Category: ChristianityCatholic

American Civil Liberties Union petitions against Catholic hospitals

The Washington State branch of the ACLU has prepared a petition to the state Governor to “ensure that religious ideology does not dictate the health care services a patient may choose.”  The organization asserts that patients are put “at risk” when hospitals are subject to religious guidelines. [NCR]

Priest resigns after Mater Hospital agrees to comply with Irish abortion law

Father Kevin Doran of Dublin has resigned from the board of the Mater Hospital following its public statement that it would comply with the new Irish abortion law, which has not yet come into effect.  Fr. Doran had previously said that it would be inconsistent with the Catholic ethos of the hospital to provide abortions.  The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin in making enquiries about the hospital’s position. [The Journal]

 

Hearings on Quebec Bill 52: Assembly of Catholic Bishops

Bishop Noël Simard, Bishop Pierre Morissette

Thursday 19 September 2013 – Vol. 43 N° 36

Note: The following translation is the  product of a first run through “Google translate.”  In most cases it is  sufficient to identify statements of interest, but more careful translation is  required to properly understand the text.

Original Text

Caution: machine assisted translation
(Reprise à 16 h 03)
Le Président (M. Bergman) : À l’ordre, s’il vous plaît! À l’ordre, s’il vous plaît! Alors, nous recevons maintenant l’Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec et je souhaite la bienvenue à Mgr Noël Simard et Mgr Pierre Morissette. Alors, bienvenue. Vous avez 15 minutes pour faire votre présentation, suivie d’un échange avec les membres de la commission. The Chairman (Mr. Bergman): Order, please! Order, please! So now we get the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops and I welcome Bishop Noel Simard and Bishop Pierre Morissette. So welcome. You have 15 minutes to make your presentation, followed by a discussion with the members of the commission.
Si vous pouvez nous donner vos noms et vos titres et procédez avec votre présentation. If you can give us your names and titles and proceed with your presentation.
M. Morissette (Pierre) : Alors, mon nom est Pierre Morissette. Je suis évêque de Saint-Jérôme et président d’un conseil, qu’on appelle le Conseil église et Société, qui est un des conseils de l’Assemblée des évêques du Québec, qui s’occupe des questions sociales tout particulièrement. Mon collègue, Noël Simard, est évêque de Valleyfield. Il est docteur en morale et il a beaucoup travaillé en bioéthique et c’est lui qui va faire la présentation au nom de l’Assemblée des évêques. Mr. Morissette (Pierre): So, my name is Pierre Morissette. I am Bishop of Saint-Jérôme and chairperson of the board, called the Church and Society Council, which is one of the tips of the Assembly of Quebec Bishops, which deals with social issues in particular. My colleague, Noël Simard, is Bishop of Valleyfield. He has a doctorate in moral and it worked great in bioethics and it is he who will make the presentation on behalf of the Assembly of Bishops.
Nous allons aborder, je dirais, davantage des questions de sens que des questions de droit précis, mais nous aurons, bien sûr, quelques points sur le projet tel qu’il est. Alors, je laisse la parole à Mgr Simard. We will address, I would say, more questions of meaning that issues specific law, but we will, of course, a few points on the project as it is. So I defer to Bishop Simard.

Full Translation

American bishops reiterate intention to resist HHS preventive services mandate

Writing on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Timothy Cardinal Dolan has again stated that the Conference objects to the administration regulation requiring employers with over 50 employees to provide health insurance coverage for contraception, and finds the accommodation offered by the administration unacceptable.  Civil suits against the regulation continue to make their way through U.S. courts.