Today on Register Radio, canon lawyer and theologian, Chancellor JD Flynn of the Archdiocese of Denver spoke about Catholic identity at Catholic hospitals.
Last week, news outlets reported that a Colorado Catholic hospital made the argument in a wrongful death case that a fetus is not a legal person. When the situation was brought to the attention of the Colorado bishops they acted quickly. The bishops met with leadership at Catholic Health Initiatives and soon CHI publicly admitted their legal argument was morally flawed and they reaffirmed their commitment to protecting life from conception to natural death.
Flynn explained the challenges Catholic hospitals face in keeping their Catholic identity and the ways that bishops work with the hospitals on this important element of their mission.
Listen to the show to hear how Catholic hospitals and Catholic bishops working together can safeguard Catholic identity.
Update on HHS mandate
During our second half, Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor for The Catholic Association, spoke about the Obama administration’s latest action regarding the Health and Human Services mandate that requires religious institutions to cover all contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion inducing drugs in their healthcare plans, even if they object to such coverage on religious grounds.
“Unfortunately the administration really did not respond to the religious liberty concerns of people of faith,” said Ferguson.
She called the Obama administration’s announcement on Feb. 1, “political window dressings” because it failed to do anything new but only distracts attention from the real issue that the HHS mandate “forces people to violate the tenets of their faith or face massive crippling government fines.”
Ferguson explains why the new “accommodation” proposed by the HHS department does not address the religious liberty concerns Catholic hospitals, charities or universities, religious non-profits or individual business owners, who seek to run their business in keeping with their Catholic faith.
Further, Ferguson questioned why this class of drugs is receiving such special treatment by the Obama administration instead of other widely used drugs needed to address serious health issues.
Quoting from Cardinal Dolan’s statement on Feb.7, Ferguson explains why the U.S. bishops said the newest proposal falls short.
“It appears to offer second-class status to our first class institutions in Catholic health care, Catholic education and Catholic charities,” wrote Cardinal Dolan.
Ferguson urged Catholics to contact lawmakers to express concern by participating in a postcard campaign held in parishes throughout the country in the coming weeks. For more information, listen to the show.
You can listen to the entire show at 2 p.m. EASTERN Friday on any EWTN Radio affiliate or Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. The program re-airs at 7 p.m. EASTERN on Saturday and 11 a.m. EASTERN on Sunday, and is also available on the Register Radio web page, and via podcast.
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The religious liberty of civil institutions, such as hospitals, schools and even private businesses, should be recognized as flowing from the religious liberty of individuals. To give accomodations to churches only does not recognize that the reason to give churches liberty is that citizens may worship God and live out that faith. So not to give the accomodation to dissent in the most liberal form to all citizens and their civil institutions from the political othordoxy on the issues presented in the HHS mandate is to deny religious liberty to the citizenry. This freedom of conscience brings with it the betterment of society as the citizenry lives out their faith in service to their neighbor and not just as a certain cultural excentricty.
There is no such thing as a “Catholic” hospital in the US. I have been around the block. They use the Catholic Church simply for the the ease it gives them in maintaining their non-for-profit status and community standing. The hospital leadership does not believe that unborn babies are human, they did not think twice when constructing this argument and they were extremely confident they would not be called out on it. All “catholic” hospitals I have been in dispense contraceptives, do sterilizations (multiple times a day) and give out PlanB like candy.
To worker in a “Catholic hospital”-
I’m sad to hear that you’re personal experience in some Catholic hospitals has not been in line with the Catholic Church’s teachings. I’m proud to say that I trained at a Catholic hospital that did not dispense contraception at all nor PlanB, it did not allow sterilizations, and it definitely did not allow abortions. In addition, I now work for another Catholic hospital, which also does not promote any of the above sins. I’m truly blessed to have been surrounded by healthcare environments that try to do their best to promote and respect the Church’s teachings. My point in this is that not all Catholic hospitals are as you’ve experienced.
We are all sinners and not perfect, including nurses, physicians, administration, etc. As individuals, we should do our best spread the news of the amazing blessings of the Catholic church, including it’s beautiful respect for womanhood. This may mean telling our best friend about these blessings and beliefs or it may mean respectfully talking with leadership in a Catholic organization to let them know of concerns with it not following the recommendations of the Church. This may be difficult, but it’s worth fighting for.
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