Campus Notes

Lay Catholics, priests, bishops, nuns, and Cardinals have all joined together to reject the new Health and Human Services Department plan to force all health insurance plans to cover contraception, including abortifacient contraception.

And while signing petitions, getting the word out, and writing your elected officials are all important, please don’t forget one thing we can all do — pray.

Following the model of Blessed Mother Teresa’s original Memorare Army and responding to Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann’s request, Benedictine College is launching a national Memorare Army prayer campaign in hopes of gathering pledges for  1 million memores for religious liberty and stronger Catholic identity in public life.

Archbishop Naumann has been one of the most vocal opponents of the mandate and now famously said, “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law.”

Benedictine College stands in solidarity with Archbishop Naumann. In fact, the three principal officers of the College — the president, dean and chief financial officer — all submitted testimony to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services protesting this regulation. Benedictine College was one 18 colleges that joined with The Cardinal Newman Society in a joint appeal.

“As an institution of higher education, our mission is the education of men and women within a community of faith and scholarship,” Dr. Kimberly Shankman, dean of Benedictine College, wrote at the time. “While the inculcation of religious values is not our primary purpose, (and, therefore, we do not qualify under the exceptionally narrow definition of a religious organization contained within the regulations) nevertheless, adherence to the tenets of our faith is an obligation central to our identity as a Catholic college.”

Click here to join the Memorare Army. Please share this important prayer campaign with friends via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.