Toronto, Canada, Aug 3, 2016 / 08:29 am
The Little Sisters of the Poor have received the Knights of Columbus' highest honor for their fight for religious liberty and their continued service to the elderly poor.
"We Little Sisters are honored and profoundly humbled to have been chosen to receive the Gaudium et Spes Award," Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, superior of the Little Sisters' Baltimore province, said at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention in Toronto Aug. 2.
"Although we never would have chosen to become the public face of conscientious objection to the HHS Mandate, we felt compelled to take a stand for the sake of the elderly residents we serve."
The Little Sisters of the Poor run 27 homes for the elderly poor in the U.S.
They have challenged the Obama administration's efforts to compel them to cover drugs and procedures that violate Catholic doctrine and ethics in their health care coverage for employees. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said they must collaborate in providing health coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some drugs that may cause abortion.