Catholic Health World Articles

Sr. Bernice Coreil, DC, who served in Catholic health ministry leadership for about seven decades, died May 25 at Seton Residence in Evansville, Indiana. She had transitioned into her last role in 2024. Her dedication to the ministry earned
her CHA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, CHA president and CEO, said: "Sr. Bernice’s passionate commitment to healthcare reform and universal coverage positioned Catholic healthcare as a leader in the national debate during the Clinton Administration.

"Her courageous and moral leadership has left an indelible mark on Catholic healthcare, and her influence will be known for decades through those she influenced over her long career."

Sr. Coreil was born Feb. 13, 1929, in New Orleans. She entered the Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise in 1953. She earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Regis College in Denver and a master’s in healthcare administration from George Washington University in Washington. She also received an honorary degree from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.

Early in her career, Sr. Coreil worked in finance and administration roles at hospitals the Daughters of Charity had founded or sponsored, including facilities in El Paso, Texas; Mobile, Alabama; Los Angeles; Birmingham, Alabama; and New Orleans.

As visitatrix of the 11-state West Central Province of the Daughters of Charity, she had responsibility for nine of the congregation’s hospitals.

Sr. Coreil spent six years building and organizing the Daughters of Charity National Health System, where she served over time as special projects consultant, senior vice president of systems integration and executive assistant to the president.

In 1999, Daughters of Charity National Health System merged with the Sisters of St. Joseph Health System to form Ascension Health. She was an executive adviser to a succession of Ascension’s presidents and CEOs until 2024, when she began a role with a ministry of prayer in St. Louis and Evansville.

Sr. Coreil played a pivotal role in the healthcare ministry in the 1980s and 1990s as she served on a CHA task force and testified in federal government hearings on the role of nonprofit hospitals and how they should be treated around taxation and community benefit. She worked with the CHA task force that developed foundational documents on how nonprofit healthcare fulfills its mission to care for its communities and how to document nonprofit activities. That task force helped shape the Social Accountability Budget that later informed federal community benefit reporting requirements. The Social Accountability Budget was significant for nonprofit hospitals and helped inform later work around community benefit reporting.