Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

Happy Fourth of July! I love the family picnics, the parades and the patriotic songs. In addition, on the morning of July 4 at 8 a.m. at St. Eugene Parish in Fox Point, I will be celebrating Mass with parishioners. We will be praying in thanksgiving for the gift of this country. We will also remember the sacrifices made by past generations to insure that the Spirit of ’76 continues. We sometimes forget it was the struggles of past generations that produced the benefits of today.
 
I am always amazed by the political characters of past generations – the Washingtons and the Lincolns – who, at the cost of their own prestige and lives, stood for and defended the American democratic system. Washington was offered the crown. He turned it down, and returned as a private citizen to his farm estate in Virginia. At the end of the Civil War, Lincoln, who sought unification, was assassinated by a disgruntled Southern supporter. They have served us so well because they possessed a larger vision of the nation; they led and understood the source of the independence they enjoyed. Our independence was won in blood, and subsequent generations understood that it would be with blood that they would maintain the independence of their country.
 
I am always shocked at how little our youth know about the history of our country and its Constitution. Certainly, a microphone shoved in the face of a passerby can cause disorientation, but to understand that the Revolutionary War was fought against the English and not against the Japanese is an indictment of our educational system. Maybe the struggle for independence is not interesting enough to hold the attention of our youth. Since the musical “Hamilton” is done in rap, it might ramp up the historical imagination of our younger minds.
 
As a religious leader, I could make a good case that the immigration of European citizens was a flight for religious freedom. They were seeking the ability to worship God as an individual saw fit. Most of the colonies supported religious practices. In the United States Constitution, the limitation of religious practices was not placed on various faiths, but rather on the government's imposition of religious expressions on the populace of the country. This is what is called the Establishment Clause. The Founding Fathers were fearful that the government could establish a religion and impose it on their citizens.
 
The desire for freedom stems from the source which grants those freedoms: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  (Declaration of Independence, 1776)
 
In exercising my religious freedom on July 4, I am thanking God for those unalienable rights, as well as for a country that supports my rights. I will also pray to possess the courage, like the Washingtons and Lincolns before me, to challenge those who would deny those rights. True freedom is following God's will and His command to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Note: This blog originally appeared as the July 02, 2019 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.