Madoff, O'Malley and the Three Headed Dog Cerebus

Ray Neary has written an article on the situation inside of the Boston Chancery under Cardinal O'Malley's leadership that is posted at Renew America:

A Pact with the Devil

Ray Neary is a gentleman, a man of integrity and valor. What he says in this article very much needs to be said in the public square. There is a problem with honesty in the regime at 66 Brooks Drive that is manifesting itself in many ways. The diocese is in the hands of the corrupt as the Cardinal is off taking pictures of himself to post on his blog in every corner of the earth.

There is much weakness at 66 Brooks Drive and there needs to be a coup of the coup. This is not the time to be faint of heart or weak in character.

Caritas Buys Landmark and Admits Distancing Itself from Operating as Catholic

UPDATED

Sometimes when I check my stats, I can see TTBO readers refreshing their browsers quite a bit when there's some ghastly development in the Archdiocese and I haven't posted substantively on it yet.    


Its like I know exactly that you're thinking.   "Whhhoah, look at this story.   I'll bet McKinley is steamed up. Let me mosey on over to TTBO to catch the locomotive!  "


:O)

So sorry about the post with no links and the radio silence.  It's been a crazy few days.   


I hope you found you way to the lively post at Bryan Hehir Exposed post HERE that contrasts what Caritas says:

"the deal does not require Landmark to become a Catholic hospital or to accept the limitations of Catholic doctrine.  Landmark spokesman Bill Fischer said the hospital intended to remain secular, and Caritas spokesman Chris Murphy confirmed that, saying, “Our intent is to preserve Landmark in its current form, which includes no religious affiliation.”

..with what Cardinal O'Malley says:

"Caritas Christi will never do anything …in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching.”

Good Heavens no, Caritas Christi will never do anything contrary to Catholic moral teaching.  Why that would be preposterous.


Boston Catholics following the turmoil in the Archdiocese will tell you that the Landmark acquisition was preceded by the announcement from the "Pastoral Center" that the Caritas and the Cardinal had entered into a "Stewardship Agreement" with Cerebus that reportedly preserved the Catholic identity of Caritas.


The Pilot story about the agreement is here.


Given the news this week, I'm repeating the story in its entirety (emphasis mine)

The Archdiocese of Boston and Caritas Christi Health Care announced today that they have executed a Stewardship Agreement that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals, pending the approval of the transaction transferring the system to Steward Healthcare System LLC (“Steward”), a newly formed affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. 

“We are pleased to announce the completion of a Stewardship Agreement that memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Health Care system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry,” said Cardinal Seán O’Malley. “The transaction with Steward will provide the system much needed capital for its infrastructure, programs, and pension funds while continuing to provide high quality healthcare in accord with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the “Ethical and Religious Directives”).”

“In our search for capital, we were committed to finding a partner that valued our Catholic tradition. Cerberus Capital Management has committed to preserving the Catholic tradition of Caritas Christi Health Care and this agreement solidifies that commitment. We are grateful that the RCAB and Caritas will continue to work together to fulfill our mission,” said Ralph de la Torre, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Caritas Christi Health Care.

“I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Ralph de la Torre and his leadership team for their commitment to working with the Archdiocese to achieve a Stewardship Agreement for these hospitals,” said Cardinal Seán. “I am grateful that we have reached a meaningful agreement that allows us to continue to serve those in need while never losing sight of the moral and religious teachings handed down to us by Christ.”

They will never lose sight of it, I tell you.


Here are some other quotes about the Stewardship Agreement gathered up from another BHE post:

We announced yesterday that an agreement has been reached with Cerberus that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals. The sale is still pending as the Attorney General has to review it, but this stewardship agreement was a key component for us because it will preserve the Catholic identity of Caritas. (Cardinal Sean’s May 7, 2010 blog) 

The Stewardship Agreement memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Healthcare system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry.” (Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010) 

This is a substantive and structural commitment by the archdiocese and Steward to operate this hospital system by the religious and moral directives of the Catholic Church.” (Fr. Bryan Hehir, Secretary for Healthcare and Social Services, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010) 

The Coalition to Save Catholic Healthcare has been all over this, asking the Nuncio to step into the donnybrook, among other things.   Their communications are worthy of its own post - which I hope to get to over the weekend.  


Deal Hudson picked up the story today, publishing CJ Doyle's spectacular press release.  




I'd say my sentiments could be accurately summarized by the comment named Enrichment from Abortions.

This is sadly not the first time the archdiocese has positioned itself to be enriched from abortions and other moral evils performed on sick and distraught patients. 

This does seem to be the most transparent arrangement. 

I f they follow their usual modus operandi, the archdiocese will make prominent an agreement signed by Cardinal O'Malley that purportedly binds Caritas to Catholic ethics and moral teaching keeping their fingers crossed that the Holy See will not scratch the surface. 

The agreement of course is set up to be nullified at any given time the new owners find Catholic moral teaching is in conflict with civil law, at which point they will give the Cardinal 25 million dollars and the Cardinal will release them from the Agreement. 

I am not making this up. 

The Cardinal has put the wolves in charge to ravage the souls of the sheep.  He has repeatedly made clear that he wants us to surrender, without resistance, our children to be destroyed.   But what a happy day it will be when we can all be unified with the game plan of the wolves.


Good luck with that.

More Caritas Conflicts of Interest

I know this is hard to believe after this post, but there appears to be more conflicts of interest involved in the Caritas deal.

As one commenter put it, Hellooooooooo Martha?? Speak up dear, we can't hear you.

Speaking of comments, do note the link to the comments in Caritas Coinkydinks 2 from the commenter stating there is no whistleblower policy in the Archdiocese.

Hard to imagine isn't it.

One thing I am learning from all this is exactly how many priests and lay people across the archdiocese are scared silly to blow the whistle.

Since this was the problem to begin with, any notion that there has been real reform inside of the Catholic Church is a delusion of grandeur.

The Archdiocese Launches Strategy Against The Coalition to Save Catholic Healthcare

As I previously mentioned here, last week the Coalition to Save Health Care held a press conference to talk about the deal structure that puts Catholic identity of the hospitals and Catholic healthcare in Massachusetts in grave danger.

When the Globe covered the story, the Cardinal's multi million dollar public relations team was quoted:

“The wild speculation engaged in today is absurd,’’ Murphy said.

Get it?

Speculation that the Cardinal's talk about Cerebus keeping the Catholic identity of hospitals isn't absurd, the people pointing out the 'ethics team' is set up to be controlled by Cerebus and there are lucrative golden parachutes for the diocese built into the deal are wild and absurd.

Meanwhile, as reported on BryanHehirExposed, Cerebus had the Cardinal's portrait removed from the lobby of St. Elizabeth's, the Blessed Mother has been removed from the emergency room and religious artifacts are being purged from the hospital. (Do take a look at the blank wall where the Cardinal's picture used to hang.)

Amazing since there's a pretense that the deal hasn't been approved by the Attorney General.

We announced yesterday that an agreement has been reached with Cerberus that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals. The sale is still pending as the Attorney General has to review it, but this stewardship agreement was a key component for us because it will preserve the Catholic identity of Caritas. (Cardinal Sean’s May 7, 2010 blog)

The Stewardship Agreement memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Healthcare system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry.” (Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010)

This is a substantive and structural commitment by the archdiocese and Steward to operate this hospital system by the religious and moral directives of the Catholic Church.” (Fr. Bryan Hehir, Secretary for Healthcare and Social Services, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010)

Judie Brown at the American Life League picked up the story today in her column "Catholic Heroes and Villians".

The entire scenario is most disturbing. In addition, we find the underhanded tactics of Caritas representatives like Chris Murphy, which cannot be unknown to Cardinal Sean O’Malley. The Boston Globe interviewed Murphy, who slammed the Coalition to Save Catholic Health Care, saying “The wild speculation engaged in today is absurd.”

Oh really? Not so fast.

As always, Judie hits the ball out of the park. It's a must read.

Her ending is just too good not to repeat here:

This sort of skullduggery doesn’t sit well among faithful Catholics. But it proves once again that, when Catholic identity is diluted or denied for any reason, including a few measly dollars, nothing good can come of it. Judas Iscariot found that out the hard way. Shame on the Archdiocese of Boston! Thank God for Catholic heroes like John O’Gorman, R. T. Neary and El Paso’s own Father Rodriguez!

Amen to all that!

When it comes to the perception that the archdiocese acts in good faith, Cardinal O'Malley and his team of advisors and hench men continue in a free fall.

Cerebus, Hades and the Archdiocese of Boston

American Life League on the Dismantling of Catholic Hospital and Conscience Protections in Boston

Judie Brown and the American Life League has done some diligence on the deal the Archdiocese is trying to make with Three Headed Monster Guarding the Gates of Hell to prevent escape.

Not only that, but we have learned, “The sale agreement requires the new management to continue adhering to Catholic moral principles in its medical procedures. However the new ownership has the option to terminate that aspect of the agreement by paying an addition[al] $25 million to an approved archdiocesan charity, if it finds that adherence to Catholic moral standards has become ‘unlawful or materially burdensome.’”

But we already know that adherence to Catholic moral standards is unlawful for any hospital that participates in the Massachusetts universal health care insurance program (the model for ObamaCare), because the program requires participants to provide abortion, contraception, sterilization, etc. In fact, the archdiocese’s inability to participate in the Massachusetts program is precisely the reason why Caritas is unprofitable and is being sold. So the termination of Catholic standards is inevitable. Why the charade to mislead the public that Caritas will remain Catholic?

Even before the formal termination of Catholic standards, adherence to those standards by the new owners will be questionable. We followed up on this and found the “Stewardship Agreement” that has been filed with the state of Massachusetts. One section (4.4) addresses the establishment of “ethics committees.” It is clear from the document that even though the Archdiocese of Boston is tossed the bone of being able to appoint an ethicist, the owner of the hospital will actually be paying this “ethicist” by reimbursing the archdiocese. So whose ethicist will contribute to discussions? This is a dangerous situation in view of the new health care reform law which encourages rationing and other forms of euthanasia.

Is the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades now poised to devour the Archdiocese of Boston’s hospital system? The evil one’s traps are always cleverly appealing

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