Although not surprised, I was saddened to read that Bishop Olmsted had to remove the Mass and Eucharist, more or less to de-Catholicize, St. Joseph's Hospital. It being Catholic was one of the best things we liked about it, and why our two daughters were delivered there. Alas.
I suppose it was inevitable, like with many other "Catholic" hospitals around the US over the last 10-20 years, which are really no different than other hospitals, except in name and a few crosses and statues here and there. Like those, St. Joe's had been providing voluntary sterilizations, contraception counseling, and in thankfully rare cases abortions. What pushed the Bishop over the edge, what forced him to act, was the Hospital's blatant disregard for Church teaching in killing an unborn child and the ensuing scandal, which the Hospital seemed to flame. Rather than quietly try to work out a compromise, the Hospital, led by a woman religious, led many people into a grievous error. The murder of an unborn child is never right, which is how the Hospital portrayed it.
Of course the coverage of this incident has been biased. I love how the Reuters article linked above said the bishop called the procedure "an abortion," making sure to put quotation marks. I'm not sure what else you would call it. All the reporting about what happened refer to saving the mother and protecting her health but never mentioning that there were two lives at stake and that one was prematurely ended.
I was heartened to see our OB, Dr. Chavira, on the news defending the bishop. As a St. Joe's doctor, he had a little more authority to speak on the issue. Even though his comments were edited to make it look like he flaunted American law, he made a nice point about God's law, the moral law, taking precedence over the actions of a misguided board of administrators.
St. Luke, patron saint of doctors, pray for the Hospital.
Well written!
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