Catholic hospitals must witness to the Truth

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 21, 2024

Given the progress toward sound doctrine and clerical discipline in many dioceses across the United States over the last generation, it has been especially saddening to learn that not enough has been done to improve the fidelity of Catholic health care. In fact, “Catholic” health care in America has become in some cases—and therefore in too many cases—indistinguishable from secular health care. As reported in the National Catholic Register, the medical watchdog group Do No Harm has published a database of public hospital records which shows that nearly 150 Catholic hospitals in the United States have provided sex-change services of various kinds to patients aged 17 and under between 2019 and 2023.

This reported incidence of transgender intervention has prompted Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane to state that “As bishops, I think we need to confront Catholic health care, because they are violating their mission.” Unfortunately, “Catholic” health care is a fairly tough nut to crack because hospitals bearing the Catholic name are now only very seldom run by religious orders, and in fact are often run by corporations which control hospitals ranging over multiple dioceses. Moreover, as with the Catholic presence everywhere in the world, that presence is only as faithful as those who manage the “assets” in question.

In many cases, fortunately, the transgender numbers are not as startling as the headlines. Sometimes it is a matter of only one “gender-changing” prescription having been issued through a particular Catholic hospital’s pharmacy. But in other cases, the involvement is far more significant, including multiple cases of “gender-changing” surgery. The problem is exacerbated, of course, by the unfortunate fact that not all physicians who are able to practice in nominally Catholic hospitals have a commitment to Catholic faith and morals (though, again, it is likely that most of them take their moral responsibilities seriously).

Secular disentanglement

Even without the overall decline in religious communities since the mid-twentieth century, the rapidity of medical advances and the extremely high costs of medical care undoubtedly would have made it more difficult for the Church to directly manage hospitals through consecrated personnel than it was even fifty years ago. But this means that Church leaders need to develop new ways to maintain control of the name “Catholic”. One possible long-term approach to the problem might be for the bishops to place greater emphasis on the formation of lay groups composed of serious Catholics in all the various professions and occupations. I am thinking here of something similar to the guilds of the late medieval and early modern period which did so much to maintain occupational standards in a context of religious devotion and Christian civic responsibility.

I believe it goes without saying that the laity are intended by Christ to play leading moral and spiritual roles in all walks of life that extend beyond the Church’s specifically sacramental mission. While it makes perfect sense for work among the poor to be spearheaded by religious communities dedicated to a life of poverty, it is only natural for the needs of stable, affluent communities to be met by lay people who are engaged in the vast variety of jobs and professions which are necessary for human communities to thrive. It would seem to follow that the Church should increase her effort to foster sound piety and strong Catholic identification among not only the laity in general but especially the laity who are engaged in those professions which deal with significant moral issues as a matter of course—among which a leading contender today would be the professions involved in medical care.

I see here a serious need for the Church to assist in the establishment of such organizations for the laity, and to provide them with chaplains who can help them to develop strong spiritual bonds with Christ, the Church and each other. I know that in relatively small pockets, this is already happening. There is, after all, a Catholic Medical Association. And of course Catholic business leaders, whenever they are interested, have Legatus. But I am not aware that there is a particular episcopal effort to foster the formation and development of such lay groups on a broad scale for the specific purpose of anchoring the piety and virtue of those lay men and women who are active in the most morally sensitive professions.

Or, to offer another potentially fruitful thought, one wonders why there could not be certain formative requirements for any secular organization that uses the “Catholic” name—at a minimum certain programs or retreats designed to enable bishops and chaplains to get to know the leaders, and the leaders to grow in their grasp of Catholic teaching and their commitment to Christ. (I mention this even though, since Trinity Communications uses the word “Catholic” in catholicculture.org, it might challenge my personal docility as well as the use of my precious time.)

On the edge of the official Church

Legally-speaking, the use of the word “Catholic” in a name or statement of purpose has always involved a certain connection with, or at least permission of, the bishop of the diocese in which an organization is located or controlled. This may not be upheld in secular law, but it must certainly be assumed in ecclesiastical law, and any organization which bears the Catholic name ought to be approved, or if necessary repudiated, by the official Church. Moreover, the local bishop has a responsibility to keep a weather eye on organizations that use the word “Catholic” in their names or mission statements, to ensure that those running the organization in question are adequately formed, and to take appropriate steps whenever the organization’s activities repeatedly fail to uphold the accuracy of the descriptor “Catholic”.

This has long been a concern in the area of Catholic education, and at least for parish and diocesan schools it has in many places been brought under reasonable control. It is also a factor in Catholic media. Having started Trinity Communications in the mid-1980s—and having used the word “Catholic” both as a descriptor since 1985 and in the names of some of our operations since 1993—I am painfully aware of the responsibilities which go with that use. This really does include the responsibility of accepting correction by the local bishop or forfeiting the right to use that word “Catholic” to describe any of our operations. After all, the stakes are pretty high for an organization which claims to interpret reality for others in a “Catholic” way.

For exactly the same reason, given the number of immoral medical practices now on offer, the stakes are just as high or higher for an organization which claims to provide “Catholic” medical care. The local bishop, and the bishops as a whole, have not only the right but the duty to demand an accounting of all organizations within their jurisdiction which identify themselves as “Catholic”. Moreover, whenever a significant problem impacts a large region, it is tactically advantageous for groups of bishops to act in concert. The word Catholic has a specific meaning. It is ultimately an episcopal responsibility to protect that meaning whenever, in a name or a statement of purpose, the word Catholic stakes a claim.