"Unhealthy Care": Catholics cannot be part of it

Archbishop Dolan Tells KCs . . .
Church Won’t Be Part Of “Unhealthy Care”

PHOENIX ( CNA) — “ Health­care reform is a good thing,” New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan told Catholic News Agency (CNA) during an August 5 interview in Phoenix, where he was attending the annual Knights of Columbus gathering. However, if it “ leads to the de­struction of life, then we say it’s no longer health care at all — it’s un­healthy care and we can’t be part of that.” Responding to a question about the Catholic Church’s view on health-care reform, Archbish­op Dolan explained to CNA that the Church regards health-care reform as a good thing. “ The Catholic Church has been saying that for a long time,” he said, adding that our human dignity “ means that one has access to quality affordable first- rate health care.” “That having been said, the dev­il is in the details,” he warned. While the Church agrees on the “ what,” namely, “ on the reform and renewed, reinvigorated health care,” it has some things to say on how it is carried out. The archbishop of New York af­firmed that the first thing that needs to be said is that “ every health- care system exists only to serve human life, not the other way around.” “ Human life is not some com­modity, some customer, some cog that is at the service of a bigger system or some bureaucratic net­work,” but rather, it is “ the end in itself and health care is how it is protected.” If health care begins to lead to the “ destruction of human life” through avenues such as abortion, end of life care, or the discarding of human embryos, then “ we say it’s no longer health care at all.” “It’s unhealthy care and we can’t be part of that,” Archbishop Dolan stated. While some people question the Church’s involvement in the de­bate surrounding health- care re­form, Dolan insisted that the Church should have a voice in the debate “ because nearly one out of every five patients in the United States who is in a hospital is un­der the embrace of the Church in a Catholic health- care network.” “So please listen to us because we’ve been in this business a heck of a long time,” he said, recalling that members of the Catholic Church were the ones who “ opened up the first clinics, hos­pitals, and health- care networks.” He concluded: “ Don’t exclude us now because you might be un­comfortable with the very values that gave rise to this magnificent network.”