pass that Freedom on. Is it not our Duty to do the same? This country is a mess. I see this as our last chance before we are really in for a heavy load. One only has To have the Sense, the Reason, to live in Joy and Hope with Freedom to stamp out Secularism, Relativism, Pro-Choice and Euthanasia, etc.,
Freedom Appreciation Day is > more than a good gesture. A Good Read, that may or may not, require inventory of self.
"Freedom Appreciation Day" here we come! Blessings....
Diane
9 months ago
To Sherry Levine-very good and informative post. The homosexuals are becoming more and more aggressive in their hatred of anything decent. No wonder their chief advocate, Obama and the democrat party want them openly in the military. If elected again I think he would try to use that part of the military to bully and even wage war on the American people just like Hitler, who formed and used the openly homosexual SSA against Germans, bullying them into supporting him. Of course, he started the SS Gestapo then, and one of the first things he did was use them to kill all the homosexual SSA's. Any way you look at it the homosexual loses. Why should we allow them to take the rest of us down in the fire with them? We won't.
abey
9 months ago
Where Liberty is off the Spirit, its counterfeit is that mentioned in Zechariah Ch. 5 . where "wickedness" is put into a measuring basket with a heavy lid & established upon her own pedestal until she increases her measure to open the lid spilling her wickedness in the form of the sexual liberty even unto "the Gay pride" seen today which is but to Spiritual enslavement destined to end in the Prophesy, like it was to Sodom called the "Cry of Sodom" or the curse of sodom again to this Delusional Liberty by its works & supports in the likes of "Equality Illinois" to the Flying roll in the curse in its physical manifestations to the saying "They grew by Christianity away from the curses but now they ditch it to re-embrace their age old curses"
Marie
9 months ago
Free speach by Chick-Fil-A is a right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

If people want their rights restored they will have to vote correctly including those religious groups affected by Obamacare instead of being so liberal. After all it is the first amendment to the Bill of Rights that Obamacare directly effects and blood was spilt to get these rights.

Also, religious groups should fight to end the 1954 tax that Lyndon Johnson put into the tax code taking away religious freedom from church people to talk politics.

Seems like things are so twisted that people don't know good from bad anymore.
SherryLevine
9 months ago
From Randy Hannig, the director of a group who hates social conservatives (Equality Illinois):

"Company President Dan Cathy clarified Chick-fil-A's views of gay and lesbian Americans, shedding light on its multimillion dollar donations to groups that actively seek to influence government leaders and the public to take away rights from gay and lesbian individuals "

While Hannig relentlessly works to take away from all social conservatives their most fundamental human rights (freedom of conscience, speech, religion, etc.), that is, to destroy our democratic functioning.

"CFA is using its dollars to shape public and political discourse by funding organizations that promote homophobia in the U.S. and abroad."

While Equality Illionois is using its dollars to shape public and political discourse by promoting hatred of social conservatives and "conservative-phobia" in the US and abroad.

"In a petition, Equality Illinois is urging socially responsible business and institutional leaders across the country to challenge Chick-fil-A's discriminatory practices and end all relationships that enable the Chick-fil-A brand to operate on their premises."

As far as reported, CFA does not discriminate in its business practices. What Hannig is doing is a public smear of CFA equal to what the Nazis did of Jewish businesses in the beginning of the 1930s. Hannig first shamelessly smears CFA with a false accusation of discrimination practices in order to justify his call for a sordid destruction of this upstanding company. This is a company where 60,000 employees work making a decent living in a decent environment. The majority of the employees are young and very much in need of their jobs.

Obviously, it takes a vicious organization to want to destroy all of this, but it's what "Equality" Illinois is doing.

Equality, you note.

"We urge mall owners who rent space to Chick-fil-A to look deeply at the hateful organizations the company supports. We ask university officials to reconsider accommodating a business that ostracizes a large segment of their student body. We want corporate leaders who allow Chick-fil-A to do business in their offices to consider a new restaurant option during contract renegotiations."

Equality Illinois' aim is to ostracize millions of social conservatives in society, along with any such student, and turn them into social pariahs.

Hannig: "We'd like all Americans to think twice before they bite into their next Chick-fil-A sandwich."

So would we. But we would also like for everyone to think about what "Equality" Illinois is trying to do.

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