Tom Monaghan, the founder and former owner of Domino's Pizza, is suing
the federal government over a controversial mandate that requires him to
violate his Catholic faith in his business decisions.
The lawsuit described the contraception mandate as “an unprecedented
despoiling of religious rights” that both “attacks and desecrates a
foremost tenet of the Catholic Church.”
It pointed to Thomas Jefferson's statement that “No provision in our
Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the
rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.”
Filed Dec. 14 by Thomas More Law Center, the lawsuit challenges a
federal mandate requiring employers to offer health insurance covering
contraception, sterilization and early abortion drugs, even if doing so
violates their firmly-held religious beliefs.
More than 110 business owners, non-profit organizations and religious
charities have sued over the mandate, arguing that it violates their
constitutionally-guaranteed right to religious freedom.
At age 75, Monaghan is best known for founding Domino's Pizza in 1960.
He sold the pizza company in 1998 and no longer has any active
affiliation with it. However, he remains the owner of Domino’s Farms,
the property management company for a Michigan office park that is home
to more than 50 corporations, professional firms, non-profits and
entrepreneurial businesses.
Monaghan and Domino's Farms were both listed as plaintiffs in the
recent lawsuit, which explained that they are committed to “a common
mission of conducting their business operations with integrity and in
compliance with the teachings, mission, and values of the Catholic
Church.”
The legal challenge noted that Domino's Farms offers its tenants a
Catholic bookstore and on-site Catholic chapel, which has Mass four
times per day.
In accordance with Church teaching, Monaghan and his company believe
that all human life is sacred, bearing the image and likeness of God
from the moment of conception, it added.
They also agree with Church teaching on the nature and purpose of human
sexuality, it said, explaining that they view contraception,
sterilization and abortion as “gravely immoral practices” rather than
true medicine or health care that provides for the well-being of
persons.
The lawsuit observed that Monaghan is a pro-life Catholic who “has
devoted his life and resources to Catholic philanthropic causes,”
including the promotion of Catholic education and charity.
He has founded numerous Catholic organizations, including Ave Maria
University, Ave Maria School of Law and Legatus, a group for business
leaders to bring together faith, family and business.
In his business practices, Monaghan “is guided by his religious
beliefs” and “follows the teachings of the Catholic faith as defined by
the Magisterium,” the legal document stressed.
As part of this commitment to live out his “deeply held religious
beliefs” in all aspects of his life, Monaghan offers a health insurance
plan that specifically excludes coverage of contraception, sterilization
and abortion, it said, noting that Domino’s Farms has never offered
coverage of these products and procedures.
However, the mandate threatens the ability of Monaghan and Domino’s
Farms to remain in business, since failing to comply with it would
result in “ruinous fines that would have a crippling impact on their
ability to survive economically,” it explained.
Monaghan and his company are now asking the court to grant them an
injunction blocking the enforcement of the mandate. So far, two
for-profit businesses have been denied an injunction, while four have
secured one.
Such an injunction is necessary, the lawsuit said, so that Monaghan and
Domino’s Farms may continue “to conduct their business in a manner that
does not violate the principles of their religious faith.”