Denver Catholic

11 DENVER CATHOLIC | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2020 Brown Robe Benefit JOIN US FOR THE 27 th ANNUAL an unprecedented 60 minute virtual event The Timeless Call, celebrating the Capuchins' response to bear the Gospel of Christ to the poorest and most forgotten among us 10|10|2020 Pre-show: 6 - 6:30 PM | Main Event: 6:30 - 7:30 PM Event Link: www.brownrobe.com Greeting and Opening Prayer by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap. Preacher to the Papal Household Special Guest Appearance by Br. Andrew Corriente, OFMCap. Winner of The Great American Baking Show Rights Commission of Colorado filed a lawsuit against Phillips, which he lost. Thankfully, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling. Justice Kennedy's commentary is telling, though: "The Commission's treatment of Phillips' case . . . showed elements of a clear and imper- missible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs motivating his objection. As the record shows, some of the commissioners at the Com- mission's formal, public hearings endorsed the view that religious beliefs cannot legitimately be carried into the public sphere or commercial domain, disparaged Phillips' faith as despicable and characterized it as merely rhetorical, and compared his invocation of his sincerely held religious beliefs to defenses of slavery and the Holocaust." Besides these increasingly overt forms of per- secution, because religion is relegated to a private sphere, many clergy struggle to address moral issues or political party platforms from the pulpit for fear of losing the Church's "tax exempt" status or "politicizing" the Gospel. Church lead- ers tell Catholics to "vote with their conscience" but then all too many Catholics just decide to disregard those aspects of Church teaching that don't align with their political loyalties. Instead, Church leaders need to remind the faithful of their obligation to align their public life with the Faith. We need accountability in upholding and defending Church teaching pub- licly, whether we are an ordinary citizen or a politician, lest we cause scandal. The issue is not so much about which party we belong to, but rather, whether we allow our Christian faith to guide our decisions in whatever roles we assume in our political environment. That means Catholic politicians and citi- zens should be one in their witness of Faith. Only then are we exercising religious liberty and being credible witnesses of the Gospel. Christians should no longer tolerate the hypo- critical conscience of those who say, "I person- ally believe such and such, but I don't want to impose my values on others." Thus, besides the persecution of religious people, another sad result of privatizing religion and paving the way for the rise of secularism is that many Christians have lost their missionary impetus and their capacity to evangelize. We are more convinced by the ideology of "tolerance" than by the Gospel mandate to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

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