Michael Paulson at the Globe has a post up on the Caritas situation

Caritas, troubled in Mass, looks to RI

In the post, he has an interesting link to Paul Levy's (President and CEO of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston) blog.

When he worked here, the current CEO of the Caritas Christi system would often look wistfully to the south and ask us to consider taking over the troubled Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket. We put the kibosh on that idea faster that you can say, "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

Now, according to this Boston Globe story by Rob Weisman, he is pursuing the same plan. I think it's time for the SEIU to investigate this. After all, they are keen on increasing state aid to a financially troubled Massachusetts hospital in the Caritas system. They can't also be in favor of transferring those state funds and charitable assets to support a financially troubled system in another state.

It's like solving the foreclosure problems we have in this country by having one house owner in foreclosure buy up another.

There's been a lot of secrecy and lying about this deal from Caritas and a Catholic Cardinal. There is something screwy and sinister going on.



This is all too hard to understand. It seems to me that if you strap two leaky lifeboats together, they sink faster. Perhaps people could be more transparent about their intentions and hopes.

American Life League Coverage

Judie Brown at the American Life League has been fearlessly posting over the last several days about the Caritas abortion referrals.

PANDORA’S BOX HAS NOTHING ON CARITAS CHRISTI

The facts about this “Commonwealth Plan” are disturbing on a very basic level. The Massachusetts Commonwealth Care plan is the very type of "universal health-care insurance" that President Barack Obama wants to impose on the rest of the country. Indeed, proponents of national health-care insurance always point to the Massachusetts program as a model of a successful plan.

Second, in order to be an approved health-care provider eligible for payment under the Massachusetts plan, the law requires that the hospital must provide the full range of “reproductive services," such as abortion, sterilization, contraception and counseling that recommends such services. All of these things are directly contrary to the teaching of the Church. This is what we have to look forward to from Obama's proposed national plan.

Furthermore, Caritas Christi cannot participate in the approved plan without agreeing to provide the mandatory “reproductive health services” that are in direct violation to Catholic teaching.

In order to avoid the direct provision of immoral services, CC has entered into a partnership with Centene, under which Centene will do all the dirty work and CC will claim that it is not doing anything contrary to the teaching of the Church. While this might sound like a little bit of compromise for the sake of the common good, it is no such thing! Cooperation with evil is not a part of Catholic teaching. It never has been and it never will be.

As a matter of fact, in Massachusetts law, Caritas must provide counseling that includes immoral "reproductive services" and must arrange for patients to receive those immoral services from Centene, even to the point of transporting patients to abortion facilities. Both Caritas and Massachusetts regulators have publicly confirmed this fact as Massachusetts Citizens for Life pointed out.

Furthermore, it is indisputable that, even if Caritas Christi itself does not perform any immoral services, its partnership with Centene means that CC will be profiting from the immoral services rendered by Centene. One can easily come to the conclusion that the entire partnership deal with Centene is driven solely and exclusively by financial motives.

This certainly begs the question, how could a Catholic entity such as Caritas Christi become embroiled in such a fiasco? How many evils will a Catholic health care provider accept as part of a deal that most assuredly was made in Hell?



CARITAS CHRISTI’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL – II

CJ Doyle quote:

• In response to an inquiry from the Catholic Action League, Brian Delaney, Director of Communications for CeltiCare, stated on May 11 that, “CeltiCare’s program has been approved by the Massachusetts Connector Authority. Under the contract, CeltiCare will be operational July 1, 2009, and will meet all the [s]tate’s requirements under the Commonwealth Care program, including providing family planning services as appropriate.” Assertions to the contrary by Cardinal O’Malley notwithstanding, this is the third time since February 26 that a representative of the Caritas/Centene partnership has affirmed that the Commonwealth Care contract will include abortion and contraception.

As we mentioned yesterday, American Life League is well aware of the healthcare plans being orchestrated by the Obama administration. We are equally aware of President Barack Obama’s track record of using Catholics to his advantage and their willingness, for whatever reason, to be used. Obama’s relatively short history of appointments of totally pro-abortion Catholics, the Notre Dame scandal and other such events lead us to suspect that if the Archdiocese of Boston remains silent and does not demand immediate dissolution of the “joint venture” agreement, the death knell for genuine Catholic health care will have been sounded.

The evil that has gone unaddressed by Cardinal O’Malley, and persists in the context of unanswered questions and the absence of policies based on Catholic doctrine, is scripted by the devil himself. Of that there is no doubt. American Life League cannot be silent while such a dastardly plan moves forward with nary a whimper.

I somehow had missed the highlighted citation from CJ Doyle's last press release. The deception of the Cardinal, Chancery officials is breathtaking.

Do visit ALL and continue to spread the word, forward it to your priests, Bishops, forward it to the Nuncio, Rome, encourage intervention as though children's lives depended upon it. Because they do.

Caritas Abortion Contract Update

-----Original Message-----
From: Carol McKinley
To: catholic.conscience.protections@gmail.com
Cc: joefeitelberg@maltaboston.org; archbishopsean@rcab.org; DrJohnHaas@aol.com; tad.grd.nsc@aya.yale.edu; cmmckinley@aol.com; Beirne_Lovely@rcab.org; glendon@law.harvard.edu; NuntiusUSA@NuntiusUSA.org; jimk@firstbristol.com; tdonilon@vzw.blackberry.net; terrence_donilon@rcab.org
Sent: Sun, 17 May 2009 6:53 pm
Subject: Caritas Abortion Contract Update

+
IHS

Dear Prolife Friends,

As you know, several months ago, Caritas Christi placed a bid on a lucrative contract to provide health care services that included victimizing the uneducated, distraught and poor with morally evil medical practices (including abortions with a $50 co-pay).

They were subsequently awarded the contract after Caritas officials gave assurances to the Commonwealth, in writing, that Catholic employees will be forced to counsel indigent Massachusetts residents that contraception, sterilization, in-vitro fertilization and abortions are the cures to their problems and predicaments. Caritas officials have given written assurances that the conversations and practices of Catholic employees will be monitored to ensure that they are counseling the poor with immoral guidance, convictions offensive to God and opposed to natural law, their consciences and their faith. Implied of course in this "monitoring" is the silencing and disciplinary actions against Catholic healthcare providers which will take place. Caritas officials are permitting monitoring of Catholics to discipline them should they respond to a pregnant woman seeking an abortion with the lifegiving and life-sustaining truths of the Catholic Church. This contract will not only eradicate the vocations and conscience protections of Catholics who wish to practice medicine without violating their conscience in Massachusetts, it eradicates the safe environment where a poverty stricken Catholic woman finding herself with an unplanned pregnancy will be responded to with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.


When Boston Catholics raised objections to the spiritual exploitations and demoralization of the immortal souls involved in a Catholic Cardinal hiring subcontractors to carry out the killing of infants required by a contract he wishes to sign and the theological errors inherent, Cardinal O'Malley published a statement which affirmed he was informed and educated about the contract, discussions took place and that persons saying that unethical and immoral services would be provided to the poor through the contract with Caritas were untrue and "doing a disservice to the Church". Since this contradicts the contract itself and public statements and written assurances given by Caritas officials, questions persisted and Cardinal O'Malley agreed to obtain the opinion of the National Catholic Bioethics Center to "assure him". That opinion has never materialized.

While Cardinal O'Malley has given the impression that the contract is on hold until the experts at the Bioethics Center render an opinion, Cardinal O'Malley and team at Caritas, led by Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, are proceeding full speed ahead in preparations for the hundreds of thousands of patients whose primary care physicians will be Caritas employees. They are hiring employees, appointing directors, officers and leadership. They have created several corporations that will hire the employees to carry out the moral evils upon the indigent to effectively inoculate the Cardinal and the Caritas Board of Governors from the victimization of the poor and the murders of the unborn children they have assured the Commonwealth they will carry out.

* MarketWatch (press release) - USA, CENTENE CORP-- In March 2009, we were awarded a contract to manage health care services for Massachusetts residents who lack access to traditional public or private health insurance. This contract will be operated through a joint venture between our subsidiary, Celtic, and Caritas Christi Health Care. Effective July 1, 2009, the two entities will serve the Central, Northern, Boston and Southern regions operating as CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts.


* BOSTON, May 04, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts (CeltiCare) today announced that Richard D. Lynch has been appointed Plan President and Chief Executive Officer for CeltiCare, effective May 1, 2009. Mr. Lynch will be based in the CeltiCare corporate office in Brighton, Mass., and will report to Frederick J. Manning, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Celtic Group....CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts, Inc. is a managed care organization that will provide health insurance to Massachusetts residents enrolled in the Commonwealth Care Program. A partnership between Celtic Insurance Company and Caritas Christi Health Care, CeltiCare offers a new form of local managed care that is tailored to the needs of Massachusetts' progressive healthcare system. Effective July 1, 2009, the plan will contract with the Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Connector Authority (Authority) to serve low-income, working adults who are not eligible for Medicaid.

Many Boston and national lay Catholics have contacted the Cardinal to get clarification on his assertions that this arrangement does not violate Catholic ethics. He has been unresponsive to those attempts.

Though the Caritas Board of Governors has refused to identify themselves, one of the members, Joe Fietelberg (who also happens to be the Boston head of the local Chapter of the Knights of Malta), identified himself to a Catholic benefactor who is a friend of mine. My friend had been fully briefed and apprised of the material facts of the contract over the past few months. Mr. Fietelberg repeated the Cardinal's assertions that "nothing has been signed" and attempted to explain new facts which are not yet public. If I understand Mr. Fietelberg's reply, in response to concerns raised, Cardinal O'Malley has restructured the organization chart to shift Caritas from a majority shareholder to a minority shareholder in the corporations set up to carry out executions of moral evils. I have sought clarification from Mr. Fietelberg and am awaiting his response. (exchange below).

Children of the poor are about to be massacred at the authorization and Cardinal's directives to Catholic employees and healthcare workers so that the diocese can be the beneficiaries of a lucrative contract. Not a single Bishop in Massachusetts has raised an objection. Several national Bishops, the Nuncio and the Holy See have been apprised. It does not appear that we have the system in place to protect children from being abused with the collaboration of Chancery officials, even if that abuse involves murder. The Cardinal responded by posting a character assassination on his blog about Catholics who don't need ethicist to index the theological errors in the situation, the spiritual exploitations and abuses to the poor, the obliteration of the right to practice medicine without violating our religion or the misleading of souls into temptations and debauchery.

This is a very disturbing situation. Let us rise to the occasion.

Call the Cardinal at 617-254-0100 and register your disapproval.

Arm yourself with the facts, send a letter to a dozen Bishops and Cardinals in the U.S. of your choosing and ask them to go to the Holy See and beg their intervention. Send a letter to the Nuncio, certified, telling him that the remote material cooperation of Chancery officials in the killing of unborn children is a far greater scandal than remote material cooperation with pedophilia. Ask him to seek emergency intervention in Boston as though childrens' lives depended upon it, because they do.

Forward this email to a dozen prolifers in your network and ask them to do the same.

Finally, pray for all involved, with special petitions to our precious Pope John Paul II.

In Christ, Carol McKinley


Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008
Telephone: (202) 333-7121



-----Original Message-----
From: cmmckinley@aol.com
To: joefeitelberg@maltaboston.org; archbishopsean@rcab.org; DrJohnHaas@aol.com; tad.grd.nsc@aya.yale.edu
Cc: catholic.conscience.protections@gmail.com; Beirne_Lovely@rcab.org; glendon@law.harvard.edu; NuntiusUSA@NuntiusUSA.org; jimk@firstbristol.com; tdonilon@vzw.blackberry.net; terrence_donilon@rcab.org
Sent: Wed, 13 May 2009 2:52 pm

Dear Mr, Fietelberg,

For several months, I have been updating my friend _______________ about the contract awarded to Caritas Christi that requires abortions and other moral evils.

Our mutual friend __________ mentioned that he brought our concerns to your attention in a discussion as head of the Boston Chapter of the Knights of Malta. It is my understanding you informed ___ at that time that you are member of the Board of Governor of Caritas and responded to those concerns by providing him with the informative email below to assist his assessment of the situation. _____ graciously tried to help me understand, but I'm afraid it wasn't completely gelling, so I am writing to seek clarity on the missing pieces and questions he was unable to answer.

If I understand your email correctly, you are not disputing that the contract awarded to Caritas mandates abortion services and other services contrary to Catholic moral teachings be provided to patients. You do not dispute that Caritas has promised to provide family planning services (including abortion) in and out of network. You are also not disputing that Caritas has given written assurances that Catholic healthcare workers will be forced to advise an emotionally distraught woman seeking an abortion at Caritas where to obtain o ne, and to arrange transportation if necessary. You do not dispute that Catholic healthcare workers who for moral reasons would never advise and assist any person (including a pregnant and distraught woman) that abortion is an option will now have to quit their jobs, as it is a gravely sinful act and offense against God. Am I correct in my understanding of these issues? If there are new facts available now which were not published in the Globe, and which you believe ___, I, and thousands of other concerned Catholics are unaware of, could you share them?

You mentioned that Caritas now has "an outstanding Management team in place" great to hear that; however, I do not immediately understand how strong management will somehow allow Caritas to not violate Church moral teachings as part of the arrangement where those same managers have agreed to refer women to abortions. Could you explain further why you believe strong management will result in Caritas not violating Church morals, as the published comments in the Globe indicated those "strong managers” indeed plan to do?


You mentioned that the Centene-Caritas proposed plan would have Caritas be the majority, not the "minority" shareholder. Can you explain the significance of that? Does that somehow mean they will not be referring or transporting patients to get abortions-- thereby materially collaborating with evil--as committed in writing to the state? Is there some assessment or study underway to advise the Cardinal and Caritas on how many layers of legal entities or how many shares of stock might be held in the combined entity in order for a collaboration in the killing of unborn children to somehow be permissible? (If not, I would imagine that you have advised the Cardinal and the Board of Directors to take out a substantial directors and officers liability policy, as even one physician's livelihood that will be taken away would be a sizable award sought for damages?)

Forgive me, but we don't seem to be on the same page. The faithful who are objecting to the corporate involvement of an entity advising poor women to get abortions thought they were waiting for the National20Catholic Bioethics Center’s opinion on the moral issues associated with forming such a corporation as well as the effects upon the immortal souls of the Catholic physicians and healthcare workers who will no longer be able to advise the distraught woman that abortion is murdering her child--and who will instead be forced to give her resources on abortion written by abortion advocates. Is the National Catholic Bioethics Center rendering an opinion about how the Church might enter into the lucrative contract they'd like to sign by shifting Caritas’ ownership share in a combined entity whose services violate Church moral teachings and deprive babies of their fundamental right to life?

Again, forgive me, as I don't mean to stampede those working on this into assumed incompetency. However, in principle, I’d invite you and others involved to replace the services or practice of "abortions" with the practice of "pedophilia" when considering the moral implications of the agreement. Assuming we all agree that there is no number of layers or number of legal entities put between the Church and victims that would make it permissible to collaborate with the moral evil of “pedophilia,” then how could anyone envision this being permissible with the taking of an innocent life via abortion?

I look forward to hearing your perspectives on the questions I have raised.

Carol McKinley

From: Joe Feitelberg [mailto:jhfeit@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:32 AM
To:
Subject: RE: from boston globe

XXX-Thank you for sending this along.

Here are a few missing pieces:

· The Globe wrote this early on before all today’s facts were available

· There has been no execution of the Connector agreement at this time. There is a clear intent to try and be part of this resource which principally serves the poor

· In the Centene-Caritas proposed plan Caritas would be the majority, not the “minority” shareholder

· Cardinal Sean has this under ethical review by the Church’s highest talent base

· Caritas now has had an outstanding Management team in place for one year which has a skill set that was missing

· FINALLY—none of us should let innuendo or inadequate information stampede us into assumed incompetency

Be assured that with my 1950s HC background I will never support a development which would injure our Church. Having said this I will also tell you that while at HC (Holy Cross) I learned to use the full power of judgment to find new ways to improve things while living within the Church’s standards.

See you in June,

Joe

Joe Feitelberg

From:
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 4:01 PM
To: joefeitelberg@maltaboston.org
0A Subject: FW: from boston globe



From: cmmckinley@aol.com 0A[mailto:cmmckinley@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 3:52 PM
To:
Subject: from boston globe

However, planned parenthood made Caritas put their promises and writing and then released the content of those promises to the Boston Globe:
From the Globe:

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 w hich 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 abou t 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.

**UPDATE

Local pro-lifers here in Boston have told me that when they've written the Cardinal, he has sent back the following response:

"The Cardinal will not approve or allow any activities or procedures that are not in complete accord with Church teaching to be performed at Catholic hospitals."

The contract requires abortions be done to women, they've promised the abortions will happen. He has every intention of proceeding with this contract. He is setting up an elaborate power point presentation to get the woman from point A (Caritas Hospitals) to point b (the abortionist). He believes this is in complete accord with Catholic teachings.

Nobody acting in good faith would enter into a contract promising to carry out abortions, hire people to perform them, promise to get the women there and provide transportation if necessary and then make believe he isn't approving it or allowing it.

I think a lot of people are going to be shocked when this goes forward, because they sincerely believed he was putting kibosh on what is irrefutably against Catholic teaching, obvious to even the village idiots.

God Bless!