Engaging in the New Evangelization for the Cause of Life and Liberty

Godless Secularism Assaults Life and Liberty

by Archbishop William Lori

Following is the homily given October 14 by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on the occasion of the Marian Pilgrimage for Life and Liberty.

On this beautiful autumn Sunday in which the Scripture readings speak to us about the wisdom of God, we have gathered from near and far on pilgrimage to this august basilica, dedicated to Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God, the Seat of Wisdom.

With Mary’s loving encouragement, we have come together to pray to the Holy Spirit for an outpouring of divine wisdom and for prudence, that we may have the understanding, the creativity and the courage to defend the God-given gifts of life and liberty in the context of our times.

For some time now, both life and liberty have been under assault by an overarching, Godless secularism, replete with power and money, but sadly lacking in wisdom, both human and divine: a secularism that relentlessly seeks to marginalize the place of faith in our society.

In rejecting the wisdom of religious faith, in seeking to contain and diminish it, secularism has, at the same time, foolishly devalued human life. When man and woman are no longer perceived to be created in the image of God, then, sooner or later, their lives and their liberties become dispensable.

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