Lay group protests sale of Boston Catholic health-care system

June 25, 2010

A Catholic lay organization in Boston is opposing the sale of the archdiocesan health-care system to a secular corporation, citing the loss of Catholic identity and the likelihood that the secularized hospitals will cease to honor Catholic moral principles.

At a public hearing on the sale of the Caritas Christi hospital system to Cerberus Capital Management, the Catholic Action League protested that the Caritas Christi system “will be rapidly secularized,…will no longer defend the culture of life,… and administrators will lose their conscience protections.”

The $830 million sale—which must be approved by public officials in Massachusetts and by the Vatican—would convert the Catholic health-care system into a secular operation. If the transfer is approved, Caritas Christi might become the largest American non-profit institution ever converted into a for-profit business.

The sale agreement requires the new management to continue adhering to Catholic moral principles in its medical procedures. However the new ownership has the option to terminate that aspect of the agreement by paying an addition $25 million to an approved archdiocesan charity, if it finds that adherence to Catholic moral standards has become “unlawful or materially burdensome.” (That odd proviso of the agreement drew a critical comment from a Wall Street Journal writer, who observed that the Catholic identity of the health-care system seemed to be on sale for 3% of the overall transfer price.) C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League expressed alarm that “the future of 150 years of Catholic health care in Boston will be within the discretionary authority of a non-Catholic, for profit, out of state, capitalist corporation.”

 

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Further information:

• Caritas hospitals sale racking up support (Boston Globe)
• In Hospital Deal, How Much Is a Catholic Identity Worth? Just 3% (Wall Street Journal)