The White House hosted dozens of Catholic leaders on Monday afternoon for an internal briefing on life and religious freedom issues. The off the record briefing, held in the Indian Treaty Room of the Executive Office Building, focused on “life, religious freedom, and other issues pertinent to the Catholic faith community,” according to an invite provided to participants. Attendees also had the opportunity to share their observations or concerns with the administration.
Catholics in attendance included former Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp, now a senior political advisor for CatholicVote.org; Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society; and Stephen D. Minnis, president of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Several nuns were also in attendance, Huelskamp said.
Attendees also had a chance to make their voices heard on various matters important to them. Stephen D. Minnis, president of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, said in a Sunday press release that the chief message he planned to deliver to the White House was that “Catholic organizations should be allowed to provide the services only they can provide.”
Minnis said he planned to warn of three trends threatening Catholic institutions: regulations requiring them to take public stances that are contradictory with the Catholic faith, “free college” promises that would “undermine” Catholic education, and the right of Catholic organizations to “free exercise” of religion in public and “not just right to worship.” CNA
