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Fr. Raymond J. de Souza: Providential Feast Days Shine Light on Religious Freedom Week – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza: Providential Feast Days Shine Light on Religious Freedom Week

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Logo. U.S. bishops’ annual Religious Freedom Week

By Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Catholic Register, June 20, 2025

Father Raymond J. de Souza is the founding editor of Convivium magazine.

COMMENTARY: The week’s liturgical calendar features saints who died defying unjust rulers — and feasts that point to the deeper source of true freedom.

The U.S. bishops’ annual Religious Freedom Week has a liturgical setting.

Beginning on June 22, the feast of Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More, the week includes the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24) and concludes with the solemn feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29). All were martyrs at the hands of state power. They are martyrs of religious freedom, and patrons of those persecuted for their religious faith, even if today’s concept of religious liberty was not developed in the ancient or medieval world.

Religious Freedom Week 2025 is unusually rich liturgically and devotionally, as it also includes the moveable feasts of Corpus Christi (June 22) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 27). There are also historical resonances, with important anniversaries heightening the piety of these days. Indeed, it is unusual for so many feasts and anniversaries to fall so close together — all the context of the Jubilee Year 2025. …

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