Register Radio: Franciscan University & For Greater Glory

Michael Hernon and Ruben Quezada

In our first half, Michael Hernon, vice president for advancement at Franciscan University of Steubenville explained why the university decided to drop students from its health care plan.

“It was a moral and an economic decision,” said Hernon. “We notified parents and students in mid-April.”

Not only would the insurance have doubled in cost, but it also would have made the university complicit in covering contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and other services opposed to Catholic teaching.

In addition, Hernon spoke about Franciscan’s decision to be one of 43 Catholic organizations to sue the federal government to strike down the Health and Human Service’s mandate.

“We’ve fought this legislatively and have entered the lawsuit to have our day in court and hope to get an injunction to prevent this law from effecting us and others,” said Hernon. “We have a year. We hope cooler minds will prevail. We’re looking for a conscience clause, as the President promised at Notre Dame. Catholics were the pioneers of healthcare. They’re trying to separate our faith from our service. We are a passionately Catholic university. We will not comply.”

For Greater Glory

In our second half, Ruben Quezada, author of "For Greater Glory: The True Story of the Cristiada" spoke about the Cristero rebellion, which is being depicted in the film opening nationwide this weekend, "For Greater Glory."

Asked how historically accurate the film is, Quezada said it does an "incredibly accurate job of depicting what went on. They used some creative license to create some characters, but I would say that it's 90-95% accurate."

Quezada said that 90,000 Mexicans lost their lives during the three year war, which took place between 1927-1929. “Approximately 20- to 30,000 Cristeros perished, and about 65,000 government federales died,” said Quezada. “That’s amazing given that the Mexican government had a larger army, more weapons, and assistance from the U.S.”

Quezada, who grew up in Mexico until the 5th grade, said that the story isn’t better known because it was an embarrassment to the government and not taught in schools. While giving a lecture to a group of 250 first and second generation immigrants in Los Angeles recently, Quezada said that only about 10 attendees were aware of the Cristero rebellion.

Asked why it’s an important story for us to know, Quezada said, “it’s very timely.” “We need to voice our opinion and fight for religious freedom not only here, but in Mexico as well, because the persecution there continues. As Father Vega says in the film, ‘We cannot allow the Godless to take away our freedom.’”

To learn more, listen to today's show at 2 p.m. EASTERN Friday on any EWTN Radio affiliate. The program re-airs at 7 p.m. EASTERN on Saturday and 11 a.m. EASTERN on Sunday, and is also available on the Register Radio web page, and via podcast.