While more than 100 institutions
and individuals—including
Catholic colleges and universities—have filed suit against the Obama
administration over the HHS mandate, the president of Gonzaga University announced
last week to faculty and staff that the Jesuit school in Spokane, Washington
will be complying with the mandate. GU President Thayne McCulloh said that the
university will provide coverage for contraception under its health insurance
plan starting December 1, 2012.
Matthew Archbold, writing
for the Cardinal Newman Society’s blog, has excerpts from a memo sent by McCulloh
explaining the decision to university employees:
Gonzaga is a Catholic and Jesuit university and as such demonstrates its
membership in and fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church in many ways. One of
these involves promulgating Church teachings as regards respect for, and the
promotion of, human life. The Church has, since before the issue of the
Apostolic Letter of Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (1968) held that engaging in
any action which has as its purpose interference with the (sexually)
procreative process is both immoral and unlawful. This position is well known
and has been affirmed by the Church many times since. While there are many
opinions about the Church’s position on these matters, heretofore Catholic
institutions, like Gonzaga, have been permitted to construct and maintain
policies in accord with this position…
Irrespective of the specific issue
(e.g. contraception), the mandate is seen by many as oppressive and as creating
an unresolvable conflict between the obligation to promote and support Church
teaching and the obligation to follow the law. While the conflict remains, we
conclude that it is incumbent upon us as a Catholic Jesuit institution to
ensure that the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the specific issue of
contraception is clearly communicated, even as we are compelled by the federal
government to fulfill our legal obligation under the mandate.
Readers may recall that another Jesuit
institution, Xavier University in Cincinnati, went
public last month about its decision to comply with the HHS mandate and
cover contraception under its health plan. As Archbold points out in his post,
no Jesuit universities are among those suing the Obama
administration over the mandate.
I know we have readers at Gonzaga—my alma mater!—and
in the larger Spokane community. Please do let us know about any further
efforts undertaken by the university administration “to
ensure that the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the specific issue of
contraception is clearly communicated.” I, for one, will be interested to hear
about them.