Mrs. Gates and Nungate

From LifeSiteNews.com:

A group of Ursuline nuns whom billionaire Melinda Gates had claimed in a recent speech supports her campaign to inject tens of millions of women in impoverished countries with Depo-Provera and other contraceptive drugs, has issued a statement defending Gates and the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, while simultaneously claiming to support Catholic moral teaching.

The statement, available as a PDF file from LifeSiteNews.com, says:

We are proud of Melinda French Gates, her dedication to social justice, her compassion for the underserved, and the great work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Melinda Gates leads from her conscience, and acts on her beliefs as a concerned citizen of our world.

The mission of Ursuline Academy of Dallas is to educate young women for such leadership.

The spiritual formation of our students emphasizes Catholic social teaching and service to the poor and others in need. We encourage our students and our graduates to take part in public dialogue about important world issues.

As a Catholic educational ministry, Ursuline is committed to the moral and doctrinal teachings of the Catholic Church. We recognize that Melinda’s beliefs on birth control are different from those of the Catholic Church. We respect her right, however, to speak from her research and experience of the world we live in.

It is good to hear that Ursuline Academy is committed to the teachings of the Church, as Mrs. Gates herself has indicated otherwise. It would be nice, however, if it had been more plainly stated that “different”, in this case, means “wrong” for those who do, in fact, hold to the moral and doctrinal teachings of the Church. And that the teachings of the Church do not contradict scientific fact and research, nor go contrary to lived experience. But I suppose that would sound a sour note amidst all of the effusive praise being directed at Mrs. Gates.