Go Xavier!

One of Ohio's Catholic universities just made the announcement that they will discontinue providing birth control coverage -- a move "backwards" to where they should have been all along (I say "backwards" but I am not implying that it is wrong, rather very right).

Catholic University in Ohio ends birth control coverage

"The (HHS) controversy prompted Xavier President Michael Graham, a Jesuit priest, to review the health insurance plan offered to the university's 935 employees. Graham announced this week in a letter to the faculty that the plan will cease to cover contraception on July 1."

Some faculty are outraged (uh!), but some students say it's the way it should be (and it should): 

"'That coverage never should have been there in the first place,' said Meghan Savercool, a junior majoring in theology. She called the move a crucial means of 'upholding the Jesuit Catholic identity of the university.'"

I think it's a great move to push back at the Obama administration. The more Catholic institutions that make this move the greater voice the Church has. Catholics must show this government that birth control usage is not something that is fine -- that we'll pretend is not happening. If the culture believes that 98% of Catholic women use birth control (a number I have already stated is blatantly false) then our claim that this mandate violates our beliefs is weak.

If you are a graduate of one of the Catholic universities on this list, please consider writing or calling your alma mater to state your opinion. Alumni opinions matter to university governing boards. Another Ohio university -- University of Dayton is on that list. A university representative said, “Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our institution’s mission, but, in light of the importance of the health of our employees and the prevention of disease, we entered into these plans. We are not changing our employee health care insurance coverage.”

I think UD needs to receive some letters and phone calls to inform them that pregnancy is not a disease!

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On another related HHS note, our parish Knights of Columbus sponsored a letter-signing campaign this past weekend. After Mass they provided typed letters for parishioners to sign and fill in addresses. The letters were addressed to the president and our senators/congressmen. Please call your church office and ask if this service is available to you.  Encourage your knights to do it on a larger scale like our parish did. There were a lot of people standing in line to sign letters (Father made an announcement after Mass and told us to do it!). Multiply that number times all the Masses at our parish and that was a lot of letters!