The Becket Fund FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Ave Maria University v. Sebelius

Jim Towey, President of Ave Maria University, knows first-hand the immense value religious people of all faiths bring to the public square and is determined to stop the Administration’s efforts to push them to the margins.  Towey worked with Mother Teresa for 12 years, and saw her establish AIDs clinics and homeless shelters, then served for 4 years as President Bush’s director of faith-based and community initiatives.

Towey brought this understanding and vision to Ave Maria, a Catholic University dedicated to transmitting authentic Catholic values to students, who can then carry those values to the world.  But the Obama Administration’s contraceptive and abortion mandate threatens the very faith that animates Ave Maria’s mission.

The federal mandate has put Ave Maria in a terrible position: Either it betrays its faith and covers the drugs, or else it ends employee health benefits and pays hundreds of thousands in annual fines.

Ave Maria University’s case is the fourth lawsuit brought by the Becket Fund challenging the Obama administration’s abortion drug mandate.  The Becket Fund also represents Belmont Abbey College (a Catholic college in North Carolina), Colorado Christian University (a nondenominational Christian University outside Denver), and the Eternal Word Television Network (the largest Catholic media network in the world).