Homily for Mass at Notre Dame conference on pluralism and religious freedom

This homily was shared by Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. on August 31, 2026, at a Mass during a conference on pluralism and religious freedom convened on Notre Dame’s campus by the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative in partnership with Interfaith America.

First of all, it is an honor to welcome you all to Notre Dame. It is a privilege to have so many of you here for the pluralism, religious freedom, and democracy conference.

It is fitting that we begin by celebrating Mass together, since this Mass really is an invitation to deep freedom and communion. And in a special way, this conference examines the importance of religious freedom for the proper functioning of democracy and explores how we might build a more perfect union in this wonderfully diverse and pluralistic country.

So, today’s Mass, like every Mass, is God’s invitation to true freedom and a deep union with God and with each other. In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. In reading this passage, he essentially announces his mission, and liberty and freedom feature prominently:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

However, as Jesus’ subsequent ministry would reveal, the liberty or freedom that Jesus proclaims is not merely freedom from external constraints. It is not merely the freedom from authoritarian rule, as important as that is. It is not merely freedom from material poverty, as desirable as that is. It is certainly not freedom to do whatever we like whenever we like without regard for the consequences for others. Jesus proclaims true inner freedom: freedom from narrow self-interest and slavery to the pursuit of personal power, convenience, and pleasure at all costs.

This inner freedom is crucial for the survival of outer freedoms, that is, political, social, and economic freedoms. If political, social, and economic freedoms are to be used in ways that promote human dignity and human flourishing, as God intends, this inner freedom is crucial.

The United States is a country of laws, but we know that laws are not enough to sustain democracy. The United States is a country of institutions, of which Americans are rightly proud, but institutions are not enough.

We all know that what is needed is a spirit of public service, a dedication to the common good, and a commitment to searching for truth, which are indicative of the inner freedom to which God invites us.

And we know that, at their best, religious communities like our own help people to accept this invitation to inner freedom extended by God. The inner freedom that allows them to exercise their outer freedoms responsibly, to serve and make sacrifices for others, to work for the justice that makes for a peaceful society, and to pursue truth, beauty, and goodness wherever they are to be found.

In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo writes about the importance of searching for truth in any democracy:

“The search for truth is an essential element of democracy, which is itself a means of contributing to the common good.

When questions of what is true lose their appeal, and a pragmatism takes hold that is content with what appears useful or effective, then democratic life is weakened. After all, democracy does not consist of rules and procedures alone, but above all of a solid concordance with the facts and a genuine commitment to the good of individuals and society as a whole. Indifference to the truth leads slowly but surely to a descent into totalitarianism…” (Paragraph 134)

Religious communities, when they are functioning properly, consistently invite people to seek truth. They free people from being easily manipulated by those who seek to divide and dominate them by blurring the difference between fact and fiction, between what is true and what is false.

So, as we celebrate this Mass, let us pray that we accept the invitation that God extends to us in Jesus to grow in inner freedom:

  • a freedom that allows us to hold firm to and proclaim beliefs and core convictions without imposing them on others,

  • a freedom that allows us to recognize what is good, beautiful, and true in traditions other than our own and to learn from them,

  • a freedom from everything that keeps us from recognizing the dignity of every human being across the spectrum of life regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political affiliation, immigration status, and other descriptives,

  • a freedom that allows us to make sacrifices for others and serve the common good.

Ultimately, the future of our democracy depends on growth in such freedom—a freedom we are invited to in this Mass and every Mass we celebrate.

May God bless you all as we strive to accept God’s invitation to this inner freedom.