Catholic Bishop to Defy Freedom of Choice Act, if it Becomes Law
(CNSNews.com) - Bishop Paul Loverde of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arlington, Va., said last week that if the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) should become law and a Catholic hospital in his diocese is forced to provide abortions, he would refuse to let the hospital comply, but he would also not close the institution.
Though there are no Catholic hospitals in his diocese, the bishop nevertheless was defiant: “I would say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to close the hospital, you’re going to arrest me, go right ahead. You’ll have to drag me out, go right ahead. I’m not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions, and you can go take a flying leap.’ ”
IMO, this violates the wisdom: Give unto Caesar what is Caesars.
Are the Catholic hospitals even effectively controlled by the bishop?
catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=56791
“After two years of conflict with the administration of a Catholic hospital in London, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has dismissed the entire board of directors of the institution”
I don’t understand what the big deal is. No one would be required to perform abortions under FOCA. At worst, hospitals may be required to allow some staff to perform abortions on their premises. How is that that different morally from what’s going on in some Catholic hospitals in the U.S. today?:
losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2002/0902rk.htm
On Wednesday, April 24, a young pregnant woman and her boyfriend came to the Pregnancy Counseling Center, a non-profit, non-denominational crisis pregnancy facility in Mission Hills committed to providing pro-life solutions to women with unwanted pregnancies. The woman was visibly distraught and crying. She told the volunteer who helped her that she did not want an abortion. In her hand was a blue piece of paper given to her by a nurse at Holy Cross Hospital (15031 Rinaldi St., Mission Hills) with the address and a map of the cross streets with an arrow for Family Planning Associates, a nearby abortion clinic. The girl told the volunteer that she had been tested for pregnancy at Holy Cross Hospital and sent to Family Planning Associates. She was told that, although Holy Cross Hospital did not perform abortions, they would be glad to give her information about where she could obtain an abortion.
Shocked that a Catholic hospital would offer such information, the volunteer at the Pregnancy Counseling Center called Holy Cross’ maternity center to verify that they had provided a patient the address to an abortion clinic. The people at Holy Cross Hospital claimed ignorance about the matter until a nurse admitted that she had provided the referral. The volunteer told the nurse that she had made a bad mistake and suggested that she learn more about abortion before offering pregnant women the addresses of abortion providers.
When the volunteer told Pregnancy Counseling Center’s director, Julie Ball, what had happened, Ball could not believe it. As a Catholic, Ball was flabbergasted to find that a Catholic hospital offered the addresses of abortion providers to pregnant women and called Holy Cross to find out what was going on. Ball said that the first person she spoke to was Holy Cross operations director Kerry Karmody. Ball said she asked Karmody if Holy Cross was a Catholic hospital, to which he indignantly replied, “of course it is!” Ball then asked Karmody what made Holy Cross a Catholic hospital, and Karmody said, “first of all, it’s non-profit and we are under the principles of the [Dominican] Sisters of Providence.” When asked who the Sisters of Providence got their guidelines from, he sarcastically replied, “the pope!” and hung up.
(see link for rest)
