According to a recent letter that became public on Dec. 15, Bishop
Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix may revoke the Catholic affiliation of an
Arizona hospital that performed an abortion in November 2009.
The letter is addressed from Bishop Olmsted to Lloyd Dean, president
of the San Francisco-based non-profit corporation Catholic Healthcare
West, which operates St. Joseph's Hospital in the Diocese of Phoenix.
It
concerns a rift that has emerged between the bishop and the health care
corporation, after staff at St. Joseph's chose to abort the child of a
woman some advisers said could not safely give birth.
That incident led to the excommunication of a religious sister,
Margaret McBride, who had advised doctors to perform the abortion.
Defenders of her decision said that the abortion was permissible under
the principle of “double effect,” because the primary intention was to
ensure the health of a physically frail woman.
However, Bishop Olmsted's judgment –which the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops later endorsed– was that the proposed
“treatment” consisted primarily of a direct and intentional abortion,
making it ethically impermissible under any circumstances.
Catholic
Healthcare West, however, has not admitted any wrongdoing in the highly
publicized case.
In his Nov. 22 letter to the president of Catholic Healthcare West,
Bishop Olmsted acknowledged that the company had continued to defend its
decision, by referring to the work of certain moral theologians who had
reached a “range of conclusions” different from his own and that of the
U.S. bishops' conference.
“In effect,” the bishop wrote to the company president, “you would
have me believe that we will merely have to agree to disagree.”
“But this resolution is unacceptable,” he continued, “because it
disregards my authority and responsibility to interpret the moral law
and to teach the Catholic faith as a Successor of the Apostles.”
The specific disagreement between Bishop Olmsted and Catholic
Healthcare West concerns the “Ethical and Religious Directives” of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (“ERDs,” in the terminology
of the bishop's letter) which lay out guidelines for medical care in
accordance with the norms of Catholic moral theology.
Those guidelines draw an important distinction between a non-abortive
medical procedure that must be performed in order to save a pregnant
woman's life –even if it has the secondary effect of causing an unborn
child's death– and a direct, intentional abortion.
While the first procedure may be permissible under certain
circumstances, the second is never allowed. Catholic Healthcare West has
maintained that the November 2009 abortion case was not a clear-cut
violation of the directives, but rather “a very complex matter, on which
the best minds disagree.”
“According to Catholic teaching, there cannot be a 'tie' in this
debate,” Bishop Olmsted responded.
“It is my duty as the chief shepherd
in the diocese to interpret whether the actions at St. Joseph's and
other hospitals meet the criteria of fulfilling the parameters of the
moral law as seen in the ERDs … I have determined after review of the
facts and circumstances that an abortion did occur at St. Joseph's.”
He went on to criticize Catholic Healthcare West for insisting that
the case was morally undecidable. “Your actions imply that you have no
intention to acknowledge that what happened at St. Joseph's hospital was
morally wrong according to the ERDs,” he wrote.
“This would imply that
you will not change your mode of operation in assessing future cases in
which similar circumstances are present.”
“Because of this, I must now act,” he said, “not only to assure that
no further such violations of the ERDs occur, but also to repair the
grave scandal to the Christian faithful that has resulted from the
procedure that took place at St. Joseph's and the subsequent public
response of CHW (Catholic Healthcare West).”
The bishop proposed an agreement whereby St. Joseph's Hospital could
retain its Catholic identity and affiliation.
His proposal would require
Catholic Healthcare West to acknowledge that a direct and intentional
abortion had taken place at St. Joseph's, and commit itself to avoiding
any such action in the future.
Additionally, he demanded that Catholic Healthcare West undergo a
review and certification process in accordance with the Diocese of
Phoenix's own standards, and provide St. Joseph's staff with “ongoing
formation” on the Ethical and Religious Directives under the authority
of the diocesan medical ethics board or the National Catholic Bioethics
Center.
“Only if all these items are agreed to, will I postpone any action
against CHW and St. Joseph's Hospital,” the bishop stated, specifying
that he would take canonical action if the company did not commit itself
to compliance before Dec. 17.
These actions would include the removal of the Eucharist from chapels
and tabernacles at the hospital, revocation of priests' permission to
celebrate Mass there, and a public advisory that St. Joseph's is no
longer a “Catholic” hospital.
“This is a decision that will be immensely
difficult for me,” Bishop Olmsted acknowledged, “but one that I can and
must make.”
While Bishop Olmsted did not intend the letter to be public, a
diocesan spokesman did confirm its authenticity in an e-mail to CNA on
Dec. 15.
The scanned version of the letter that became available online
bore a stamp reading: “Received Nov. 29 2010, Office of Lloyd H. Dean.”
In a brief official notice, the diocese stated that “the letter to
Mr. Lloyd Dean that was made public today is considered to be private
and confidential,” while all parties continue “working together … to
find the best way to provide authentic Catholic health care in
accordance with the Church's teaching.”
SIC: CNA/INT'L