Church leaders may exercise the civil right of free speech

By Bishop Thomas L. Dupre Bishop of Springfield

Springfield (Mass.) Catholic Observer, May 12, 2000, at 9.

Today, I would like to update you on the ongoing efforts to assist, the Sisters of Providence Health System and Mercy Hospital. Such efforts are now reaching a critical point where the public’s response will be vital to the outcome.

But before I get to that, I would like to comment on an article that appeared in the local Sunday Republican on May 7. After indicating that she is reluctant to support the bill to bring relief to Mercy Hospital for several reasons, Representative Cele Hahn, R-Westfield, is reported as "questioning whether the Most Reverend Thomas L. Dupre Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, is applying too much pressure on lawmakers to back the bill. Hahn said she is concerned that the bishop’s involvement may violate the constitutional separation of powers between church and state."

Having dealt with the media on numerous occasions, I fully realize that one’s statements and comments are not always faithfully reproduced nor are they always placed in the context in which they were delivered. Accordingly, I do not wish to rush to judgment. Certainly any legislator is entitled to his/her own view on the merits of a piece of legislation.

At the same time, however, these comments on my right to speak were given widespread publicity throughout much of western Massachusetts in a widely read local newspaper. They are attributed to the Republican Leader on the House Insurance Committee and therefore they deserve a response.

If true, I find such comments to be offensive and demeaning to me personally, to the Catholic Church in particular, and to other religious groups as well.

For the record, the Diocese of Springfield does not own nor does it control Sisters of Providence Health System, nor Mercy Hospital. They are part of a separate civil corporation with its own board of trustees and management. They make their own policies and decisions.

They are Catholic because they adhere to Catholic principles, such as their special care for the poor and needy. They follow Catholic moral and ethical values and they are subject to a very few regulations in Canon Law regarding the sale of property. They allow the bishop or his delegate to have one vote on the Health System’s Board of Trustees.

For 125 years, the Sisters of Providence have sponsored health care services in western Massachusetts. These services have evolved into what we now call Sisters of Providence Health System, including Mercy Hospital.

During this time, the Sisters of Providence have maintained hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and various services to the mentally and emotionally challenged, as well as for addicts, AIDS patients and others in need of the services they provide.

In all this time, in accordance with state and federal law, they have received funds for construction and operation of their facilities from the federal and state governments in the same way as all other hospitals and health care institutions in the country. Never before, to my knowledge, has anyone raised the accusation That the line between church and state was being crossed. If that were the case, truly a goodly number of hospitals in our country would be in violation.

Is it possible that I put undue pressure on legislators? Sisters of Providence Health System and Mercy Hospital called the first legislative breakfast with the legislators. They asked me to co-sponsor the breakfast as a sign of support, which I was happy to do. The breakfast was held at Mercy Hospital in the Deliso Conference Center.

Subsequently, the legislators themselves asked me personally to sponsor future breakfasts at St. Michael’s Cathedral rectory as a means of bringing - Sisters of Providence Health System, Baystate Health System and Health New England together. The meetings were led by the legislators themselves. I had very little to say outside of a welcome and opening prayer. There was no coercion on anyone to attend --the proof being that Representative Cele Hahn herself missed most of the meetings with no apparent effect.

At the last meeting held on April 6, a member of the nationally recognized Hunter Group presented a preliminary report of its findings on the present status of Sisters of Providence Health System and the future consequences of low reimbursement for services and continued exclusion from Health New England. It is this report, from a professional but outside and neutral group, which galvanized the legislators present to file legislation. In short, the legislators conducted the meetings. I was asked to provide hospitality.

Finally, we live in a democratic society. As citizens of a free state we, both individually and collectively, have the right to petition our government for redress of wrongs. We may have different opinions and viewpoints but we all enjoy the same basic human and civil rights. We don’t give up these rights because we are the members or even the leader of a particular church or religion.

Instead of suggesting that I have possibly "violated the constitutional separation of powers between church and state" because of my "involvement" with the legislators, i.e., because I have provided hospitality, or because I support Sisters of Providence Health System, or because I have asked our people and our legislators to provide needed legislative relief for Sisters of Providence Health System, might I respectfully suggest, in turn, that such a statement, if implemented, would infringe on my right of free speech and on my religious freedom to offer support to a Catholic institution. I can’t help but wonder what the reaction would be if an elected official tried to muzzle the religious leadership of another faith group with a similar statement.

Representative Hahn should fairly and objectively consider the merits of the arguments now being presented to the legislature’s joint insurance committee, of which she is the ranking Republican member. She is rightly concerned with the struggle .of Noble Hospital which has also had its challenges, competing in a region where one health system and its partially owned HMO dominate the marketplace.

Our goal is not to hurt Baystate Health System or Baystate Medical Center. We hope an accommodation can be made which will allow both systems and hospitals to thrive for the good of the local community. We do not want anyone to lose. We hope everyone will win.

On Wednesday, May 10, legislative hearings were held. Others and I went to Boston to testify. Later in the month, votes will be held in the Senate and the House.

Our efforts to maintain Catholic health care in western Massachusetts were never more vital than they are now. This is the time when it can truly be said, "Let your voice be heard now or forever hold your peace!"