It is my joy to address this “First Liberty Forum” here in Baltimore. As a signer of the Williamsburg Charter, I was pleased to receive your kind invitation to address the question of religious liberty from the perspective of the Catholic church in the United States.

The most effective way to proceed, I think, is to speak from a foundation of both Catholic principles about religious liberty and Catholic experience in the exercise of religious liberty within the U.S. political and legal system. My remarks, therefore, will cover three themes: first, a Catholic understanding of religious liberty; second, religious liberty and domestic policy; and third, religious liberty in international perspective.