Nuns and Hospitals

 This is published in the public interest and no discussion will be entered into.

~ "Rebel Nuns," Michelle Goldberg, Daily Beast's "Blogs & Stories": "The Catholic Church has claimed that it lacked the resources to properly investigate its sexual abuse epidemic," but "[w]hen it comes to nuns" the church is "somehow able to act with alacrity," Goldberg -- an author and correspondent for the American Prospect -- writes. The recent excommunication of an Arizona nun who participated in the authorization of an abortion to save a woman's life at a Catholic hospital is "just the latest example of strain between nuns and the Catholic Church's male religious hierarchy," Goldberg continues, noting that the Vatican is investigating U.S. nuns for "straying from church orthodoxy" and that "nuns famously broke with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in supporting health care reform." The "real-world implications" of Catholic hospitals' abortion restrictions "go beyond extreme cases like the one in Phoenix," as "[r]researchers have documented a number of situation in which women suffering miscarriages have received improper treatment at Catholic hospitals because of an overemphasis on the life of the fetus," Goldberg adds. The "blurry" distinctions between rules for various interventions means that "people who work at Catholic hospitals often have to make discerning judgments," according to Goldberg. "Their wrangling over theological minutiae ends up having a profound effect on the lives of patients whether they're Catholic or not," she writes, concluding that the "pressure placed on nuns" has "repercussions for all of us" (Goldberg, "Blogs & Stories," Daily Beast, 5/21).    

donations to BSB No. 732766 Account No.378766