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Catholic prayer breakfast held in Washington

Carol Zimmermann | Catholic News Service

Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell speaks during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington April 27.

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Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., delivers the keynote speech during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington April 27.

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WASHINGTON – During the April 27 National Catholic Prayer
Breakfast in Washington, speakers paid tribute to the
soon-to-be-beatified Pope John Paul II and urged Catholic
participants to continue his legacy of defending religious
liberty and human dignity.

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., urged the
audience of about 1,500 people, including politicians and
Catholics from around the country, to take the message of
Pope John Paul’s pontificate to heart and not let it be “a
flash of light that fades.”

Other speakers at the seventh annual breakfast included
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, who spoke of his Catholic
upbringing and of the need to follow Pope John Paul’s example
of serving others.

In order to continue the pope’s insistence on religious
liberty, Bishop Lori urged the crowd to remember the plight
of persecuted Christians in the Middle East and ask
government leaders to speak out for those “persecuted and
killed for proclaiming the name of Christ.”

Closer to home, he spoke of a “subtle undermining of
religious freedom in the United States,” referring to health
care provisions that “call into question the faith” of
taxpayers and health care providers opposed to abortions.

He said U.S. Catholic bishops are currently supporting three
initiatives that protect the conscience rights of health care
providers.

Too often, he said, religious freedom is viewed as a
“carve-out” or a special grant by the state, instead of being
recognized as an inalienable right. He said churches should
be guaranteed more than just their right to worship when
their role in serving the poor and those in need is so
extensive.

When the church is inhibited in “its ability to deliver”
services, it is “neither just nor reasonable,” he said.

Bishop Lori, who wrote a pastoral letter last year on
religious freedom and has faced state legislative battles on
religious freedom issues, stressed that U.S. Catholics have
much to learn from Pope John Paul, particularly how he “never
compromised truth.”

“We too must proclaim the truth boldly,” he told the crowd
who gave him a standing ovation.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich highlighted Pope John
Paul’s leadership and role in the downfall of Soviet
communism, after a few minutes of a recent documentary he and
his wife Callista produced about the pope was shown on a
large screen.

The documentary, “Nine Days That Changed the World,” which
was released last summer, chronicles the pontiff’s nine-day
pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 and examines the significant
role of that event.

The former Republican congressman, who is considering a run
for the presidency, also spoke of his conversion to
Catholicism in 2009 and admitted jokingly to the crowd that
he hadn’t attended enough Knights of Columbus pancake
breakfasts to properly address them.

He said he is “often asked when I chose to become Catholic,”
but said it is “more truthful to say that over the course of
several years I gradually became Catholic and then decided
one day to accept the faith I had already come to embrace.”

One part of his conversion had to do with Pope Benedict XVI’s
2008 visit to Washington. When Gingrich saw the pope during
the Mass at Nationals Park, he said he was “struck by the
happiness and peacefulness” of the pope, which he said
confirmed his own views about Catholicism. That night, he
told a priest that he wanted to become Catholic.

Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life group Live
Action, which currently focuses on investigating Planned
Parenthood programs, spoke of her recent conversion to
Catholicism as the “best decision” she ever made. She said
the pro-life efforts of today’s young people reflect a desire
to “build a culture of life” advocated by Pope John Paul.

She noted that during the pope’s last visit to the United
States in 1999, he spoke in St. Louis about the urgent need
for all to be “unconditionally pro-life.”

“We’re responding to this call,” Rose said.

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