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1. Sponsor a day of faith-based service within the community, perhaps volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping to paint, garden, clean, or organize donations at a local charity. Highlight existing Catholic service activities and institutions and how they would be harmed if existing religious freedom protections were eroded.
2. Celebrate a memorial Mass for SS. Thomas More and John Fisher on June 21 (vigil) or June 22 (their feast day) to open the Fortnight for Freedom.
3. Present a Catholic movie night for members of your parish, showing any of the following movies: a. A Man for All Seasons, about the martyrdom of St. Thomas More; b. For Greater Glory, about the struggle for religious freedom in Mexico; c. First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty, a PBS video about religious freedom; and/or d. Becket, about 12th century English martyr St. Thomas à Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
4. Invite a local or national figure to speak to your parish about religious liberty. Also, encourage parishioners to read Our First, Most Cherished Liberty, a document of the Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.
5. Host a concert with religious music.
6. Plan a parish outreach event including a meal—a fish fry, a picnic, a pancake breakfast, or a spaghetti supper—to raise awareness about the Fortnight and advertise local Fortnight events.
7. Organize day-long (or multi-day) Eucharistic Adoration.
8. Sponsor a presentation on the history of Catholicism in the United States.
9. Host a study group on Dignitatis Humanae, the groundbreaking document from the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty, using the 14-day reflection piece at www.Fortnight4Freedom.org.
10. Lead a Eucharistic Procession through your community on a path that passes important government or civic buildings.
11. Host a panel discussion on the wide range of current religious freedom issues; on a single religious freedom issue in depth; or on how religion can and should influence policy issues generally.
12. Remind parishioners that the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision—a religious freedom challenge to the HHS mandate against for-profit businesses—is expected to occur during the Fortnight (likely on the last day of the Court’s term, June 30). Consider events surrounding the announcement of the decision.
13. As a parish at the end of daily Mass, pray the Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty.
14. Organize an Independence Day family picnic with a special Mass to close the Fortnight for Freedom.