As we enter into the warmth and sun of the summer season, we look forward to the Fourth of July. That’s sort of the high point of this time of year. Independence Day is also a moment each year when we renew our appreciation for our beloved country and for the rights and freedoms that we enjoy as citizens.

This year, however, there is a cloud hanging over our celebration. It hangs over us as American citizens, as people of faith and as Catholics. That cloud comes from the fact our freedom is suddenly and seriously in danger.

The recently enacted healthcare law allows the federal administration to interpret the law through rules and regulations that have the force of law and, in February, the current administration published finalized rules mandating that religious employers provide insurance coverage for medications and procedures forbidden by our Catholic teaching. In effect, the rule forces Catholics to violate our consciences by paying for contraception and sterilization coverage, beginning in August 2013. This coverage also includes drugs that can induce abortion.

Despite numerous efforts by our Catholic bishops to reach out to the administration, including a personal contact between Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and the president, the government has offered no means of respecting our conscience. What has been included is a very narrow “religious exemption” by which the government decides and defines who is and who is not “religious,” and thereby grants the exemption. A religious entity that serves people of faiths other than its own is not “religious enough” to qualify for the government’s religious exemption.

The danger to our freedom as a result of this governmental action is clear.

First, despite the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, that declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” we are confronted with our government prohibiting our exercise of our faith.

Second, the government is now attempting to take to itself the power to decide and define who or what is “religious” and therefore who is not.

Third, as serious as this threat is, if it were allowed to stand, what further limitations on our freedom to practice our faith would be next?

There are practical and immediate consequences for people of faith when our God-given freedom is not respected. In recent years, in order not to violate our beliefs, Catholic Charities in several dioceses, including our own, have had to abandon services that we have traditionally offered. In effect, the attack on religious freedom has the consequence of limiting or eliminating our Catholic ability to help the needy, and to provide a foster child a home with both mother and father, essential parts of the practice of our faith.

What’s being done in response to this threat? Several weeks ago 43 Catholic entities including dioceses and Notre Dame University filed suit against the government to block these new rules.

In addition, the bishops of the United States have asked the Church to celebrate, from June 21 through July 4, what is being called the Fortnight for Freedom. As you will have seen in The Observer and on the diocesan website, various activities are planned to educate, highlight and mobilize the faithful to show our concern and our resolve.

Please become involved, be it by prayer, by filling out an I-CAN card or most especially by being present for one of the Red Masses to be held throughout the Diocese on Friday, June 22. It helps, too, to be visible. Ask your parish for a car magnet and talk to your friends, neighbors and relatives about this issue.

One of the popular songs on the Fourth of July is Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” In the midst of that song is the familiar line, “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.” Part of our treasured freedom is that of practicing our religion. Now is a moment for us to stand up as believers and as Americans and claim once more the right to the free practice of our faith that is given to us by God who is eternal and not merely granted by governments that come and go.