A friend pointed me to this article. It demonstrates the dangers and alienating nature of being absolutist as the Catholic Church does here. It appears (as per usual) that the CC cares more about "getting here" and less about "being here". The stringent unbending dogma (mind you, not found verbatim in the bible whatsoever) that these "holy" men uphold with regards to abortion - nay, ACTUALLY SAVING A WOMAN'S LIFE THROUGH ABORTION - leads me to believe that they are trying to sabotage the future of the Church as well as solidify their archaic misogynistic rule over women. (Perhaps they hoped the baby would be born male, instantly superior to its lowly female mother and deserving of the trade-off of her life for his?)
When "Bishop" Olmstead becomes an M.D. and can genuinely and legitimately speak about the dignity and treatment of a patient, then maybe I'll listen to what he has to say. Until then I think not. And kudos to that hospital for continuing to operate as a Catholic institution regardless of being officially ousted by The Boys Club. That is a mature and noble establishment who can simply sniff and continue on their way, providing services to those in need. Like Jesus did.
And one more thing: Merry Christmas, everyone. Remember that Church is NOT the reason for the season - Jesus Christ is. And they are so very different ideas.
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Hospital loses Catholic status over ‘abortion’
By AMANDA LEE MYERS Dec 22, 2010 02:33AM
Source: http://www.suntimes.com/2971201-417/hospital-catholic-save-joseph-decision.html
PHOENIX — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix stripped a major hospital of its affiliation with the church Tuesday because of a surgery that ended a woman’s pregnancy to save her life. Bishop Thomas Olmsted called the 2009 procedure an abortion and said St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center — recognized internationally for its neurology and neurosurgery practices — violated ethical and religious directives of the national Conference of Catholic Bishops. “In the decision to abort, the equal dignity of mother and her baby were not both upheld,” Olmsted said at a news conference announcing the decision. “The mother had a disease that needed to be treated. But instead of treating the disease, St. Joseph’s medical staff and ethics committee decided that the healthy, 11-week-old baby should be directly killed.”
Linda Hunt, president of St. Joseph’s, said doctors performed a necessary procedure on a patient who was getting worse by the minute and was in imminent danger of death. “If we are presented with a situation in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, our first priority is to save both patients. If that is not possible, we will always save the life we can save, and that is what we did in this case,” Hunt said. “Morally, ethically, and legally, we simply cannot stand by and let someone die whose life we might be able to save.”
St. Joseph’s does not receive direct funding from the church, but in addition to losing its Catholic endorsement, the 697-bed hospital will no longer be able to celebrate Mass and must remove the Blessed Sacrament from its chapel. Hunt said the hospital will comply with Olmsted’s decision but it will continue to operate under Catholic guidelines. “We will continue in the Catholic heritage through words and deeds,” she said. “We have removed the Blessed Sacrament from our tabernacle, we will have no Masses, but priests will see patients. We are still a hospital.” The woman who had the procedure is in her 20s and had a history of abnormally high blood pressure when she learned of her pregnancy. After she was admitted to the hospital with worsening symptoms, doctors determined her risk of death was nearly 100 percent. AP
