Caritas Catholic Health System Will Refer for Abortions Not Do Them
- Status
J
JReducation
Guest
Thank you for posting this. I have been trying to assure everyone that Cardinal Sean will not act on this until he has the assurance that everything will conform to Church teaching.
Maybe, something that we who post on CAF have to examine our consciences is on how we think about the clergy and religious. All too often we assume that they are on some sinister campaign to derail the Church. Often we make statements that communicate to non Catholics that we really do not have much respect for people who are ordained or consecrated by vows; but that we are entitled to judge, express hostility toward them and disregard them as if they had no special dignity.
Granted, we are all sinners. Clergy and religious are no exception. But even sinners must always be addressed and spoken about with great respect and charity, especially those who are consecrated by vows or who may be ordained. Their sins do not diminish what they are. Much less do our assumptions, before the evidence is out, diminishes what they are.
Fraternally,
JR
Y
yinekka
Guest
I don’t have to be a credentialed *expert in moral theology or bioethics *to know that to be part of an organisation which through a partner refers people for abortion is wrong.
I know what the cardinal’s blog says and my post in which Caritas’ partner confirmed that they would provide abortion referrals was removed from the blog.
boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/12/ma_health_care_plan_spurs_abortion_controversy/
Mass. health plan finds place in abortion debate
By Kelsey Abbruzzese
Associated Press Writer / March 12, 2009
—A health care partnership between a Catholic hospital group and a national insurance corporation worries activists on both sides of the abortion-rights aisle.
Anti-abortion advocates say hospital workers who oppose the procedure will now be forced to help patients find a willing provider, while abortion rights supporters fear the hospitals will deny care on religious grounds.
The groundbreaking 2006 Massachusetts law that requires all residents to have health insurance covers such services as reproductive and sexual health care. Participating insurers are beholden to the law.
Caritas Christi Health Care, which operates six hospitals in Massachusetts, was approved Thursday to partner with health insurer Centene Corp. and offer a new state-subsidized health plan called the Commonwealth Family Health Plan.
Normally that would mean the hospitals would have to offer services required by state law. But Catholic doctrine teaches against abortion and contraception, and church-run hospitals have generally refused to offer the services.
Hoping to avoid having to offer abortions and birth control, Caritas Christi struck a deal with Commonwealth Family Health to refer patients to a hot line that will provide names of nearby providers offering the services.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese said Caritas Christi assured him it would not violate Catholic teachings.
For some activists, that is not enough.
“This fatally compromises what remains of the Catholic character of Caritas Christi,” said C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic League of Massachusetts. "These so-called attempts to insulate Caritas Christi from participating in abortion are cosmetic and meaningless."
****** Powers, spokesman for the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Board Authority, said low-income residents with the Caritas and Centene Corp. plan, called the Commonwealth Family Health Plan, will be referred to the hot line to find providers if they request an abortion, contraception or sterilization.**
The hot line will be available 24 hours, seven days a week, Powers said. The authority received written assurances from Caritas that members will have access to services and that contracted providers must tell them of options, he said.
But a two-step indirect referral for an abortion makes no moral difference, Doyle said, calling the plan a serious defeat for the anti-abortion movement.
Caritas staffers often work at the Catholic hospitals to avoid procedures that conflict with their beliefs, said Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Asking them to refer people to other providers for abortions is unacceptable, she said.
“Referring for an abortion is something you can’t do,” Fox said. “We’re very concerned on conscience end of things.”
Caritas needs to be monitored to make sure hospitals don’t deny care because of Catholic teachings, said Andrea Miller, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.
“The bottom line is, under Massachusetts law, basic health services – including reproductive and sexual health care – are covered under Commonwealth Care,” Miller said. “It’s incumbent on any entity contracting with state and receiving state funds to provide that care, especially to the underserved population of the state.”
I know what the cardinal’s blog says and my post in which Caritas’ partner confirmed that they would provide abortion referrals was removed from the blog.
boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/12/ma_health_care_plan_spurs_abortion_controversy/
Mass. health plan finds place in abortion debate
By Kelsey Abbruzzese
Associated Press Writer / March 12, 2009
—A health care partnership between a Catholic hospital group and a national insurance corporation worries activists on both sides of the abortion-rights aisle.
Anti-abortion advocates say hospital workers who oppose the procedure will now be forced to help patients find a willing provider, while abortion rights supporters fear the hospitals will deny care on religious grounds.
The groundbreaking 2006 Massachusetts law that requires all residents to have health insurance covers such services as reproductive and sexual health care. Participating insurers are beholden to the law.
Caritas Christi Health Care, which operates six hospitals in Massachusetts, was approved Thursday to partner with health insurer Centene Corp. and offer a new state-subsidized health plan called the Commonwealth Family Health Plan.
Normally that would mean the hospitals would have to offer services required by state law. But Catholic doctrine teaches against abortion and contraception, and church-run hospitals have generally refused to offer the services.
Hoping to avoid having to offer abortions and birth control, Caritas Christi struck a deal with Commonwealth Family Health to refer patients to a hot line that will provide names of nearby providers offering the services.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese said Caritas Christi assured him it would not violate Catholic teachings.
For some activists, that is not enough.
“This fatally compromises what remains of the Catholic character of Caritas Christi,” said C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic League of Massachusetts. "These so-called attempts to insulate Caritas Christi from participating in abortion are cosmetic and meaningless."
****** Powers, spokesman for the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Board Authority, said low-income residents with the Caritas and Centene Corp. plan, called the Commonwealth Family Health Plan, will be referred to the hot line to find providers if they request an abortion, contraception or sterilization.**
The hot line will be available 24 hours, seven days a week, Powers said. The authority received written assurances from Caritas that members will have access to services and that contracted providers must tell them of options, he said.
But a two-step indirect referral for an abortion makes no moral difference, Doyle said, calling the plan a serious defeat for the anti-abortion movement.
Caritas staffers often work at the Catholic hospitals to avoid procedures that conflict with their beliefs, said Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Asking them to refer people to other providers for abortions is unacceptable, she said.
“Referring for an abortion is something you can’t do,” Fox said. “We’re very concerned on conscience end of things.”
Caritas needs to be monitored to make sure hospitals don’t deny care because of Catholic teachings, said Andrea Miller, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.
“The bottom line is, under Massachusetts law, basic health services – including reproductive and sexual health care – are covered under Commonwealth Care,” Miller said. “It’s incumbent on any entity contracting with state and receiving state funds to provide that care, especially to the underserved population of the state.”
J
JReducation
Guest
But what we have to understand here is that regardless of any agreement from the officials at the State level and the Caritas level, if the Center for Bioethics says that the way the agreement is setup is in violation to Church teaching, the Cardinal has already said that the agreement will not happen.
I’m only guessing, but maybe your post on the blog was taken off because it looks as if you’re saying that the deal is signed and sealed. The blog represents the Cardinal and the Cardinal says that it will not happen if it violates Church law.
You can’t post something on the Cardinal’s blog that gives the impression that the public is being lied to by the Archbishop of their diocese. That is libel, even it that was not the intention. In that sense I can respectfully understand why the blog master took it out. The above article does ot represent the Cardinal.
Hope this helps a little.
Fraternally,
JR
C
Corki
Guest
I am not one to Bash Cardinal O’Malley and want to believe based on everything he has said that this will not involve compromise.Thank you for posting this. I have been trying to assure everyone that Cardinal Sean will not act on this until he has the assurance that everything will conform to Church teaching.
JR
I do want to point out, however, that the post on the Cardinal’s blog was six days before the AP story or the LifeSite report. So, it was not a correction or clarification of the news story. There really are two stories out there. We have to be patient and keep praying.
J
JReducation
Guest
I had not noticed the dates. You may be right. There may be two stories out there. Having followed the Cardinal’s career for a long time, I would trust that if he says that this will not happen unless it is permissible by Church law, that he will not allow it to happen.
Let’s not forget that he closed down the adoption office of Catholic Charities because he could not get the Commonwealth to fund the adoptions and allow Catholic Charities not to place children with same-sex parents. Catholic Charities was receiving millions of dollars in state funding for this service. The Cardinal shut down the service, because the State would not yield on this point.
He also sold the bishop’s residence to pay for the lawsuits rather than take more money out of the parishes and he now lives in a rented apartment with a few friars in a low income section of the city.
When told by the New England bishops to close the seminary in Boston he kept it open and now the number of vocations has doubled.
When told that the religious in Boston were not enough to meet the needs of the poor on the streets, he invited five Franciscan communities to live on the streets of Boston among the poor and homeless. Each of them goes home to sleep in a bungalow with no furniture other than a table with benches and they sleep on the floor. He did not want to ask the diocesan priests to do this, because Church law is very clear that diocesan priests are not bound to poverty or community, because they are secular men. They must be paid a salary and given whatever is just for any other diocesan employee. He did not want to violate the rights of the diocesan clergy. That’s why he brought in more Franciscan Brothers.
He also volunteered to work on the Sacred Congregation on the Clergy and on the Sacred Congregation on Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Vatican to improve the quality of religious and priests. He commutes back and forth between his diocese and Rome for this.
He persuaded the Pope to have a secret meeting with 50 abuse victims during the Pope’s visit to Washington, right under the nose of the press and millions of people and no one knew what was happening until the 50 individuals were safely away again. He managed to preserve their privacy and get them the desired audience with the Holy Father.
When he was in the Diocese of Palm Beach he cleaned house of priests who were in trouble.
When he was in the Diocese of Washington DC he created the largest social service agency in the USA to serve the needs of immigrants without State or Church funding. The money was donated. People were helped to become legal residents and taxpayers. He recruited the Carmelite Sisters of Charity to provide free medical and dental care to those who could not afford it. He organized a group of Catholic physicians to run a clinic along with the sisters. He recruited Capuchins and Secular Franciscans to run a GED program for young people who were on the streets unemployed for lack of education.
He has always been a faithful and obedient religious brother in the Franciscan family.
I think his record speaks for himself. I’ll trust him when he says that nothing contrary to the teachings of the Church will happen.
Fraternally,
JR
N
Neil_Anthony
Guest
What would you do if you worked for a delivery company that was hired to deliver phone books that included the phone number of abortion clinics? Would that be remote enough for you not to feel you were cooperating with referring for abortions?
I think there’s a big moral difference between a medical recommendation and telling someone ‘we don’t do that, you’ll have to look in the phone book for someone else’. But they are shades of grey. What would you do in the phone book delivery scenario, and why would that be okay or not okay?
And another question this brings up is, is it wrong trick people who want an abortion and make them think that abortions aren’t available. If they ask if abortions are available, could you morally say “no”? I suspect that to avoid sinning, you would have to say “they are not available from us”.
K
KathleenElsie
Guest
I’m sorry but now you are just getting totally silly. The person delivering the phone book is so far removed from the person advertising it smacks of dangerousness.
N
Neil_Anthony
Guest
I don’t know, the delivery-man is delivering people a written list of referrals to (among other things) abortion clinics!
C
Cracker_Mom
Guest
Sad, sad, sad…
M
meerkat
Guest
Thank you! I didn’t know the quote came from the website I had never gone to the homepage.
J
JReducation
Guest
Being a daughter of St. Vincent and a saint in her own right, I am sure that Catherine Laboure was a faithful daughter of the Church. This was the last command that the three Vincentian founders gave their daughters: “Be children of the Church”. (St. Vincent, St. Louise de Marillac and St.Elizabeth Ann Seton).
As far as it applies to this thread, I have to join my prayers to those of the Daughters of Charity and other religious men and women who are responsible for the administration of Catholic hospitals. Because, unless this question is resolved in their favour, they may have to close their hospitals
Not only is this a sad day for the patients, but for the thousands of men and women who have given their lives to the care of the sick.
Fraternally,
JR
R
redrosetea
Guest
Jr I think it might come to that…The Bishops have said they would close the hospitals if Foca is passed…A few Bishops said they would not allow abortions and refuse to close and are prepared to go to jail if they must
I guess these are the times that try men’s souls, and will show what we are made of…I pray that people will choose life ,no matter the cost
I guess these are the times that try men’s souls, and will show what we are made of…I pray that people will choose life ,no matter the cost
Y
yinekka
Guest
catholicculture.org/commentary/otr.cfm?id=4959
The fight has not been kept far from the walls. The fight is inside the house.
Posted Mar. 22, 2009 by Leila
Let’s take a moment to try to understand what’s going on in Boston, shall we?
To recap:
Caritas Christi, the health-care agency administered by the Archdiocese of Boston, has joined in a successful bid for a government contract to provide health services for low-income clients. The program requires coverage for abortion, sterilization, and contraception.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley says:
While I appreciate the opportunity given to Caritas Christi to serve the poor through this agreement, I wish to reaffirm that this agreement can only be realized if the moral obligations for Catholic hospitals as articulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are fulfilled at all times and in all cases. In order to assure me that this agreement will provide for the integrity of the Catholic identity and practices of Caritas Christi Health Care System, I have asked the National Catholic Bioethics Centre to review the agreement and to assure me that it is faithful to Catholic principles." [This is the cardinal’s statement in its entirety, made on March 12, 2009.]
First, about serving the poor.
Caritas Christi is a failing business, the mission of which, in this bid, is to shore up an eroding bottom line. Serving the poor isn’t the issue. Winning a large government contract is.
One doesn’t serve the poor by providing them with abortions at the taxpayer’s expense. Even before the present debacle, the archdiocese should have been at the forefront of the (nonexistent) fight to prevent a situation in which the state (meaning its citizens) would be funding abortions.
Now, although the meanest intellect can tell you that by contracting for abortions (and other immoral acts such as sterilizations), Caritas will violate Catholic principles, not only will Cardinal Sean, a bishop, refer the problem to the National Catholic Bioethics Centre, he sits on the Board of Directors of that institution.
So he is going to ask himself what he thinks?
If only.
Who are the NCBC? As a friend of John Haas, the president, I regret to say the NCBC compromises and equivocates on the issue of vaccines developed using cells from aborted foetuses, and they refuse to acknowledge any ambiguity on organ donation.
More importantly, the NCBC is not the bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston.
What is the teaching authority of the NCBC?
None.
They have one function in this case, and may God forbid they use it: to provide safe cover under language of “remote proximity” and “lack of material cooperation.”
The faithful need to be clear. Even lacking advanced degrees in bioethics, an ordinary person can figure these things out.
And any person without even a passing knowledge of Directives, Ethical and otherwise, knows that if so-called Catholic hospitals engage in referring for abortions, sterilizations, in vitro fertilizations, etc., then Catholic doctors, nurses, other health care workers, and patients of good conscience will have nowhere to go.
Further, any attempt to safeguard conscientious objection will be rendered moot, sterile, useless, and futile. Such attempts on a national level, going on right now, would have no standing if Catholics in Massachusetts were in the business of providing “reproductive services.”
All the while, we will be able to accuse ourselves of removing the absolute last resort of Christian conduct, since retreat – which is what conscientious objection is – should be recognized as the final refuge of the battle, not its first stage.
The battle has indeed breached the walls of Catholic sanity, ethics, and right conduct. May Cardinal Sean wake up in time.
The fight has not been kept far from the walls. The fight is inside the house.
Posted Mar. 22, 2009 by Leila
Let’s take a moment to try to understand what’s going on in Boston, shall we?
To recap:
Caritas Christi, the health-care agency administered by the Archdiocese of Boston, has joined in a successful bid for a government contract to provide health services for low-income clients. The program requires coverage for abortion, sterilization, and contraception.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley says:
While I appreciate the opportunity given to Caritas Christi to serve the poor through this agreement, I wish to reaffirm that this agreement can only be realized if the moral obligations for Catholic hospitals as articulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are fulfilled at all times and in all cases. In order to assure me that this agreement will provide for the integrity of the Catholic identity and practices of Caritas Christi Health Care System, I have asked the National Catholic Bioethics Centre to review the agreement and to assure me that it is faithful to Catholic principles." [This is the cardinal’s statement in its entirety, made on March 12, 2009.]
First, about serving the poor.
Caritas Christi is a failing business, the mission of which, in this bid, is to shore up an eroding bottom line. Serving the poor isn’t the issue. Winning a large government contract is.
One doesn’t serve the poor by providing them with abortions at the taxpayer’s expense. Even before the present debacle, the archdiocese should have been at the forefront of the (nonexistent) fight to prevent a situation in which the state (meaning its citizens) would be funding abortions.
Now, although the meanest intellect can tell you that by contracting for abortions (and other immoral acts such as sterilizations), Caritas will violate Catholic principles, not only will Cardinal Sean, a bishop, refer the problem to the National Catholic Bioethics Centre, he sits on the Board of Directors of that institution.
So he is going to ask himself what he thinks?
If only.
Who are the NCBC? As a friend of John Haas, the president, I regret to say the NCBC compromises and equivocates on the issue of vaccines developed using cells from aborted foetuses, and they refuse to acknowledge any ambiguity on organ donation.
More importantly, the NCBC is not the bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston.
What is the teaching authority of the NCBC?
None.
They have one function in this case, and may God forbid they use it: to provide safe cover under language of “remote proximity” and “lack of material cooperation.”
The faithful need to be clear. Even lacking advanced degrees in bioethics, an ordinary person can figure these things out.
And any person without even a passing knowledge of Directives, Ethical and otherwise, knows that if so-called Catholic hospitals engage in referring for abortions, sterilizations, in vitro fertilizations, etc., then Catholic doctors, nurses, other health care workers, and patients of good conscience will have nowhere to go.
Further, any attempt to safeguard conscientious objection will be rendered moot, sterile, useless, and futile. Such attempts on a national level, going on right now, would have no standing if Catholics in Massachusetts were in the business of providing “reproductive services.”
All the while, we will be able to accuse ourselves of removing the absolute last resort of Christian conduct, since retreat – which is what conscientious objection is – should be recognized as the final refuge of the battle, not its first stage.
The battle has indeed breached the walls of Catholic sanity, ethics, and right conduct. May Cardinal Sean wake up in time.
K
KathleenElsie
Guest
Thank you. It sometimes takes a person with as we say “no dog in this hunt” to make things clearer to those of us with "dogs in the hunt’.
Y
yinekka
Guest
catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=60301
Boston Catholic health-care agency wins state contract- including abortion coverage
Boston, Mar. 12, 2009 (CWNews.com) -
Caritas Christi, the health-care agency administered by the Archdiocese of Boston, has joined in a successful bid for a government contract to provide health services for low-income clients. The program requires coverage for abortion, sterilization, and contraception.
State officials on March 13 awarded the contract for low-income coverage to Commonwealth Family Health Plan, a joint venture set up by Caritas Christi and the Centene Corporation, a Missouri-based company which currently has no facilities in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth Family Health Plan program will be centered around the Catholic hospitals of the Caritas Christi network.
The involvement of the archdiocesan health-care system in a program that provides abortions drew protests from Boston Catholic activists. The Catholic Action League called the contract “a significant defeat for the pro-life movement, inflicted not by secular society, but by the Catholic Church in Boston.”
Last week, in a response to such criticism, Cardinal Sean O’Malley asserted: “**Caritas Christi will never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching **and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church.” However, the cardinal’s claim was contradicted by representatives of Commonwealth Care, who assured state officials that their program would provide “ready access” to all of the services mandated by the government program, including abortion.
Under the Commonwealth Family Health Plan system, **abortions will not be performed at the Caritas Christi hospitals. But women who wish to procure abortions will be given a telephone number to call for information on where abortions are performed, and, if necessary, transportation to those sites. **
Boston Catholic health-care agency wins state contract- including abortion coverage
Boston, Mar. 12, 2009 (CWNews.com) -
Caritas Christi, the health-care agency administered by the Archdiocese of Boston, has joined in a successful bid for a government contract to provide health services for low-income clients. The program requires coverage for abortion, sterilization, and contraception.
State officials on March 13 awarded the contract for low-income coverage to Commonwealth Family Health Plan, a joint venture set up by Caritas Christi and the Centene Corporation, a Missouri-based company which currently has no facilities in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth Family Health Plan program will be centered around the Catholic hospitals of the Caritas Christi network.
The involvement of the archdiocesan health-care system in a program that provides abortions drew protests from Boston Catholic activists. The Catholic Action League called the contract “a significant defeat for the pro-life movement, inflicted not by secular society, but by the Catholic Church in Boston.”
Last week, in a response to such criticism, Cardinal Sean O’Malley asserted: “**Caritas Christi will never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching **and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church.” However, the cardinal’s claim was contradicted by representatives of Commonwealth Care, who assured state officials that their program would provide “ready access” to all of the services mandated by the government program, including abortion.
Under the Commonwealth Family Health Plan system, **abortions will not be performed at the Caritas Christi hospitals. But women who wish to procure abortions will be given a telephone number to call for information on where abortions are performed, and, if necessary, transportation to those sites. **
S
sidonius
Guest
Caritas has still not responded to Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s request for a meeting and has still not made clear the terms of its contract with Centene. It is proceeding as though the arrangement with Centene will continue. I am told that the analysis of the National Catholic Bioethics Center is complete, and has been sent to Rome, but I have not been able to corroborate this.
J
JReducation
Guest
Apparently it’s reading by the Catholic Bioethics Center asks some hard questions that the organization must answer. The problem is that Caritas is obviously not doing the contracting directly with the Commonwealth, but there are second and third interests involved that I beleive may have little or no interest in the Catholic position. I hope that I’m wrong. But I don’t know much about Commonwealth Family Health Plan and Centene Corp.
I’m glad that the Cardinal sent it to the Bioethics center. This resolves one problem or more than one. First, no one can accuse him of not knowing what he’s talking about becaue he’s not an expert in bioethics and moral theology. He got the advice of the best in the country. If it is going to the Vatican that’s even better adivce, though Benedict XVI has begun using the American Bioethics, the American Canon Law Society and the Amercian Biblical Society to solve Vatican cases, as he said in one of his books, they are the best in the field. It would be ironic if Rome sent it back to Washignton, DC to the Bioethics Center.
The second problem it resolves is that it tells us what the Chruch will allow and not allow in a very concrete manner, rather than the more abstract language that often lends itself to various interpretations.
And finally, these people operate out of pure reason, without emotions, they are very in tuned with Pope Benedict’s mode of operation on ecclesiastical matters. This is his now famous mantra, “You cannot separate faith and reason and emotion does not belong in the middle.” What is relevant is what faith that is rational and reason that is consistent with faith. Reason is always going to be consistent with faith, because faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be irrational. That’s why we use reason to test to ensure that it’s a real gift and not a human feeling or emotion.
Whatever happens here, will give us the verdict on how much cooperation is allowed, before you cros the line of faith and reason. That’s what all of us want to know. Every decree that has been made on abortion cannot address every possible circumstance that comes up. We have to address those as they come up.
The most we can do is have a set of broad standards in place to help us begin. That we do have.
Fraternally,
JR
N
Neil_Anthony
Guest
It sounds like nobody knows the details. One article said that Caritas would drive people to another site that performs abortions, but the Cardinal said that Caritas would never be involved at all or even give referrals. Another article calls it a business partnership between Caritas and Centeen… but is it really? Is Caritas hiring Centeen to perform abortions? To me these questions make a big difference.
J
johnnykins
Guest
So - has anyone heard what the upshot is? Or has it all been swept under the rug?
- Status