Catholics (and non-Catholics) in the Miami Valley woke up this morning only to find on the front page of the Dayton Daily News the following information from the University of Dayton’s propagandist-in-chief Teri Rizvi :
“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 [insurance] plans [in order to provide contraception and sterilization],” said Teri Rizvi, UD’s associate vice president for communications. “We are not changing our employee health care insurance coverage.”
Rizvi said the coverage has been in place for at least 20 years…
“The university is aligned with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities’ position, which supports a balance between health care and religious freedom…”
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities said it is “encouraged” by Obama’s compromise…
Now, compare UD’s media response to His Excellency Dennis Schnurr Archbishop of Cincinnati’s letter to the archdiocese on 26 January 2012.
Respectful thoughts on this matter can be sent to His Excellency at the following: archbishop@catholiccincinnati.org
Archbishop Schnurr refers in his letter to the violation of the conscience of Catholics. What is up with UD’s conscience? Do members of UD’s leadership have any?
Anyway, still no word yet from E. Eight Street in downtown Cincy…
Hattip: OTRITT reader/commentor- Greg
UPDATE
I found the following from the Cardinal Newman Society regarding the Congressional hearing yesterday on religious liberty. Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings pointed to the above fact from a list of Catholic colleges provided to him by the pro-abortion National Women’s Law Centter, in response to Bishop William Lori’s testimony before the House Committee.
It’s worth noting several Catholic universities on the list directly contradict the UD communication director’s claim that UD must carry contraceptive and sterilizations for purposes of birth control because their insurers are unable to make a distinction between contraception for medical reasons and contraception for birth control. However, several universities on the list supposedly are able to seperate these from their plans. They claim not to provide these products/services for purposes of birth control in their insurance plans. Either UD is full of it, or sounds like they need new insurers. Their apparent unfaithfulness in regards to these matters is now being used as a weapon by liberals against Archbishop Schnurr and his fellow bishops in an attempt to curb religious liberty.
17 February 2012 at 5:50 pm
come on – would you have been more suprised if UD took a stand on the side of Catholic teaching?? this should be no surprise – follow the money!! they will not give up their cash flow of small catholic supporters will they?
no surprise –
UD is a great university – UD is a terrible Catholic university
pray for UD and the Society of Mary
17 February 2012 at 6:26 pm
rj,
Yes, UD is a great university but it is in need of our prayers. And no, I am not surprised, however, it is still something that needs to be exposed even if nothing comes about of it.
I guess UD’s reasoning is the fact that since medically necessary contraception/sterilization (Is there such a thing? What are they referring to? Hysterectomies? The pill to treat endometriosis?) would also be excluded, they would include these elements in their insurance plans.
Is this reasoning morally sound? Are there faithful Catholic institutions that share this practice?
19 February 2012 at 1:38 am
If you are a Catholic University, not sure how you are a great University when you are not Catholic. If you label yourself Catholic and lead your flock away from the faith, you have failed in your most important mission. You are no longer tied to the way, the truth, and the life in Christ.
Part of what is wrong in this country now is that too often we put faith in a box to be pulled out once in a while on sunday by the majority of our people if at all. Statement like UD being a great university in view of this most serious failure lead too many to think in this compartmentalized view.
I think Catholics in the Pews are too often willing to show the PC tolerance and not call a spade a spade. One advantage of growing old is that you can say about anything you please. Of course the disadvantage in today’s world for the oldsters is that few pay attention since most of us don’t tweet or twitter.
19 February 2012 at 12:55 pm
Mark,
Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say, that UD was a great university.
17 February 2012 at 9:11 pm
I don’t know squat about UD or it’s insurance plan. I do know that my mainline major medical plan obtained through my job which as far as I know, has no religious connections, from a major insurer, until just a few years ago (probably in response to some law) did not cover any birth control except for sterilization. The policy specifically said that oral contraceptives were not covered, no matter what the use for which they were prescribed.
Some facebook friends on the opposite side of this issue right now are bringing up the “other use” issue. The reality is that bcps are used to treat a lot of female ills, and if you have no issue with the morality of contraception, it makes a lot of sense. Instead of buying antibiotics for acne, and condoms for contraception, get your acne meds and contraception in one package. Instead of pain meds for your period, and something for contraception, get them both in one package. The fact that the ills the pill cures are so prevalent makes any “non-contraceptive use only” insurance provision basically useless. It will be like the days before preventative care was covered and savvy women knew to complain about cramps at their yearly exam–that way the doctor’s visit would be covered even if the pap wasn’t. If you can find me a reproductive age woman who doesn’t ever have cramps, acne, moodiness or irregular cycles, I’ll show you a woman who doesn’t want to take bcps.
21 February 2012 at 8:40 am
I think that when dealing with other uses of contraception one needs to distinguish convenience and true need.
A teenage girl who is chaste but is in bed from the pain of her periods due to endometriosis can easily be perscribed pills without a question. Another who is just a little inconvienced by the pain, should not be perscribed them since this can be better treated with Tylenol (on top of the whole issue of temptation).
It gets more complicated if the lady is 30 with endometriosis and wants to wait before having another kid.
It has no know complete cure; surgery can reduce it significantly but it can grow back after. I mention endometriosis because I know someone who was on the Pill for it. There may be other diseases treated such.
18 February 2012 at 8:42 am
Bernardin, paging Bernardin,
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, please pick up the phone
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, please answer for yourself
Cardinal Bernardin, where are you?
19 February 2012 at 1:42 am
Bern has never left. He hand selected Pilarczyk and Pilarczyk selected Schnurr. Schnurr loves the seamless garment.
I thought Pilarczyk didn’t do much allowing massive dissent for years and covering up abuse, but Schnurr has been the most invisible Bishop I think I have ever seen.
21 February 2012 at 12:57 pm
They just threw that pinch of incense on the altar of Jupiter to save themselves from martyrdom. We used to call them lapsi.