St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City
June 23, 2013
9:15 – 10:15 a.m.

Answering the U.S. bishops’ call for a second “Fortnight for Freedom” during the two weeks leading up to July 4, Occupy Catholics invites people of conscience to send a message to the world about the freedoms we feel are most under threat. For an hour before the Cardinal’s Mass on Sunday, June 23, between 9:15 and 10:15, we will prayerfully hold signs at the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral naming the freedoms we know to be threatened.

Partipants should bring a sign that says “Freedom to ____” or “Freedom from ____,” with the blank filled out with their conscience, in light of faith.

The bishops’ primary concern with the Fortnight for Freedom campaign has been religious freedom in U.S. society, and it is an important concern indeed. However, during last year’s Fortnight, Occupy Catholics held an open assembly about threats to freedom at the steps of St. Patrick’s. (The cathedral was meanwhile surrounded by barricades and police.) Some participants slept there on the sidewalk that night. A statement was drafted that summarized the discussion of the assembly (http://is.gd/eObpHE), and the primary threats to freedom it identified were:

  • Freedom from discrimination, especially through policing policies such as New York’s “stop and frisk” that target people of color
  • Freedom from complicity in war and the economy of the 1%
  • Freedom to self-govern in our church and our soceity

Other concerns expressed at the assembly included:

Freedom of assembly • freedom of speech • freedom from torture • freedom of thought • freedom not to kill • freedom of belief • freedom to earn • freedom of conscience • freedom from suffering • freedom from manipulation • freedom to love • freedom of movement • freedom from mass consumption • freedom from relativism • freedom from debt • freedom to live in a healthy environment • freedom to serve the church • freedom from predatory corporations • freedom from greed

Occupy Catholics invites allies everywhere to join us in standing for these and other freedoms that God entrusts to us, that we might share them with each other in our church and our society.

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/573869132636068/

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