Bishop Thomas Tobin Admonishes the Catholic
Health Association and Sr. Carol Keehan

CathNews – Providence RI Bishop Thomas Tobin has withdrawn two hospitals from membership of the Catholic Health Association following the organization’s backing for the recently passed health care reform bill.

CHA head Sr Carol Keehan met with President Barack Obama at the White House days before the bill passed. The bill was signed into law March 23, AP reports.

The diocese on Wednesday released a letter written March 29 by Bishop Thomas Tobin to Keehan in which he complained that even an association with the group was embarrassing.

“Your enthusiastic support of the legislation, in contradiction of the bishops of the United States, provided an excuse for members of Congress, misled the public and caused a serious scandal for many members of the church,” Tobin wrote.

Keehan said in an interview Wednesday that she replied to Bishop Tobin that the group would honor his request.

She noted that very few Catholic hospitals are sponsored by dioceses, and that while she had great regard for St. Joseph, it is a small hospital group.

She said she believed groups on the far right were using the issue of abortion funding as a way to kill health care reform, and that the language, while not the way she would have written it, does not allow federal funding of abortions.

“It certainly does the job,” she said.

Your Support for Pro-Death Healthcare
Caused Serious Scandal to the Faithful!

Kathleen Gilbert (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island has denounced the Catholic Health Association for supporting the abortion-laden federal health care reform law, and has asked that a local hospital be removed from membership in the group, reported ETWN Friday.

CHA, a for-profit trade association personally wooed by President Obama to support his health care overhaul, garnered heavy criticism from U.S. bishops for supporting the massive bill despite its lack of a ban on federal abortion funding – effectively making it the most pro-abortion piece of legislation since Roe v. Wade.

The CHA, which stands to profit from health care reform, in July 2009 has already pledged a large sum of money to the Obama administration to help ease passage of the overhaul, well before the final draft of the bill materialized.

Tobin told CHA director Sr. Carol Keehan in a March 29 letter that he was “very disappointed that the Catholic Health Association, under your leadership, publicly endorsed the recent health care legislation that was passed and signed into law.”

“This action was taken despite the fact that the legislation will very possibly provide additional public funding for abortion and threaten the freedom of conscience of Catholic individuals and institutions,” wrote the outspokenly pro-life bishop.

Tobin called out the group for paving the way to immense confusion among Catholics concerning the bill: “Your enthusiastic support of the legislation, in contradiction to the position of the Bishops of the United States, provided an excuse for members of Congress, misled the public and cause serious scandal for many members of the Church,” he said.

Therefore, he said, “I am writing to request that St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island, sponsored by the Diocese of Providence, be removed from the membership list and mailing list of the Catholic Health Association.”

The bishop also requested “that our name be removed” as “even the association with CHA is now embarrassing.”

In conclusion, Tobin expressed hope that CHA “will review its mission and will find new opportunities to renew its commitment to human life, including that of unborn children.”

“I also hope that the Association will clearly support the teaching mission of the Church as expressed by the Bishops, whose obligation it is to preach the Gospel of Christ and apply the teachings of the Church to the important moral issues of our time,” he added.

Kathleen Gilbert (with slight editing)

Here is my personal letter to the Nuns.

Dear CHA Nuns,

Please see the above picture so you can get an up close and personal look at what your support of the health bill helped to ensure in greater number.  Healthcare should be about saving lives, not taking them.  This is why the health bill, and all of the pro-death legislation will ultimately fail.  We have a choice:  Either we can choose to end this holocaust or God will end it for us.  As scripture tells us, “Two ways are set before you O’ man, the way of life, and the way of death, therefore choice life, that you and your descendents may live.”  Jeff Gares

Do you think more Bishops will remove their hospitals from CHA? Don’t be afraid to leave your comment.

There Are No Inconsistencies In Bishop Tobin’s

Pro-Life Leadership

Peter J. Smith-Bishop Thomas Tobin, the leader of Rhode Island’s Roman Catholics, took a personal lead in the 40 Days For Life Lenten campaign last Friday, joining his flock and other Christians in two peaceful pro-life demonstrations at Rhode Island abortion clinics.

Tobin reminded pro-life advocates that they were setting a positive example by challenging social acceptance of abortion and giving the issue a high profile, when others would rather keep the problem of abortion out of the public consciousness, the Rhode Island Catholic reported.

“Your witness to life is very important. It’s very effective and it’s very encouraging,” the Catholic bishop said. “Thank you for that.”

Rhode Island pro-life advocates, many of them Catholic, gathered to pray and give a pro-life witness at the Women’s Clinic on Broad Street in Cranston and the Planned Parenthood in Providence. The RI Catholic said that those praying at the abortion centers also recited the Rosary, a traditional set of prayers asking the intercession of the Virgin Mary, and the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which asks the angel by the power of God to “cast into Hell Satan and all evil spirits.”

Sandra Jeanne Lefebvre of Woonsocket told the RI Catholic that standing shoulder to shoulder with the bishop and others at the abortion clinic filled her with hope, and felt uplifting.

“Earlier that day, God’s sovereignty was so evident when one of the women who never made it into the clinic to seek an abortion was Spanish speaking and we did not speak Spanish,” she said. “God provided someone at the end of the phone to counsel her and she left. We called the place where we thought we called and they said you didn’t call here. So we don’t know who, but there was an angel of mercy out there.”

The day before, Tobin gave a homily on a pro-life theme at St. Martha’s Church for the Feast of the Annunciation, the day the Catholic Church celebrates the Virgin Mary’s consent to bear Jesus Christ in her womb.

Tobin told the packed congregation at St. Martha’s that Mary’s “yes” gives a powerful example for both Christians and those in the pro-life movement.

“Mary said yes, let it be done to me according to your word,” the bishop said during his homily at St. Martha Church. “With that yes she allowed God’s plan to be fulfilled. Like Mary, you are saying yes to life, like Mary you are accepting his word, like Mary you are doing God’s will.”

For Catholics and pro-life advocates, Tobin’s actions have provided a consistent pastoral example of showing how a bishop should lead on the life issues and uphold Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life.

The Rhode Island bishop was thrust into the national spotlight over a duel with Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), a pro-abortion Catholic and son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, when Rep. Kennedy rebuked the U.S. bishops in October as not being “pro-life” because they opposed the Democrats’ health care reform legislation.

Tobin chastised Kennedy for his remark, calling the lawmaker “a disappointment to the Church and to the citizens of Rhode Island.” A public exchange followed between the two men in which the bishop subsequently warned Kennedy that his pro-abortion stance “absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.”

Kennedy ended his public confrontation with Tobin when polls in the state, which has the highest per capita density of Catholics in the U.S., revealed that taking on the bishop had hurt him politically – but not before he revealed that Tobin had privately instructed him not to receive communion in 2007.

Tobin also went on the record at the time saying that pro-abortion Catholics in politics “must quit your job and save your soul” rather than advance the abortion agenda.

Peter J. Smith (with slight editing)

Against Pro-Abortion Politician

By a mutual decision, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence and Representative Patrick Kennedy– the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy– have postponed their meeting to discuss the Catholic congressman’s support of abortion.  Bishop Tobin issued a public letter to Representative Kennedy in which he ripped the congressman’s statement that “the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.”

“That sentence certainly caught my attention and deserves a public response, lest it go unchallenged and lead others to believe it’s true,” wrote Bishop Tobin in the letter. “And it raises an important question: What does it mean to be a Catholic?”

The bishop continued:

[W]hen someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents …

But let’s get down to a more practical question; let’s approach it this way: What does it mean, really, to be a Catholic? After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right?

Well, in simple terms – and here I refer only to those more visible, structural elements of Church membership – being a Catholic means that you’re part of a faith community that possesses a clearly defined authority and doctrine, obligations and expectations. It means that you believe and accept the teachings of the Church, especially on essential matters of faith and morals; that you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish; that you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly; that you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially.

Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic, so let me ask: Do you accept the teachings of the Church on essential matters of faith and morals, including our stance on abortion? Do you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish? Do you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly? Do you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially?

In your letter you say that you “embrace your faith.” Terrific! But if you don’t fulfill the    basic requirements of membership, what is it exactly that makes you a Catholic? Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?

The prelate concluded:

[I]n confronting your rejection of the Church’s teaching, we’re not dealing just with “an imperfect humanity” – as we do when we wrestle with sins such as anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty. We all struggle with those things, and often fail.

Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category – it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve re-affirmed on many occasions. Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an “imperfect humanity.” Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.

by:  Bishop Thomas Tobin

edited by;  Jeffrey David