Mike & Friends Blog
Fr. Dick Preston
Father Dick Preston is the priest who married Michael Moore and his wife and is featured in 'Capitalism: A Love Story.'
Nuns Should Know Better
We are continuing to watch the situation in Grand Blanc/Flint, Michigan where a Roman Catholic-owned and run hospital is violating Catholic teaching while local hierarchy turn a deaf ear to the needs of its people. For my part, more e-mails and one direct encounter with a leader of the Michigan church have been met with anger and/or silence.
Genesys Regional Medical Center is part of the largest Catholic not-for-profit health system the United States, Ascension Health. Subject to Roman Catholic teaching, Genesys has, nonetheless, committed two acts of Medicare fraud, forcing it to pay the federal government $1.6 million in the past year. Its sister hospital, St. John's of Detroit, after being caught violating federal anti-trust laws, settled with its nurses for $13.5 million. St. John's is also a part of Ascension Health.
Ascension is owned by Roman Catholic nuns who should know better. One is also aware that these settlements of more than $15 million could have been used for better wages, working conditions, and equipment.
Roman Catholic teaching, like all religious groups, considers theft to be an action that breaks the bonds of communion ('thou shalt not steal'). Furthermore, disobeying federal anti-trust laws not only violates the spirit of Roman Catholic teaching, but endangers the livelihood and family life of its employees. How does Ascension pass itself off as Catholic?
From Pope Leo XIII in 1891 to the present leader of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI, the clear and definitive teaching of the Church supports the right to a just wage and collective bargaining. Ascension/Genesys denies this 'common good' teaching by denying these values and, as such, denies the teaching of Jesus.
Yet, our local Bishops are silent. One continues to wonder why.
An observer in Michigan,
Dick Preston
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