BY GAIL BESSE
CATHOLIC REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
April 5-11, 2009 Issue
BOSTON — If a joint venture between Catholic and non-religious health-care systems goes through, doctors in Boston’s Catholic hospitals may have to point patients toward on, told The Boston Globe March 11: “Nobody is more attentive to life issues than the cardinal-archbishop of Boston.” Sister Carol said that she had reviewed key provisions of the Caritas-Centene deal and that “Caritas has done more than one would usually see” to avoid being involved with abortion and other services opposed by the Catholic Church.
“As I look at the way Caritas Christi has structured this arrangement,” she said, “it allows them to be participants with the state in the care of the poor and the most vulnerable citizens of the state of Massachusetts in a way that brings the richness of their system and the caring nature of that system to the poor, without in any way violating any of the religious directives or the moral imperatives of our faith.”
But pro-lifers were worried. “We are now facing the end, in Massachusetts at least, of Catholic medical resistance to abortion and contraception,” said C.J. Doyle, who as director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts has headed opposition to the plan. “This will drive Catholics out of the medical profession.”
William Cotter, head of Boston’s Operation Rescue, believes the archdiocese was taken off guard by the Caritas move. “But,” he said, “there’s been a terrible loss of credibility for the archdiocese. It must forgo the potential financial gain and refuse this pact with the devil.”