Assumption President Responds To 'Offensive' Email About Election

WORCESTER, MA — An article about the upcoming presidential election emailed to Assumption University students this week has caused a backlash in Worcester over references to abortion and same-sex marriage.

On Monday, the university sent students a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) article in the school's "Daily FYI" email. The article is part of an eight-week series by the USCCB about the election and was titled, "How Does the Church Help the Catholic Faithful to Speak About Political and Social Questions?"

The article does not mention either President Donald Trump or former vice president Joe Biden, but does cover issues that Catholics may consider before voting.

In a section called "Doing Good and Avoiding Evil," the USCCB advises Catholics that "intrinsically evil acts must always be rejected and never supported." The section lists abortion, cloning, genocide and redefining marriage as among those evil acts.

"Nor can violations of human dignity, such as acts of racism, treating workers as mere means to an end, deliberately subjecting workers to subhuman living conditions, treating the poor as disposable, or redefining marriage to deny its essential meaning, ever be justified," the section read.

A Change.org petition demanding an apology from Assumption was mounted on Monday. It had attracted close to 3,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

In response, Assumption President Francesco Cesareo acknowledged that the email was offensive to some, and said the school is committed to creating a "welcoming and open environment."

"We acknowledge the perspectives of some members of the community who found certain aspects of this week’s text from the USCCB offensive," Cesareo said in a statement Tuesday evening. "Assumption University is an institution of Catholic liberal education. Our mission includes both educating students about the teachings of the Catholic Church and treating the members of the LGBTQ community and all members of our community, each made in the image and likeness of God, with dignity, respect and compassion."

The Catholic Church has long opposed same-sex marriage. Assumption's student manual still contains a reference to sexual relationships being "morally legitimate only between a man and a woman exclusively within marriage." Pope Francis has made statements welcoming gay people to the church, and on Wednesday endorsed same-sex civil unions.

"Homosexual people have the right to be in a family," Pope Francis said, according to the Associated Press.

Trump's newest nominee to the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, is a Catholic and has been criticized by LGBTQ groups for her ties to the group Alliance Defending Freedom — an organization highlighted by the Southern Poverty Law Center as anti-LGBTQ.

Biden, also a Catholic, supports same-sex marriage, and has pledged to support the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade.