BY: DAVID WARREN, PhD
Dr. Warren is a commmunications specialist, Catholic Health Association, St.
Louis
Responding to health care needs and strengthening our ministry for the future
1914: Birth of a United Ministry
In response to a remark from Fr. Charles B. Moulinier, SJ, about "organizing
and having a Catholic Hospital Association," Mother Esperance Finn, CSJ, superior
and superintendent, St. Mary's Hospital, Minneapolis, invited representatives
from other CSJ hospitals to a summit with Fr. Moulinier on Sunday, July 19,
1914. They met on the porch of a cottage on the grounds of St. Mary's Hospital.
The 13 women religious who joined Fr. Moulinier and Mother Esperance that July
morning included Sr. Leo Carroll, CSJ, assistant superintendent, St. Mary's
Hospital, Minneapolis; Sr. Leocadia Hayes, CSJ, superior, St. Michael's
Hospital, Grand Forks, ND; Sr. Vida Hopkins, CSJ, nurse, St. Joseph's Hospital,
St. Paul; Sr. Vitaline La Joie, CSJ, director of nursing, St. Mary's Hospital,
Minneapolis; Sr. St. Thomas Lindbergh, CSJ, nurse, St. Mary's Hospital,
Minneapolis; Sr. Madeleine Lyons, CSJ, superior, St. John's Hospital, Fargo,
ND; Sr. Elizabeth McGolrick, CSJ, pharmacist, St. Joseph's Hospital, St.
Paul; Sr. Salome, CSJ, nurse, St. Mary's Hospital, Minneapolis; and, Sr.
Bartholomew Schwab, CSJ, nurse, St. Mary's Hospital, Minneapolis.
Fr. Moulinier understood that in order to survive, Catholic health care had
to be a part of the hospital standardization movement.
1915-1927: Working Together
By the spring of 1915, a committee with the enthusiastic approval of Archbishop
Sebastian G. Messmer, Milwaukee, had been appointed to draft a constitution
for a Catholic Hospital Association. At the first CHA convention, ministry delegates
elected Fr. Moulinier as president. He set up the CHA office in Milwaukee, where
he was regent, Marquette University School of Medicine.
The new association continued Fr. Moulinier's focus on quality, and the
ministry also sought remedies for such problems as nursing shortages, lack of
public support for community hospitals, and no reimbursement for indigent care.
1928-1947: A National Ministry Established
At the 1928 convention, ministry delegates elected Fr. Alphonse M. Schwitalla,
SJ, president of CHA. In 1929, Fr. Schwitalla moved the CHA office to St. Louis,
where he was associate professor of biology, St. Louis University, regent of
its school of dentistry, dean of the medical and nursing schools, and acting
dean of the graduate school.
Under Fr. Schwitalla, the ministry used CHA to promote and provide professional
education, ensuring a Catholic health care as up-to-date in its practice of
medicine as it was rock-solid in its religious identity.
1947-1968: Grooming a New Generation of Ministry Leaders
After World War II, health care in the United States changed. Hill-Burton
funds expanded the number of hospitals, and demand for health care professionals
and others to staff the facilities soared. At the same time, hospitals had difficulty
hiring and keeping qualified personnel.
At the 1947 convention, the ministry changed the CHA bylaws to establish the
position of executive director to supervise the CHA central office and to be
accountable to the CHA board. Later that year, St. Louis University agreed to
provide faculty and facilities for CHA educational programs in exchange for
the right to nominate two Jesuits to become the association's executive
director and assistant executive director. Although no assistant executive director
was appointed until 1966, Fr. John J. Flanagan, SJ, president, Regis College,
Denver, was named CHA's executive director.
Fr. Flanagan, a progressive educator, focused on transforming CHA services
to meet the needs for recruiting and training a workforce committed to the values
of the Catholic health ministry.
Copyright © 2005 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
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