Those who participated in Mass this past Sunday can, I hope, testify to the passion that came from me as I talked about the terrible threat to religious liberty that is happening in our country, especially through the mandate of health care reform that demands that Catholics and Catholic institutions be forced to violate our consciences and beliefs against such practices as artificial contraception, sterilizations and abortifacients.  For those who participated in the 4:00 p.m. Mass, you did not hear my homily because I only decided to preach after reading the bishop's letter on this subject and hearing the Gospel about "authority" proclaimed during that Mass.  I strongly urge EVERY parishioner to respond actively to this threat to religious liberty in our country through ongoing prayer and action to let our elected officials know how wrong this is for Catholics and all people of faith.  Please use the help of the insert in this week's bulletin to fashion a message and send it to some or all those who are listed on the insert (and maybe others) in whatever way you wish to communicate with them.  If we don't take action to try to reverse these efforts to restrict our religious liberty, both we, and others in future generations might suffer from the results.