What Else is Leaving the Boston Chancery in a Taxicab?

-----Original Message-----
From: cmmckinley@aol.com
To: nturnbul@hsph.harvard.edu
Cc: archbishopsean@rcab.org; Vicar_General@rcab.org; klazar@globe.com; mpaulson@globe.com; jimk@firstbristol.com
Sent: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 9:57 am
Subject: Re: Caritas bid/Commonwealth Care

Nancy,

I did want to state for your information, that if the Cardinal does not swiftly reject this contract, through the Massachusetts 501 C3 "Let Catholics Work, Inc.", practicing Catholics are preparing to seek an emergency injunction in superior court against all the parties relative to the execution of this contract. The Cardinal Archbishop will not be the sole defendant in the action. Our attorneys are woking out the details as we speak. Any person or persons who will have to leave their jobs as doctors, nurses, healthcare providers will be invited to be a party to this suit which will seek damages.

As you know, Cardinal O'Malley has spent the last week circulating information within our Catholic networks to distort the facts and undermine the credibility of people defending our rights of Catholics to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to blockade Bryan Hehir's efforts to send poor women to an abortionist in a taxicab as part of the social justice mission of the Catholc Church.

If the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston need an ethicist to opine on whether forcing Catholics workers to give any woman, particularly a Catholic woman, any information that abortion is an option for her and make sure she has a ride to the abortionist, he is not competant to be in the role he is in and we will move forward in any way that we can to seek his removal from the Vatican. Quite frankly, we have no idea what other scandals are leaving the Chancery from a taxicab with his permission.

I want you to know that if we are unable to stop this abomination as we move national catholics into this argument, seek the assistance of the superior court, the Nuncio and the Vatican itself, we will ensure under the radar that as many women as possible who comes into Caritas Christi be given ultrasounds to see their babies and information that will lead them away from Bryan Hehir's abortion taxicab services.

Best, Carol McKinley



Cardinal Sean's blog post:

http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/

To be perfectly clear, Caritas Christi will never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church. We are committed to the Gospel of Life and no arrangement will be entered into unless it is completely in accord with Church teaching.


Details from the Boston Globe:


http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/13/mass_regulators_ok_joint_caritas_centene_healthcare_venture/

The Connector Authority board, which oversees the Commonwealth Care program, voted unanimously in favor of the joint venture proposed by Centene Corp., a St. Louis-based health organization, and Caritas Christi Health Care Network.

The vote followed several closed-door sessions in which officials from Centene and Caritas, the minority partner in the joint venture, assured regulators that women will have "ready access" to family planning and reproductive services, an issue that sparked concerns from abortion foes and reproductive rights activists.

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.

The regulators promised to watch closely. "We will certainly monitor their performance," said Jon Kingsdale, the authority's executive director. "We will not allow them to start up or continue if they are not in compliance."

As a measure of the underlying tensions, four board members emphasized the need for oversight.

"I remain somewhat concerned about implementation," said Nonnie Burnes, state commissioner of insurance and a former Planned Parenthood board member. "I am willing to support this as long as we have some way to monitor this" in doctor's offices and other healthcare facilities.


While I appreciate the opportunity given to Caritas Christi to serve the poor through this agreement, I wish to reaffirm that this agreement can only be realized if the moral obligations for Catholic hospitals as articulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are fulfilled at all times,O'Malley said. "To assure me that this agreement will provide for the integrity of the Catholic identity and practices of Caritas Christi Health Care System, I have asked the National Catholic Bioethics Center to review the agreement and to assure me that it is faithful to Catholic principles."