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Freedom for and Freedom from

MPadilla
Jun 1
3 min read

At the Capital building in Washington, D.C., inscribed in stone are the following words: 

 

  • Freedom of speech

  • Freedom of worship

  • Freedom from want

  • Freedom from fear

 

What is Religious Freedom?

 

“But how we think of religious freedom can differ from one person to the next.  The ideal of religious freedom may be summarized as “separation of church and state” and “the right to follow my conscience.”  Many Americans will often think primarily in terms of human rights.”

 

“Broadly speaking, then, the Church teaches freedom for religion.  Religious freedom entails immunity from coercion, and this freedom must be respected so that persons can seek the truth and order their public and private lives to that truth.  This freedom belongs to individuals and institutions.  Religious liberty cannot exist in its healthiest form without the ability of religious institutions to exercise meaningful autonomy.

 

 

We can think about freedom through two aspects:

 

  • External freedom - External freedom refers to the absence of coercion by others and the ability to act in the physical and social world. 


  • Political freedom: the right to participate in civil life, vote, be free from oppressive government

  • Economic freedom: The autonomy to acquire, use, and dispose of property.

  • Personal freedom: The independence to live your private life as you choose.

  • Legal freedom: The guarantee that all individuals are subject to the same laws and have equal access to justice, ensuring that one person's choices do not arbitrarily dominate another's.

 

“Freedom is not license; it is a force for growth in truth and goodness. The more we do what is good, the freer we become. Conversely, the choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin” (Rom 6:17). Misusing freedom—by serving passions, desires, or self-interest—binds us to sin and harms relationships. “Read Catechism here.

 

  • Internal freedom - internal freedom deals with mastery over one's own mind, desires, and emotional reactions to those circumstances.

 

  • Self-Awareness: The foundational aspect; recognizing your own thoughts, emotions, and conditioned reactions in the present moment without immediately acting on them.

  • Freedom of Choice: The deliberate ability to determine how you interpret and respond to a situation. You control your internal experience even when you cannot control the external environment. 

  • Emotional Resilience: The capacity to observe and accept challenging emotional states (like sadness or anxiety) without allowing them to dictate your identity or behavior.

  • Authenticity: The commitment to living and acting in alignment with your core values and conscience, free from the paralyzing fear of social judgment.

  • Release of Attachments: Letting go of the need to cling to specific outcomes, which helps insulate your inner peace from the unpredictability of outside events.

 

“Catholic teaching sees interior freedom as the inner openness to God’s will, grounded in the freedom given by God through reason and will. It is not passive passivity but an active openness to God’s guidance, ordered toward the good and true. Without it, even the most deliberate choices can be spiritually empty or lead to sin. Cultivating interior freedom is thus central to Catholic spirituality, moral life, and relationship with God.” (Google)


“In summary: Catholic freedom is a gift to be used for growth in truth and goodness, guided by God’s law and love, not for self-indulgence without moral direction. It is freedom for the good, not freedom from all limits.”


More resources:

 

Upcoming Event: Webinar on Freedom


“As our Nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, you are invited to a Webinar on Freedom. It will be at 1 PM on Sunday June 28.  The webinar will be led by Teresita Scully and the Fellowship of Social Justice Teaching group.”


For more information, and to register for the event, click here.


Millie Padilla

FSJ Admin

 
 
 

Comments

“Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets who announced God's special love for the poor and called God's people to a covenant of love and justice. It is a teaching founded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came "to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . liberty to captives . . . recovery of sight to the blind"(Lk 4:18-19), and who identified himself with "the least of these," the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45). Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor. This commitment arises from our experiences of Christ in the eucharist.”

https://www.usccb.org/resources/sharing-catholic-social-teaching-challenges-and-directions

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