Becket Fund honors its founder 5/11/12

If you have been paying close attention to the controversy over the federal contraception mandate, there is a good chance you have seen the name the Becket Fund.

The non-profit legal institute is representing two Catholic colleges, a Christian college and Catholic broadcaster EWTN, who are all suing either the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. At issue is the federal mandate requiring these organizations provide contraception, sterilization and some abortion inducing drugs in their employee health plans – all of which violate the deeply held beliefs of these organizations. The cases are just some of the many cases in which the Becket Fund is and has been involved, in the name of religious liberty, since the institute was founded back in 1994.

Each year, the Becket Fund awards the Canterbury Medal to the person who has “most resolutely refused to render to Caesar that which is God’s.” Like the institute, the medal get its name from the 12th Century Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, who refused to allow King Henry II to interfere in the Church’s affairs. At a ceremony in Manhattan, the Becket Fund awarded its founder with the 2012 Canterbury Medal.