Advancing Catholic Health Ministry

The theme of Catholic service to the poor and vulnerable is familiar to us, perhaps so familiar that we can pass over it too quickly. We speak often about service, mission, compassion, dignity, access and care for those most in need. These words rightly belong to Catholic healthcare and to the wider mission of the Church...

I recently visited Nano Nagle Place in Cork, Ireland, a heritage and community center that tells the story of Irish Catholic educator and social reformer Nano Nagle and the origins of the Presentation Sisters, the congregation she founded in 1775. During her lifetime, Nagle, called the "Lady of the Lantern," made nightly visits with her lantern to poor families in Cork and championed education as a path out of poverty. Although she spent most of her life serving as a layperson, she later founded a religious order with an active ministry in education and social reform.

From that place he went off to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Many rich metaphors have been offered to describe the role of sponsors in Catholic healthcare, and I want to propose three descriptions, not as replacements for others, but as complementary to them. Viewing the sponsor’s role as vessel, witness and covenant partner allows us to highlight the relational nature of sponsorship roles and the importance of engaged collaboration among sponsors, governing board members and executive teams.

As two ethicists with CommonSpirit Health, we wanted to share how we foster relationships in our respective roles as a vice president, primarily focused on organizational ethics, and a clinical ethicist, working alongside front-line caregivers.

The Catholic health ministry in the United States, and perhaps all modern healthcare organizations today, exist within a liminal space. We know change is both required and inevitable, yet we are not completely sure what the Catholic health ministry will look like in the future.

Should we choose the means of our own death? We all know, with certainty, that we will die. The immediate question at hand for many is whether we should bring our own lives to an end because of a terminal or painful illness. With a grim prognosis, is it more human to choose to end our lives or to continue to live through the process of dying? These questions arise because of legal changes to assisted dying, both in the United States and internationally.

It's not unlikely that the millions of people who receive care in a Catholic hospital, clinic or care facility annually in the United States don't know the finer points of charism, sponsorship or community benefit.

As a fan of the popular TV show The Pitt, I’ve eagerly tuned in each season to see what crisis the emergency department of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center will face next. While the show is known for its realistic depiction of emergency medicine and cutting-edge medical technology, it also weaves in the big issues facing healthcare and society.

What, exactly, is being facilitated in a formation experience? Those of us leading formation experiences refer to what we do as facilitation.