Where were you when the world stopped turning that September Day. September 11, 2001, we can all remember where we were when we first heard of the attack on the world trade center. It was as if it was an attack on each one of us. I remember I was in the seminary in Dallas readying myself to give a tour of the seminary to a Muslim University of Dallas student. 

Lt. Joe Carillo remembers. He was not on duty in New York, he had a press conference for a safety initiative for children that he was part of. While he was on the way to the conference he had heard that a plane had struck the first tower. He decided that he should skip the conference and go to the towers to help save as many people as possible. While on the way he saw in horror as many of us did as well when the second plane struck the tower. He instantly knew then that it was an attack on America and on freedom itself. 

He decided to risk his life to help others as he ran to the site. One look at the towers told him they were going to collapse. He had after all studied the structure.  He knew that the building was going to come down. He began to tell everyone to set up their triage units blocks away because the tower was going to fall. After the last had vacated, he heard a boom. He found himself right under the building as it collapsed, he said. “I looked up, and the building was starting to collapse. And I said to myself, ‘You idiot — you‘re the one who said this building’s going to collapse and you put yourself right underneath it!’” Lt. Joe miraculously lives today to tell about the day.

Lt. Joe remembers as we do on that day that day when we felt like our freedom itself was attacked. Joe went to the point of attack and said I am going to do what I can do to make it better. 

Today, our bishops have been warning us about an attack on freedom that is going on in our country. It is an attack on religious freedom.  Our bishops have asked us to make known the 14 days prior to the 4th of July as a Fortnight for Freedom. It would be a time when Catholics and non-catholics can unite in prayer and voice witnessing for the greater protection of religious freedom and protection of conscience. Several days ago, when Chief Justice Roberts came out with the Supreme Court ruling stating the national health care plan was constitutional, our own Bishop made a statement. He said that the Bishops of the United States have always stated that all people need to have access to health care. We can not allow someone to bleed to death on the streets. However, the current legislation is filled with mandates that are not about healing but actually promote death and go against the moral law that as Catholics we hold to be true.

Today’s Gospel shows us how Jesus wants for those to be healed and is willing to risk his reputation and his social place so to heal others and to give them if you will a sense of freedom. There are really two stories in the Gospel woven into one. We have the healing of the woman who had been hemorrhaging and the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead. For us to understand more clearly the risk Jesus took, we need to know the Jewish law of dictating someone or something unclean. If it was out of the normal order it would be declared unclean until proven the normal order was restored. Anything that came in contact with that person or thing would also be considered unclean. This was partly enacted to protect the Jewish communities, however it left many in social and physical captivity where they were isolated for others. When Jesus allowed himself to be touched and when he went into the room of Jairus’ daughter and touched her hand, he was entering into the uncleanliness. He risked his own reputation to set them free.

Imagine being in that room with Jairus’ daughter and her family. The synagogue official would have known well the laws and Jesus in this room goes and takes the hand of this girl. Imagine the gasp that would have come into the room when he had done so. And as if the moment was captured for all of eternity we have the very words of Jesus spoken in Aramic, “Talitha Koum” With this the girl rose and began to walk around. Jesus had brought her back to life just as He did with the woman who was hemorrhaging. He had risked himself to bring them freedom.

Today’s age asks us to do the same. We need to risk our own reputation so that our children and grandchildren can continue to enjoy the religious freedoms that the Bill of Rights and the 1st Amendment of the Constitution have given us. Under the direction of Kathleen Sebellius the Health and Human Services committee have mandated that all employers, including Catholic institutions, to violate the moral law by providing contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans. This we know is contrary to the faith of the Church.

Less noticed, but equally offensive to both Catholic doctrine and the constitution, is the determination by the government of what constitutes a religious institution. The HHS mandate grants an exemption to parishes, but it defines religious institutions in such a narrow way that it excludes, for example, Catholic universities, hospitals, food pantries, publishing houses, and social services. According to the HHS definition, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Knights of Columbus wouldn’t qualify as religious institutions! Indeed, according to the federal rule, if we serve people who are not Catholic in our agencies, or educate them in our universities, or employ them in our institutions – we cease to be religious. If we provide for the needs of the sick and the poor, but don’t ask whether they are Catholic or teach them catechism – we are not religious. 

We have never sought to serve only Catholics. Our schools, hospitals, and charitable ministries are for all people. To do otherwise would be to go against the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Church would either be forced to pay heavy fines and in some cases forced to close or to ignore its own teachings. This is clearly a case that the 1st Amendment sought to protect. 

Now, many out there might be saying, What’s the big deal. For this I give you a story from when I was little. I had three brothers and we loved to wrestle. One of our wrestling maneuvers was to pin the other brother down and call a dog that loved to lick and slobber over. For the sake of argument lets just say I was the one pinned down. (although we know it did not happen often. :)) I am pinned and the dog is called over. I am at the whims of the dog. What if the dog was stray, my life may have been in danger. You see my friends, this mandate is pinning the Church down. It restricts her freedom to act and it will be just a matter of time before a more sinister form of manipulation occur. It is for this reason that we must stand up and risk our reputation for the sake of others. 

We are Catholics. The time has come when you have to say whether you live by this profession or by the way of a secular society. During this Fortnight of Freedom, make sure you spend some time speaking about religious freedom. Try to understand why the Church is saying what she is saying. Pray that there will be a just resolution to this infringement of rights. Lt. Joe went to the place where we all felt that our freedom was being attacked to help others. How will you respond?