I notice that the USCCB is gearing up for another Fortnight for Freedom. I certainly don’t begrudge their exercising of their teaching office, nor the promotion of religious freedom. From the site, this year’s observance is described as …
a time when our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power…
The theme of this year’s Fortnight will focus on the freedom to serve the poor and vulnerable in accord with human dignity and the Church’s teaching.
My main problem is that the Church has always been in favor of religious freedom, except for the times when it hasn’t. Unfortunately, women are often at the blunt end of the “hasn’t.” And for the past two summers, we’ve observed a parallel, complementary, or corrupt (or all three) version focusing on women who suffered at the hands of churchmen and others when their freedom was deemed too free. Check the summary here.
In the queue I have Mary Dyer, Margery Kempe, and Isabel Roser.
I’m happy to take suggestions for the Two Weeks. of deceased women, not necessarily of the Roman tradition. Suggestions for writers, too. Ideally I’d like to do no more than half the entries.
Or perhaps you think this effort has jumped the spiritual shark, so to speak.
Comments? Suggestions? Discernment?
Catholic Sensibility 
I wish I had someone to recommend! It reminds me of an article about the Fortnight for Freedom, where the writer included the quote “Catholics believe in tradition, but they do not believe in history.”
Celebrating “Women Benefactors of Humanity” is a capital idea. Women of all, and some opposing, backgrounds would be in order. Each church and nation could celebrate their own as part of the overall celebration.
The Bishops are needlessly ratcheting up their cold war rhetoric against Obama. Suggesting that the US Catholic church is being martyred is a form of hysteria.
I am convinced that no true martyrdom is self-proclaimed. True martyrdom is a witness to the faith, and as such, it takes someone else to notice, to witness it, and to declare on behalf of another.
That could work. It’s a great idea.
if you want to stay on religious freedom, you could look at men and women who have had their religious freedoms infringed upon in Catholic countries. You could also look at real instances of religious persecution in the world today.