Another reminder why I left Catholic Church: Bishops threaten to shut down Catholic Hospitals

[zulchzulu]

Like I needed to be reminded why the Catholic leadership in this country and the Vatican are the LAST people Jesus would want to have in charge and have hijacked his message, but here comes another example why I proudly will never walk into any Catholic church ever again. Is it their homophobia (hypocritical since more than half of priests are gay)? Is it their support of wars? Is it their asinine view on abortion, even though the view used to be that "quickening" was a sign of life in a fetus (which is near the end of the first trimester)? Oh, and the garish outfits that cost about as much as clothing millions of poor people?

It looks like the Bishops and other Catholic "leadership" are threatening to shut down Catholic hospitals because Obama is working on getting the Freedom Of Choice Act enacted.

The Freedom of Choice Act failed to get out of subcommittee in 2004, but its sponsor is poised to refile it now that former Senate co-sponsor Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office.

A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the legislation "is among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later."

FOCA, as the bill is known, would make federal law out of the abortion protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade ruling.

The legislation has some Roman Catholic bishops threatening to shutter the country's 624 Catholic hospitals — including 11 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis — rather than comply.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/E6E47067257DB95E862575710014DD57?OpenDocument

So in order to protect "life", these asshats are willing to have others die and/or not be able to get the help they need in a hospital. That doesn't even take into account the jobs lost:

According to the CHA, Catholic hospitals make up 13 percent of the country's nearly 5,000 hospitals, and employ more than 600,000 people. CHA says one of every six Americans hospitalized in the United States is cared for in a Catholic hospital.

(same link as above)

Don't worry about me going to my local parish to voice my opinion on this. I gave up on these people a while back, after having gone to Catholic schools and even having a couple uncles who are priests. These clowns lost millions of people like me. But if you still go to Catholic church, bring this up. Then do what you think is right. Leave.

[rurallib]

1. jesus weeps.

[YOY]

2. It's all conservative catholics care about.

Literally. It's the ONLY FUCKING THING some of them care about.

Fortunately not all catholics are conservative (and as far as I am concerned the majority are not.)

[rug]

3. I thought the argument was, if you don't want to do abortions, get out of medicine.

Although this report is inaccurate, it seems they're doing exactly what was suggested here.

[fugop]

8. Different argument ...

My argument would be something more along the lines of, "If you don't want to offer abortions, don't work in an abortion clinic." Or don't work in a secular hospital where the procedure is otherwise offered. Or a secular pharmacy, assuming you wish to reject legal prescriptions due to your religious/moral beliefs. I"m not sure this would force a "religious" hospital to do abortions, would it?

[rug]

10. No, it wouldn't. That's why it's inaccurate.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900402.htm

[juno jones]

14. Not just abortions, birth control.

They do not allow discussion of any kind of birth control in a catholic hospital. I gave birth in a catholic hosp. While catching my breath, I asked my doc about a tubal.She shushed me and told me to see her in her office. The tubal was done in a different, non-catholic hospital.

They need to get out of obstetrical if they cannot provide a full range of options for their female patients.

[rug]

15. According to the OP, that's exactly what they're doing.

[ejpoeta]

4. They wonder why they are losing people! I was raised catholic.

I have five siblings. Even though some may still say they are catholic, NONE go to church. If Jesus did exist, he would have nothing to do with the Catholic church and would rally against them. I have no doubt. He was an outspoken voice against the religious folks at the time he was around, according to shows on discovery and history channel. I believe that Jesus would be against the catholic church as a fraud.

Now, I know there are decent folks in the church. I knew nuns and priests who did good things. But overall, I believe that the catholic church is a joke and a fraud. And if you actually look at what they do and say, the contradictions are striking. I have not had my children baptized. I plan to make sure they are aware of the difference between religion and God. Because while i believe in God.... I do not believe in religion.

[dalaigh lllama]

9. Another recovering Catholic here

I had a Catholic education all the way thru college, too. Neither myself nor my four siblings are Catholics today. My first glimmer of "what's wrong with this picture" was as far back as second grade, when the nun told me that women couldn't receive the sacrament of Holy Orders -- patently unfair. Took me another 20 years to say "Enough!"

[LuckyLib]

23. Another one here -- four siblings, none of us remotely approach a Cath Church.

My "what's wrong with this picture?" -- 1st grade, when the nun told me that my wonderful Lutheran mother (it was a "mixed" marriage, of course) would go to hell because she wasn't Catholic. That was only the beginning. It's a cult.

[napi21]

5. WHY in the world would anyone go to a Catholic Hospital for an

abortion? Surely people aren't THAT stupid!

I had both my children at a Catholic hospital, and my Dr. wasn;t Catholic. I personally would never want an abortion, but I remember my Dr. saying he doesn't do them. That was MANY years ago, back when Roe passed.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. What if there are complications with your pregnancy?

What if your insurance co. limits you to that hospital?

[Lars39]

17. Baptist Hospital in Nashville is now co-owned by St. Thomas of Nashville

A lot of people don't realize it.

[catnhatnh]

19. The Catholics caused my vasectomy.....

1980. My wife was to have here tubes tied following the birth of out third child. The night we needed her OB he was unfortunately attending another patient at St. _____________'s hospital and as she had a history of extremely fast labor we were forced to meet him there....

Two months later I had an outpatient vasectomy...

Things they "won't do" can be a problem...

[JerseygirlCT]

21. They may not have a choice.

The Catholic hospitals have merged with non-Catholic hospitals in many cases. There may be only that one option available.

I think so long as the hospitals receive any public funding, they should HAVE to provide all necessary treatment. That includes abortions. That includes contraception. Those running these hospitals are perfectly free not to have an abortion or use contraception themselves. They don't get to force their choices on others.

[DeepBlueC]

6. So let's nationalize the Catholic hospitals first

as a foundation for a new health care program. OK I'm dreaming and I know this would be a political nightmare, but, hey, if they threaten to close them we can threaten a nationalizing "bailout".

[izquierdista]

12. Nightmare?

You got my vote! :bounce:

[WeDidIt]

7. They ahve another route they can take

The Catholic Hospitals can just stop taking federal tax dollars. Then FOCA won't affect what services they can and cannot offer.

[TlalocW]

13. Maybe I'm naive...

But say the Catholic Church makes good on their threat - what are they going to do with the buildings and equipment? As money-hungry as they are, they're not going to let them sit and rot; they're going to sell them, and the only groups interested in buying them are going to be other hospitals looking to expand. As much as health care and the economy are effed up in this country, the health care industry seems to still be doing okay, and as far as I know, is still a growth industry.

So let them close up. Eventually the only change will be a lot less hospitals with "Saint" in their names.

TlalocW

[YOY]

16. They would lose so many followers they'd be left with the ignorant villagers

fresh off the boat from Latin America. Those folks are nice, but they don't really have the means to tithe like the catholics who've been here a while.

They won't make good on it. Idle threats from a faith that needs to change or die.

[otohara]

18. Want Another Reason - Read This - 9 Year Old Rape Victim

Church acts against mother of rape victim

The Catholic Church has excommunicated the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped by her stepfather.

Brazilian Archbishop Jose Gomes Sobrinho yesterday also excommunicated the doctors who had performed the procedure ending the girl's pregnancy with twins.

Abortion is illegal in predominantly Catholic Brazil, but the law admits exceptions, allowing it in cases of rape and pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk.

According to the head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in north-eastern Brazil, all the people who were involved in the termination of the pregnancy on Wednesday had committed "a serious crime", more specifically "homicide against two innocent lives". http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=122&art_id=vn20090306045850164C830652

[JerseygirlCT]

20. Yup. There is one and only one issue that matters

it is imperative that women are denied basic, inherent rights to control their own medical decisions.

Anything else is secondary to these fools.

I wonder how much of a bluff this is. We had a bit of showdown a couple years back here, when the Catholic hospitals wanted to deny emergency contraception to rape victims (Guess which pseudo-Democratic senator agreed with the hospitals?) There was a tussle, at first with great amounts of bluster from the Catholic Church and the hospitals.

Eventually, though, when they saw that the legislature was dead serious, they backed down.

They get gov't funding; they need to follow the rules. It's that easy.

These hospitals aren't just there out of the goodness of their hearts. Here they've taken over other hospitals - you don't do that unless there's money to be made in running them.

We'll have to see, but my guess is this is more fundraising bluster, meant to rally the "righteous".

(And I'm with you - happy I left this church. Not for all the truly wonderful people still in it, not for many of the good people who taught me over the years. But this vicious, women-hating hierarchy cannot be abided.)

[polichick]

22. The Catholic church never did have anything to do with Jesus...

It was always about control ~ too bad they can still fool so many people.