Jesuit University Reverses Itself, Will Cover Contraceptives

MRyan Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:47 pm

Jesuit University Reverses Itself, Will Cover Contraceptives

http://blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/10/11/jesuit-university-reverses-itself-will-cover-contraceptives/

A Jesuit university that saw faculty protests after the president of the university announced earlier this year that it would no longer cover contraceptives in its insurance plan has now reportedly reversed itself and announced that it will in fact continue to cover contraceptives.

In an interview with Cincinnati.com, Xavier University President Fr. Michael Graham, S.J., said that in light of the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, he is reversing himself and the university will cover contraceptives for its 950 employees. And on top of that, he seemed to apologize for not being in the “center” on this issue.

Seven Catholic colleges and many other Catholic organizations have sued the Obama administration rather than comply with the mandate. Not one Jesuit college has joined in.

Back in April, Fr. Graham sent a letter to employees, saying, “As a Catholic priest and as president of a Catholic university, I have concluded that, absent a legal mandate, it is inconsistent for a Catholic institution to cover those drugs and procedures the Church opposes.” This was heartening news for faithful Catholics. Dan Andriacco, director of communications of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, told The Cardinal Newman Society at the time that they were “delighted” and that the archdiocese and the Jesuit university had been in “extensive communication about this issue.”

Predictably however, not everyone was thrilled. After that original announcement, some faculty backlash ensued including one faculty member who wrote a public letter, saying, “There are faculty and staff at Xavier, including practicing Catholics, who believe the Church should reconsider its position on birth control; nevertheless, to cover the costs of prescriptions and procedures that are currently contrary to Church teaching might call into question our Jesuit Catholic identity, which is at the heart of the Xavier community.”

Originally, the change was scheduled to take place in July but under pressure, Fr. Graham reportedly delayed the switch until December. And now, he just told a Cincinatti newspaper that he’s reversing course entirely and the university will continue covering contraceptives.

A call to the Archdiocese of Cincinatti about this turn of events was not returned by the time of publication.

Fr. Graham now reportedly says he should have consulted with employees before making the original announcement. “I fault myself with the way I handled last April’s situation,” he reportedly said.“An example that universities ought to set for the country as a whole is the holding of the (political) center. I did not lead this institution in a process like that, and I hold myself accountable.”

Ex corde Ecclesiae, the 1990 Vatican constitution that defines and sets requirements for Catholic colleges and universities worldwide, makes clear “It is the honour and responsibility of a Catholic University to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth.” It does not mention a responsibility to holding the center.

Graham still, however, seems to insist that the HHS mandate is “deeply problematic” but adds “we will comply with the law.”

Jehanne Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:08 am

A Catholic (sic) institution is going to cover something which the Church has always taught (de fide ecclesiastica and not de fide definita, as Vice President Biden thinks) that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil:

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil:

Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.

Note that the Catechism uses the phrase "intrinsically evil" in only one other instance:

2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them.