An Ohio nun is being turned out for having breast cancer. The church is saying they cannot "afford" her treatment. The Catholic church very well could be the wealthiest religion going, so how can you defend the church for this obscene action?
2006-10-13 09:35:50 · 7 answers · asked by Silvatungfox 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some of you seem to think I made this up..
Front page of the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/business/09religious.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1160772986-hwu8QhTGtFi0RpWo1h8odw
2006-10-13 10:01:11 · update #1
I am not necessarily defending the decision of this religious community because I don't know all of the facts to decide one way or another. I can however clarify some facts that the newspaper didn't state and that you might not know either.
First saying that the Catholic Church did something means that the heirarchy (pope, bishop, cardinals, those in appointed offices of authority, etc.) of the Church acted on an issue. That is not the case here.
Each religious community is a separate entity with separate assests. A community of religious women has no financial support from a diocese or the Vatican. The assets that it has comes from money earned for the community by its members or donations given to that specific community. Many religious communities are in poor financial condition and do not have the ability to take care of their elderly members. So it is possible that this community honestly doesn't have the resources to care for this woman.
The bigger issue here however is the status of this woman within the community. The article refers to her as a novice. This means that she is not yet a full member of the community and has been with this community for less than 2 years. To give a very simple analogy this woman was "dating" the community. She had not yet made a lifelong commitment to the community. At this stage of religious life a sister can freely leave at anytime and the community can ask her to leave at anytime. After another three or four years she would have professed perpetual vows with her community. At that point the outcome would have been different. She would not have been asked to leave as she was a permanent member and her sisters would lovingly and gladly care for her.
I am not accusing this woman of anything as again I do not know the facts of this situation. However as hard as it seems to believe there are cases of woman who know they have illnesses hiding that fact from the community when they are joining in order to have the community pay for their treatment when it is "diagnosed". Religious communities have also had woman come to them get put through college and left the day they got the diploma without ever paying a dime back to the community.
Religious communities do need to be careful stewards of their resources in order to provide for the needs of all members. Priority has to be given to those who are full members and have given their lives to the community.
Again I do not know the specific facts of this situtation but these are all factors that must be taken into account.
2006-10-17 06:57:16 · answer #1 · answered by anyonexxxxxx9999 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is a misperception about how the Catholic Church is structured. The Catholic Church is not a single organization but rather thousands or more like tens of thousands of federated independent organizations. From reading the article, I really do believe she entered a community too poor to take care of her. On a global basis, the Church as a whole may be the richest organization, but it probably isn't on a per capita basis. About 1 in 5 people are Catholic, globally.
She was a novice. Had she remained in the community it is likely she would die. As a member of an order she would not qualify for many public benefits and if the order lacked the funds to care for her, all they would have been able to do is watch her die. The Catholic Church, particularly in America is far less wealthy than you would expect. In most places it is operating with a significant deficit. The religious orders in particular have it the worst. With a vow of poverty in most cases and with most of the members too old to work to support the community they are in trouble. The orders are rather like Amish communities and in fact this is what the Amish patterned themselves on.
It is a sad case indeed, because it looks like she may have given her assets to the poor and diocesan health plans are not like health insurance we have. There isn't a Blue Cross to send out a COBRA benefit package because there is no COBRA.
It is hard to tell why the Church chose not to permit her to continue as a novice. It claims it is not for health reasons, but it may be. The order simply may not have had the resources to care for her and meet their pre-existing obligations to other ill members and those not yet ill.
2006-10-14 13:27:16 · answer #2 · answered by OPM 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The catholic church is run as a business, compassion and caring do not come into it. It was purely a financial decision - makes you want to convert, ay?!
2006-10-18 08:31:00 · answer #3 · answered by Kate 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
because they lack compassion, they are only interested in their pomp and splendour in Rome. Actually the Roman Catholic church acquired a lot of property, because the poor didnt pay their tithes so they confiscated their property.
2006-10-13 09:39:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Could you please post a link to a news article on this? I can't find it and can't comment til I get some more information.
Thank you!
2006-10-13 09:43:55 · answer #5 · answered by Church Music Girl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
back it up with proof
2006-10-13 09:42:26 · answer #6 · answered by Midge 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats horrible and wrong
2006-10-13 09:38:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋