Catholic bishop on commission warns religious liberty faces a ‘culture of self invention’

A Catholic bishop serving on the commission warned the meeting on Friday that religious liberty is under pressure from a growing cultural philosophy that prioritizes individual autonomy over traditional religious claims. “I call it the culture of self invention,” the bishop said, invoking Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict the sixteenth, and arguing that the shift challenges objective moral values.

The bishop framed the moment as “a battle … for religious liberty, our first freedom,” and said members of the U.S. bishops have treated the issue as central for decades. He noted he has served on the bishops’ committee on religious liberty for about five years and described the role on the commission as continuing a tradition of church leaders participating in public commissions, citing Father Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame as an example.

In his opening remarks the bishop said the philosophy of prioritizing individual autonomy increasingly treats classical religions as opponents because religions, he said, “stand for objective moral values” and “God as the ground of those values.” He said he observed attempts to remove religion from public life while serving six years as a bishop in California, pointing to health care and education as arenas where those pressures have appeared.

The remarks were introductory; the speaker closed by saying he was pleased to join the commission’s work on religious liberty. No formal proposals, motions, or votes were recorded in the transcript of these opening remarks.