Maybe it's due to Our Lady. Maybe it's the thought of driving women to Planned Parenthood. Whatever the reason, Cardinal O'Malley is backpedaling on his commitment to provide abortion referrals at his Caritas hospitals. In a June 10th press release, the Cardinal makes it sound as if there will be no referrals. However, as is recapped below, that's not what Caritas said earlier. There is now an effort to change the story. As the Boston Globe noted today, "The archdiocese would not specify the changes it is seeking to the joint venture, called CeltiCare, which is 49 percent owned by Caritas Christi." The Cardinal is eager to tell Catholics that all is well, but is afraid to get specific in front of the state.
A Recap of the Facts
From the CeltiCareHealthPlan.com website: "CeltiCare is a partnership between Celtic Group, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, and Caritas Christi Health Care." As noted above, Caritas is a 49% owner. The venture receives money from the state to provide health care to uninsured persons, including abortion. This is affirmed on the Celticare site: under Outpatient Medical Care it clearly lists "Abortion Services," and the list of providers includes Planned Parenthood.
The scandal broke last February 26th when "Caritas and Centene issued a joint statement ... that said the new venture `will contract with providers, both in and out of the Caritas network, to ensure access to all services required by the authority, including confidential family planning services.'" (link) Even more to the point, on March 13, after the state approved the deal, the Globe revealed part of the contract:
Among the written assurances are a pledge that medical staff operating under the Centene-Caritas insurance plan, known as Commonwealth Family Health Plan, will inform women of their healthcare options, including abortion. The insurers will also provide a toll-free customer service line, available around the clock, to inform women about where they can get contraception, sterilization, and other family planning services not offered in the immediate setting. In an emergency, a service representative will arrange transportation to the nearest appropriate facility, officials said.
As of June 10th, though, the story is different. From the press release, "Dr. Ralph de la Torre, President of Caritas Christi, stated that 'when a patient seeks such a procedure, Caritas health care professionals will be clear that (a) the hospital does not perform them and (b) the patient must turn to his or her insurer for further guidance.'" de la Torre failed to add that the insurer is, in fact, Caritas!
The Fundamental Error
While giving abortion referrals is indeed an indefensible act, merely eliminating this aspect will not address the fundamental problem, which is receiving profit from baby killing. If you owned stock in an abortion mill, you'd be guilty of receiving profit from murder, i.e., you'd be guilty of murder. Caritas owns 49% of a venture which provides "abortion services." More than a stockholder, though, Caritas is an essential partner that enabled the venture to receive the state contract. It's not as if Caritas merely receives fees for morally acceptable services, as it does now from Blue Cross and other insurers. It has joined in a profit-making venture which profits from baby killing. Why can't a highly educated Cardinal see this?
Your Eminence, please take the upper hand now. Tell the state that CeltiCare will not disburse even one dollar for abortion or contraceptive drugs. Bring this to a head and make the state provide an exception, a Catholic exception. Only you can do this!
Pray the Rosary every day! Pray for Cardinal O'Malley.
[Many thanks to C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League and to Carol McKinley for keeping the heat on the Cardinal and for providing a wealth of information.]
In the comments on this obnoxious article you wrote:
"While giving abortion referrals is indeed an indefensible act, merely eliminating this aspect will not address the fundamental problem, which is receiving profit from baby killing".
If I may qualify this statement adding that if NOT ONE DIME of profit was made from the abortion referrals, it is still hideous - the REAL FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM is the abortion referral itself. The money is incidental to the horror of it all - heaps coals on the referee - but incidental just the same.
That a priest - and bishop to boot - would even CONSIDER even associating with a group that refers/performs/advises for/ abortion is a scandal and perversion of the Catholic Faith of monumental proportions.
It was Athanasius himself who illustrated the great damage done by the Arianist bishops when he said, "The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."
Hopefully, this vision holds for the errant bishops today. PRAY THE ROSARY FOR THIS BISHOP! Just who will teach the teachers?
Good point Elizabeth. O'Malley thinks he can cure this by stopping the referrals. The problem is, referrals or not, Caritas owns 49% of a business that will murder children. Even if O'Malley could honestly say, "Look everybody, there are no abortions and no referrals at Caritas," he'll still have blood on his hands because his partner will be referring to PP.
For a Cardinal who regularly grovels before Jews, he hasn't learned a thing from them. For the Jews who murdered Our Lord, when Judas returned the money, recognized that they couldn't keep the "price of blood" even though they had paid it originally. Today, the state pays the price, but O'Malley wants to keep the blood money. It's about the money.
To be clear, O'Malley (Caritas) shares in the sin of abortion by consenting to government-funded abortion. The proof of his consent is his monetary profit from the state program.
To what office at the Vatican do we file our complaint? We've already sent a message to Cardinal O'Malley (no response). Who is next up the line in authority?.I'm sure your posters would be very willing to go over Cardinal O'Malley's head to "help" him get some back-bone.
Yes, Peg, good idea. First, from CJ Doyle's site:
Please contact the Apostolic Nuncio, and ask him to apprise our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI of this grave scandal which is afflicting the Church in Boston. The Apostolic Nuncio is the Most Reverend Pietro Sambi. He can be reached at 202-333-7121, and at his e-mail address: NuntiusUSA@NuntiusUSA.org
Second, to write the pope, I'd recommend mailing a letter. Keep it cordial and brief:
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican City State, 00120
Italy
Thanks for the mention and support.
Imagine what will happen to trust if this Cardinal releases an opinion from the NCBC that rolls this deal forward with a thumbs up?
It would mean the Cardinal is using influence to get people to lie for him when he wants to cover the tracks of salacious crimes against children, the faithful or anything else.
Brace yourselves.
You're welcome Carol. I've been watching the archdiocese for a couple of decades now, and nothing would surprise me. Cdl. Law, his offspring, e.g., Bp. McCormack in HN, and now the clean-up man, Cdl. O'Malley, are destroyers, plain and simple. But they do it in a fashion that keeps folks giving money.
The bigger problem, throughout the Church, is the destruction of clear thinking, the abandonment of St. Thomas for newer philosophies. What you and I see as obviously wrong, moderns can twist around and make it look OK. When St. Thomas' thinking prevailed, this Caritas nonsense could never have happened.