No one seems to want the credit at Mount St. Joseph University for approving President Joe Biden's CNN Town Hall Wednesday night.
Outrage spread quickly among anti-abortion groups and Catholics when news spread Monday and Tuesday that the Catholic university in Cincinnati's suburban Delhi Township would host Biden's nationally televised event.
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All a spokesperson for Mount St. Joseph would say is "university leadership" approved the town hall. Those in university leadership contacted by The Enquirer didn't respond.
Credit for the town hall has become a hot potato in the local Catholic community.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati and university initially referred questions to the Sisters of Charity, who founded Mount St. Joseph in 1920. The order's motherhouse is located there.
The Sisters of Charity didn't respond to the growing controversy for two days. Then, as criticism mounted, the Sisters of Charity issued a statement disavowing the Biden event, saying it was between CNN and Mount St. Joseph University.
When The Enquirer contacted Mount St. Joseph Board of Trustee members, rather than respond directly, some of them reached out to spokesman Pat Crowley, who sent a statement on the university's behalf.
The university, in the statement, absolved the Sisters of Charity.
The Sisters of Charity provide "overall direction and ongoing evaluation" for the university, Crowley said in the email. But Mount St. Joseph University is financially independent from the Sisters of Charity and governed by an independent board of trustees. The board of trustees has four members of the Sisters of Charity.
Evidently, the 27-member board of trustees also didn't approve it. It was "university leadership" Crowley said in an email. He declined to say who in leadership.
But the university, in the statement, stood by the decision.
"The decision to permit the CNN Town Hall to take place at Mount St. Joseph is consistent with the University’s policies and mission to embrace a diverse and inclusive place where people from different races, ethnicities, social backgrounds, beliefs, and religions can come together to discuss and share their unique perspectives," the university said in the statement.
Biden, while touring a union training center on Glenway Avenue, did not respond to an Enquirer question about the controversy. He did answer one question about his infrastructure bill after touring the union training center.
Mount St. Joseph University President Dr. H. James Williams did not respond to an email Wednesday night. A message to Jeff Wampler, Mount St. Joseph's vice president of Marketing and Communications, was also not returned.
Biden met with Williams and his wife Carole after the event, according to the White House.
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