Bishop Barron delivers a prayer of rededication at the Rededicate 250 event in Washington, D.C.
Bishop Robert Barron speaks at a national anniversary gathering, offering a reflection on the theological foundations of American democracy and a formal prayer dedicating the United States to God.
Summary
Bishop Robert Barron addresses the Rededicate 250 gathering in Washington, D.C., on the occasion of America's 250th founding anniversary. He argues that the American ideals of freedom and equality are inseparable from their theological grounding — that without God as creator, the equality of all persons cannot be sustained. Drawing on figures including Abraham Lincoln, Thomas More, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther King Jr., he contends that the Catholic tradition and the American idea are deeply interwoven. He closes with a formal prayer of national rededication, asking God for the gifts of wisdom, piety, counsel, fortitude, and holy fear, and declaring that America's declaration of independence is, at its heart, a declaration of dependence on God.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
America as a Nation Founded on Freedom and Theological Equality
Bishop Barron: We are indeed the land of the free. We have a Liberty Bell. We revere a Declaration of Independence. The highest civilian honor the president can bestow is a Medal of Freedom. But why is freedom so important to us? Here's why: it's essential to human dignity.
Though our founding fathers were indeed influenced by classical philosophy, they were also heirs to another great tradition — namely, the Bible. What the founders knew from their Christian formation is that all people, despite their enormous inequalities, are equally children of God and therefore equal in dignity. Take God out of the equation and equality quickly disappears. But when equality is grounded in a creator, it becomes enduring and universal.
Bishop Barron's Remarks at the Rededicate 250 Gathering
I just gave a talk of about fifteen minutes at this Rededicate 250 meeting in Washington. I talked about Abraham Lincoln, and I brought in Thomas More and Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther King, and tried to show how the American idea and the Catholic idea are really woven together in important ways.
In about forty-five minutes or so, I'm going to give a final prayer of dedication of the country to God. It's a great thrill to be here. I couldn't help but think of people like Archbishop Ireland and Cardinal Gibbons and Cardinal Mundelein, and coming up through Father Hesburgh — figures who have tried to celebrate the connection between Catholicism and America. I'm happy to be standing as an unworthy representative of that tradition.
Friends, because we are under God, we can hold fast to the foundation of our freedom — the equality in which we were created, the source of our rights, and the justice of our laws. Because we are under God, we can look to the next 250 years with confidence.
Prayer of National Rededication
Let us pray.
Lord God of all creation, we gather today to thank you and to praise you for the gift of our country. On the 250th anniversary of our founding, we recall the words of Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
Heavenly Father, we know that these principles come not from government, not from popular consensus, but from you. They are indeed an amazing grace upon which our democracy itself rests. Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen expressed the paradox well: our Declaration of Independence is a declaration of dependence upon God.
Heavenly Father, we also recognize that the moral values that guide our lives are grounded in your will. It is from the pulpits of our country that we have learned throughout these past two and a half centuries of generosity, justice, kindness, gentleness of spirit, forgiveness, and compassion. And this is why John Adams, Alexis de Tocqueville, Cardinal Gibbons, Martin Luther King, and Billy Graham all insisted that a religiously vibrant America is a politically healthy America. It is also why we cherish religious liberty — a conviction that has made us a haven for people fleeing religious persecution from all over the world.
We come before you today, O King of the universe, as a nation of sinners in constant need of repentance. But we know that when we turn to you in humility, even our deepest wounds can be healed and our wavering resolution strengthened. Slavery ended in our country because people of faith, inspired by the liberation of Israelite slaves from Egypt long ago, led a great campaign against it. Segregation ended in our country because men and women of faith marched and fought and protested against it. And to this day, religious people lead the struggle against the murder of the unborn — an offense that sullies the soul of our republic. And so we earnestly pray, as did our forebears: God, mend our every flaw.
Lord, on this great national anniversary, we gather to rededicate our country to you — not because you need our devotion, but because by praising you, we receive grace upon grace. And so, Father, in honoring you, we hope to receive all the gifts of the Holy Spirit delineated by the prophet Isaiah: the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding which allow us to see the world as you do; the piety which leads us to worship you alone; the counsel that allows us to discern your path for us; the fortitude which permits us to face any obstacle; and the fear of the Lord which makes us dauntless in doing your will.
We Americans know that piety and patriotism are not opposed to one another. On the contrary, our country rests on theological foundations. And so, as a bishop of the Catholic Church and as a proud American, I make bold to dedicate our country once more to God, and to say: Lord, let the light of thy face shine upon our land.
Amen.