Salvation Army Reasserts Religious Mission

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 2 — The Salvation Army of Greater New York, which operates homeless shelters, missions and thrift stores, has started implementing a plan to stress its Christian mission, The New York Times has reported.

The Salvation Army is a Protestant denomination begun in the 19th century in England, modeled in part on the Society of Jesus. But the New York branch has long been known within the Salvation Army as the least religiously oriented division.

Leaders in the New York branch of the charity have decided to change that; they will now include religious mission statements in job descriptions and require employees dealing with children to fill out forms detailing the denomination's values and reveal their religious affiliations.

Some employees are rebelling against the initiative, citing the fact that the charity accepts government funds and claiming the group is violating the separation of church and state.

Catholic Charities of New York, the paper noted, does not require employees to reveal their religious affiliation.

Compromise in Austin

KEYE-TV (Texas), Jan. 28 — A long-broiling controversy over Catholic ethics and health care in the Texas capital came to a kind of resolution Jan. 28.

As the health care industry consolidates, many hospitals and clinics that were previously secular have come under the direction of Catholic agencies, hospitals and religious orders.

The change has led to fierce clashes over whether those hospitals would continue to provide services that violate Church teaching — such as sterilization, in vitro fertilization, contraception and even abortion.

Such was the case in Austin, Texas, where Brackenridge Hospital, owned by the city, came under management by Seton Healthcare, a Catholic organization. Seton had announced that it could not offer services Catholics consider immoral, leading many to call for its ouster from the hospital. Now it appears a compromise has been reached.

One floor of the hospital building will not be managed by Seton but by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston under the title “Austin's Women's Hospital.” That mini-hospital will offer contraceptive and sterilization procedures without the cooperation of Seton staff.

Georgetown Controversy Over Fetal Research

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 30 — The Associated Press reported that researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center will be permitted to continue experimenting with stem cells taken from aborted fetuses.

Jesuit Father Kevin Fitzgerald, a Georgetown bioethicist, told the wire service that “while using such cell lines would not be our preference,” it was permitted by Church guidelines since the research could lead to important medical advances.

He said the fetuses being used were not destroyed in order to use them for research.

Thus, he said, “the connection to abortion was distant and remote enough so as to not encourage or contribute to abortion in any way.”

The issue had become a controversy after Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick complained to Georgetown, citing reports from pro-life groups.

“Georgetown reviewed the concerns the cardinal raised,” a university spokesman said, “and we're comfortable, and the cardinal's comfortable with their response.”