Judie Brown's Response to the Cardinal & Caritas Dishonorable Joint Statement

Cardinal Claims to "reaffirm" Hospital Commitment on Catholic Morals, ALL Responds.

The American Life League, who has led the charge against the arrangement, told LifeSiteNews.com today that the Archdiocese's explanation was "absolutely not" acceptable.

"I find it extremely tragic that the Cardinal cannot stand up and simply say that it's unacceptable under any circumstance to enter into any kind of business relationship with a company that's involved in sterilization, contraception, and abortion," said American Life League president Judie Brown. "I don't understand what's going on."

"I think at the end of the day this is about money," she continued. "Caritas Christi has been in financial trouble for a long time, and the Cardinal is trying to massage the rules in order to allow this to go forward, and I think we are succumbing to the world when the Church does things like this, and it's bad."

To reiterate, the Cardinal and Caritas are leaving out glaring omissions in their publicity stunts.

CeltiCare is insurance provider who will complete the abortion transactions. Caritas owns 49% of Celticare.

Caritas signed the contract to provide abortions, has stated numerous times in the public square - and has given the Commonwealth promises in writing that they will provide abortions and other services, has asked abortionists to provide those abortions in return for payment for those abortion services, will refer women to abortion services.

The Cardinal and Caritas is deliberately misleading the public in this important distinction.

Caritas Insurance Deal Faces Changes

A Boston Globe article today is a conduit for the public relations spin from Caritas and the Cardinal on the supposed "modifications" to the diocescan abortion arrangements.

The Cardinal, three months later, is repeating the impossible soundbyte that "under no circumstances" will Caritas provide or refer patients for procedures prohibited by Catholic teaching, which include abortion, contraception, and sterilization" while the entity the Cardinal created to carry the abortions out is, once again, contradicting him in the public square.

And the Archdiocese of Boston said publicly for the first time yesterday that Caritas would not be permitted to profit from the provision of abortion services by others.

This statement is untruthful and deceptive.

The Cardinal and Caritas created a "for-profit" corporation to accept the infusion of cash for providing all of the services required by the contract with the Commonwealth. What the Cardinal means to convey, is that when Caritas pays the abortionists for providing the services - they will not "mark it up" - they will not add any extra profit margin when they pay off the abortionists, like they do when they the Motrin they give you in the hospital is invoiced at 10 dollars each.

The Cardinal's statement means, they are hiring abortionists, paying abortionists, sending the women to the abortionists but they are virtuous enough not to charge the patient's anything extra.


The archdiocese would not specify the changes it is seeking to the joint venture, called CeltiCare, which is 49 percent owned by Caritas Christi.

Why is the Cardinal being secretive about the "modifications"?

We are now three months into this arrangement and all of the parties have refused to permit pro-lifers from examining the arrangement and applying the theology?

If the Cardinal is on the up and up, two weeks prior to this arrangement going into effect,why can't Catholics scrutinize the "modifications"?

But the church sought to clarify its requirements for the deal after a number of conservative bloggers and interest groups had recently criticized the venture, accusing O'Malley, often in quite angry language, of abandoning the church's commitment to protecting the unborn.

This week, many of the activists have seized upon, as evidence of the problematic nature of the venture, the new website of CeltiCare. The website specifies the copayments for abortions (from 0 to $100, depending on the plan), and lists family planning and reproductive service providers, including Planned Parenthood facilities in Boston, Somerville, and Worcester.

From the 3000 emails in my in-box - the Cardinal's statements did not fly.

The companies have said that CeltiCare is 51 percent owned by a subsidiary of Centene and 49 percent owned by Caritas Christi, which is incorporated independently from the archdiocese but has a Catholic identity overseen by the archbishop of Boston.

CeltiCare, 49% owned by the archdiocese has made the statements in this blog post.

Brian Delaney, a spokesman for CeltiCare, said an abortion rights group, NARAL Pro-Choice of Massachusetts, will serve on an advisory group for the health plan but he did not know whether any Catholic groups would be on the panel.

The Cardinal's Dishonorable Press Release

On June 10th, 2009,Cardinal O'Malley circulated a press release stating he believes that Caritas wants to be consistent with Catholic moral teaching and that Caritas and CeltiCare are in "active talks", "with a view to make acceptable modifications to their arrangement"

Caritas signed a contract that included providing abortions. Caritas has publicly stated on numerous occasions that they will provide abortions and family planning services. This was a requirement of being awarded the contract. Because the Cardinal and Caritas have promised to provide abortions, they have to hire somebody to carry out the abortions. The foregone conclusion then, is that the theology of the Catholic Church now includes an affirmation that Catholics may take out contracts to hire people to kill other people and be "completely consistent with the Catholic identity".

There is a glaring omission in the dishonorable joint statement that needs some transparency:

Mr. Ralph de la Torre states the following: "When a patient seeks such a procedure, Caritas healthcare professionals will be clear that (a) the hospital does not perform them and (b) the patient must turn to his or her insurance for further guidance."


When the patient "turns to his or her insurance company", they are "turning" to the "HMO" which the Cardinal and Caritas are co-owners, Celtic Care. Therefore, the Cardinal & Caritas are providing these services.

The Cardinal and Caritas must hire somebody to carry out the abortions and refer the women to the persons they have hired. The list of persons they have hired has been published on their joint venture website and includes many well-known abortionists and family-planning centers. These abortionists and family planning centers are direct business arrangements with the Cardinal, Caritas and Centene. It is their joint venture which was formed to carry out the contract that includes abortions.

With the exception of removing family planning, abortion, sterilization, embryonic stem cell research and other moral evils covered under the the HMO the Cardinal has an ownership interest in, there is no conceivable modification to the arrangement that could ever be in compliance with Catholic moral teaching.

The deceptions inherent in this Joint Statement are willful and deliberate and represent an unsafe environment for children, for Catholic healthcare workers and the poor - who unwittingly will be shuffled into moral evil for the sake of the infusion of cash from the Commonwealth.