Courageous witness

Richard A. Sokerka

As every Catholic should be aware by now, the Little Sisters of the Poor have fought all the way to the Supreme Court against the Obama administration’s mandate that requires most employers, including religious employers, to offer employee health insurance that covers contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs — even if the employer is morally opposed.

The Little Sisters’ courageous witness to their faith received a standing ovation in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame April 9 where the Little Sisters came to accept the Evangelium Vitae Award for outstanding service to human life given by the university’s Center for Ethics and Culture.

The ovation took place during the homily of Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., at a Mass preceding the award presentation. He referred to the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, comparing the Little Sisters’ witness to that of the Apostles who were called before the Sanhedrin, a religious court, and told to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.

“This community of sisters, in the face of a terribly unjust mandate of our federal government, have stood up, and by their actions have said what St. Peter and the Apostles said to their government in the earliest years of the Church: ‘We must obey God rather than men,” the bishop said, prompting the ovation.

If only Notre Dame’s administration had the same courageous witness as the Little Sisters do to our faith, they would rescind their presentation of the university’s Laetare Medal, the most prestigious honor given to American Catholics in recognition of outstanding service to the Church and society, to Vice President Joseph Biden — who supports abortion rights and gay marriage — at this year’s commencement May 15.

In an earlier statement, Bishop Rhodes, said, “The Church has continually urged public officials, especially Catholics, of the grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that supports or facilitates abortion or that undermines the authentic meaning of marriage. I disagree with awarding someone for ‘outstanding service to the Church and society’ who has not been faithful to this obligation.”

There’s still time for the university to muscle up the courageous witness to defend its Catholic identity from the example given by the Little Sisters and rescind the award.