Franciscan University Sues Government for Right "to Live the Faith We Believe"

Franciscan University joins rising tide, including the Archdioceses of Washington, D.C., New York, and St. Louis, seeking to overturn the HHS mandate.

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Franciscan University of Steubenville announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama administration. The lawsuit, which was unanimously approved by Franciscan's Board of Trustees, challenges the Obama administration's unprecedented mandate that attacks the freedom to practice religion without government interference.

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Under the HHS mandate, employers must provide insurance coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs, as well as contraceptives and sterilization procedures. Franciscan University maintains that the requirement to fund and facilitate such activities violates its core religious and moral convictions as a Catholic university. 

"Franciscan University's mission is and always has been to teach from the heart of the Church," said University President Father Terence Henry, TOR. "The Obama administration's mandate is a grave threat to our ability to carry out that mission. It makes it impossible for us to operate freely as a Catholic institution without overbearing and invasive governmental interference."

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, seeks to have the mandate declared unconstitutional and enjoin the government from enforcing the requirement.

In addition to Franciscan University's lawsuit, 42 other separate plaintiffs filed a total of 12 lawsuits today in U.S. District courts around the country. Those plaintiffs are all Catholic organizations and include Catholic dioceses, schools, universities, and charitable organizations. Numbered among the plaintiffs are the Archdioceses of New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, as well as the Dioceses of Dallas, Ft. Worth, Rockville Centre, Pittsburgh, and the Michigan Catholic Conference, which represents all seven dioceses in the state.

"The Church is speaking with one unified voice on this issue," said Father Henry. "Every single American bishop has condemned this unjust mandate as an unconscionable violation of religious liberty. If allowed to stand, it will coerce Christians into cooperating with acts that violate core tenets of our faith."

When first proposed in August 2011 by the Department of Health and Human Services, the mandate was met by strong objections from numerous Catholic bishops, hospitals, and institutions. Although a small exemption for some religious institutions was written into the original proposal, it was too narrow to cover the vast majority of them, particularly those, like Catholic universities, which both employ and serve people of other faiths or no faith at all. The mandate effectively puts the federal government in the position of deciding which organizations are "religious enough."

"Throughout our 65-year history, Franciscan University has educated people because we are Catholic, not because they are. And, again, because we are Catholic, Franciscan cannot provide coverage of drugs and procedures that violate Church teachings on the sanctity of life," Father Henry said. "Under the HHS mandate and its narrow exemption, the government punishes us for reaching out to serve and employ those who do not share our faith."

Noting that Franciscan University did not go looking for this battle, Father Henry said the University retained Jones Day, one of the world's largest law firms, with whom the University has had a relationship for the past twenty years, "because it has the resources to fight the government as long as it takes, and we will settle for no less than a restoration of our First Amendment right to freedom of religion."

For more information, including a video statement from Father Henry, go to www.franciscan.edu/ReligiousLiberty.

SOURCE Franciscan University of Steubenville