In the interest of complying with the guidelines of the host, I would like to post the following excerpt from the statement of the American Life League, which I think conveys with a maximum of fact and a minimum of rhetoric, the precise nature of the emergency the Church faces in Boston at this moment:
"Boston Catholic commentator Carol McKinley responded well to this statement:
When the patient ‘turns to his or her insurance company,’ they are ‘turning’ to the ‘HMO’ [of] which the Cardinal and Caritas are co-owners, [CeltiCare]. Therefore, the Cardinal and Caritas are providing these services…
With the exception of removing family planning, abortion, sterilization, embryonic stem cell research and other moral evils covered under the HMO the Cardinal has an ownership interest in, there is no conceivable modification to the arrangement that could ever be in compliance with Catholic moral teaching.
That sums it up perfectly. The Cardinal must not allow this to stand, please God. It would bring yet another devastating scandal upon the faithful.
Ms. McKinley’s information is flawed. Unfortunately, most people, including Catholics don’t always know this little, but important peace of information.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley is a solemnly professed Capuchin Franciscan Brother. Religious in solemn vows cannot own anything, nor can they make use of money without the permission of their superiors.
The night before a Franciscan makes solemn vows, he signs a legal document where he legally gives up the right to own property, to make money, to posess money without permission, to spend money without permission, to receive any kind of retirement money, to receive an inheritence from any souce including family, to receive a salary for his services, to keep any money or property that he owns. Included in this document, he must surrender any money and property that he has. He has to name someone, who is not in the order, as the new owner of anything he owns and as the beneficiary of any inheritence that he may receive at any time in his life. The order many not receive any money through any Franciscan other than the stipend that a diocese pays to the order for the services of the religious.
When a Franciscan Friar becomes a bishop, he may use any of the property belonging to the diocese that he runs, but he may not own any of it nor may his order. He may sell and buy property for the diocese as its legal representative. In most dioceses these financial transactions are not handled by the Ordinaries of the diocese. Most large dioceses have a CFO and employ the services of people who are experts in these matters. Ordinaries are not business people and they usually do not manage the financial affairs of their dioceses. They are kept informed of them by the CFO.
If you look carefully, Cardinal O’Malley signs OFM Cap after his name. The letters are Latin for Order of Lesser Brothers Capuchin. This is one of the four obediences of the Franciscan Order.
As a Franciscan myself, I can testify that none of us owns porperty or can legally be partners in any HMO or other corporation. Neither can our communities. The only property that our order is allowed to own are religious houses, schools, colleges, hospitals or other facilities that offer some kind of service to the order or the faithful. To own these properties the order must get permission from the local bishop to establish it in his diocese, from the Superior General to open it, and from the Holy Father who is the legal owner of everything that the Francsicans own.
This has been the rule since our holy Father Francis founded the order in 1209. The rule cannot be changed by anyone, except a pope. To date, the rule has never been changed by any pope since Pope Honorius put a papal seal on it in 1221.
There is no legal way in civil law that the Cardinal can own any part of an HMO, nor is there a canonical way, nor a constitutional way in the constitution and rule of the Franciscan Order.
Sean O’Malley continues to be a Capuchin Franciscan Brother in good standing with our order and with the Church. When he retires as bishop, he returns to the order as another brother and may not bring anything with him from his years of service as a bishop. Any gifts that people made to him during the years must become the property of his last diocese or a charity. These gifts cannot include stocks in a company. We’re talking about the usual gifts that people give to prelates.
I hope this clarifies the comments made by this person. Someone should tell her that she should become better acqainted with the way of life of her subjects. Cardinal O’Malley was not allowed to move into the Archbishop’s resident in Boston. His order would not allow him to live in it, because it was too lavish for a Franciscan. The house was sold and the money given to the Archdiocese of Boston to which the house belonged. The Cardinal lived in a rented dwelling before the pastoral center was built.
Some of these people should carefully check their subject, before they make a public statement. Such statements are not only untrue, they are impossible.
I hope this helps others who may have read this and thought that such a thing was even possible for a Franciscan or any religious in solemn vows. It is not possible, civilly or canonically.
I am reporting this post to CAF. It is slanderous and proposes that the Cardinal is involved in a violation of his solemn vows, of the Rule of St. Francis, of the Constitutions of the Friars Minor Capuchin, of canon law, and of a civil contract that he made when he made solemn vows.
How could anyone have posted this without asking another Franciscan or religious is this is even possible?
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
