So nuns are okay, it's the priests and bishops and folks like that that are the trouble makers, I guess.
Back in the day, the nuns were the nurses and the administrators, to the extent that much administration was required. ( Nuns and nurses have both been referred to as sisters). Now, Catholic hospitals are staffed the same way as any other hospital, with medical and administrative personnel who may not even be Catholic laity let alone charity-oriented, poverty-vowed religious. Hospitals now are big business. That doesn't make anyone a trouble maker, but it does make them business and medical professionals like any other business and medical professionals in a big business. That is a far cry from a nun ministering to the lowly sick.
Why does anyone have to prove to you X or Y is better than someone else for you to approve of them doing something?
All other things being equal, it doesn't. But I have identified a problem with the Church running medical empires, a negative. As a matter of both intellectual integrity and fairness, I was looking for something to put on the positive side of the ledger to weigh against the negative. I was unable to do so and apparently so are you.
If Catholic hospitals are closed or sold and we get government running them
Why would you assume that the hospitals would be sold to the government? That seems way beyond unlikely to me, unless some were used as veterans' hospitals.
will the federal government add value, be better at customer service, management, etc than Catholics were?
The new owners, presumably some professional hospital administration outfit, would not need to add value. They are the baseline. The only reason Church ownership needs to add value is to compensate for the negative they introduce in the role department.
You admit animosity is a factor but don't like that I notice it.
Because you see it encompassing everything. I can compartmentalize it, recognize it as one factor, and analyze other factors independent of it. I have argued against interest often in the course of my role as analyst and consultant. I would be arguing this role problem even if I were a big fan of the Church and its policies. As I pointed out a couple of times, I don't think this is in the best long-term interests of the Church, either, and were I an insider I would be cautioning them. Companies and institutions lose their way and founder all the time when they get away from their core missions. There's nothing here unique to Church hospitals. As long as you see this as another battle in some war against religion, you won't understand that. |
