VITERBO UNIVERSITY TO “SIGNIFICANTLY CURTAIL” PRO-LIFE ACTIVITIES ON CAMPUS
By Anna DeMeuse, Pro-Life Wisconsin Communications Director
On Monday, August 22, Sister Laura Nettles, Executive Director for Mission and Social Justice at Viterbo University and member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, held a Mission Convocation for all employees as part of the Fall 2022 Inservice. The convocation topics were “Our Identity and Mission: Challenges and Opportunities” and “Civility/Kindness.”
Viterbo University, founded in 1890, ”is proud to be the only Catholic university in the Diocese of La Crosse and to participate directly in the life of the local Church.” According to their website, what makes Viterbo catholic is “a commitment to upholding the gospel understanding of the sacredness of all human life.” However, the comments that ensued during Monday’s convocation raise suspicion over the validity of this commitment.
During the Mission Convocation, an audience member asked why a pro-choice club was not allowed to form on campus. Sister Laura Nettles responded by confirming she was approached about a “Students for Choice” club on campus but could not permit the name “pro-choice” because it “is a trigger against the Catholic church.” She then offered the following:
“I would love to say yes to the club, but I asked him if he would be willing to consider a different name like a ‘Health Club’ or ‘Reproductive Rights’ club. What the student described he wanted to do in the club was to really advocate for women’s rights in healthcare to which I said, ‘amen’ to. So the question was whether he would be willing to think of a different title for it but do much of the same work.”
Sister Nettles later commented further on what this club’s “work” would be, saying “that [it] might be supporting access to abortions as a right.” The suggestion that an essentially pro-abortion club be able to form under the guise of a “health” club is grossly misleading. Abortion is the direct and intentional killing of an innocent human life, and as such, it cannot be considered a “health” initiative. In every abortion, a child is violently killed, and a mother is subjected to the emotional, psychological, and physiological effects of the abortion. Abortion is not healthcare and is decidedly not a “reproductive right,” as the decision to reproduce was made long before any such deliberation on abortion.
But that is not all Sister Nettles had to say. For a university that so proudly touts its Catholicity and commitment to the sacredness of all human life, she was quick to assure listeners that measures were being taken to restrict the existing pro-life group, V-Hawks for Life, from operating with ease on campus.
“We are significantly curtailing their activities,” she said, “what they can do, what they can’t do. They actually have to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to do what they do.”
She made it abundantly clear that certain pro-life displays would not be allowed to continue and that the pro-life group would be asked to follow a certain set of “rules,” yet she failed to outline what those rules might be.
Viterbo University’s blatant censorship of V-Hawks for Life is just another attack on pro-life student groups to intimidate and silence their efforts to speak out against the injustice of abortion, end the violence perpetuated by the abortion industry, and establish equal rights for all preborn children. All from a Catholic University, no less. It is long past time for these institutions to reclaim their Catholic identity and boldly profess the teachings of the Catholic faith, the Gospel of Life, without apology.
Viterbo’s pro-life club, V-Hawks for Life, has the full support of Pro-Life Wisconsin as they work to advance the pro-life cause and save lives. If you would like to support Wisconsin’s pro-life college students, donate to the Campus Alive program here.
The quotes mentioned in the above article can be heard in the audio recording made available to Pro-Life Wisconsin here.