Vatican OKs hospital sale over Rigali objections
By PAMELA SCHAEFFER, NCR
Staff
With an unsolicited go-ahead from the Vatican, St.
Louis University completed Feb. 24 the controversial sale of its teaching
hospital to Tenet Healthcare Corp., a private, for-profit hospital
chain.
Ending a five-month standoff between St. Louis Archbishop Justin
Rigali and university president, Jesuit Fr. Lawrence Biondi, the Vatican
declined to support Rigali and other powerful U.S. prelates who vigorously and
publicly opposed the sale.
In conveying its approval on Feb. 18, the Vatican also got in its
licks at the Jesuits by directing the order to assume greater control of the
universitys board of trustees and of president Biondi, to ensure
compliance with canon law.
In a six-page news release issued Feb. 24, emphasizing points he
has made repeatedly, Rigali said that St. Louis University -- like many U.S.
Catholic institutions that have transferred ownership to lay boards -- has
never formally severed ties with the Vatican and so remains subject to church
control. Any canonical opinion that negates this is unacceptable,
he said.
The university had argued that Vatican approval was unnecessary
because the school was no longer church property. That view was upheld by some
canon lawyers. Meanwhile, Jesuit officials in Rome have been negotiating to
resolve the potentially bitter standoff, which began when the sale was
announced in early October.
Rigali said in his news release that he now accepts the $300
million sale. At a news conference, he said he and Biondi call each other
friends.
However, Rigali chided Biondi for waiting until after conflicts
became public to announce that the deal would save the universitys
medical school.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Rigali said,
First we were told that the medical school would not last 10 years
without the extra $100 million. Then later we were told the medical school
would only last six years, then two years.
The university operates one of five Catholic medical schools in
the country.
In addition to paying $300 million for hospital assets, Tenet has
committed $100 million to a development corporation, equally owned by Tenet and
the university, to enhance health education and services in the St. Louis area.
Tenet also agreed to invest $50 million over five years to maintain the
hospitals status as a teaching institution and to provide a $1.5 million
endowment for a chair in health care ethics.
The nearest competing offer, favored by Rigali because it would
have allowed the hospital to remain Catholic, was for $200 million. It came
from a consortium of Catholic hospitals.
Rigalis statement gave his perspectives on the sale and
detailed his discussions in Rome with Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach,
superior-general of the Society of Jesus, and with Vatican officials. Rigali
said Kolvenbach had in January requested Vatican clarification of the
universitys canonical status and had been assured that it was church
property. Vatican officials then sought and received assurances from Kolvenbach
that four conditions would be included in the final sale agreement.
On Feb. 18, Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, prefect of
the Congregation for Institutes of Religious Life, and Cardinal Pio Laghi,
prefect for the Congregation for Catholic Education, told Kolvenbach that
permission had been granted for the sale.
The university noted in its own news release that it has no
problem with the the four conditions, because they were all contained in the
original October sale agreement. They are as follows:
- Tenet will observe Catholic principles and practices of health
care and provide for spiritual needs at the hospital.
- All students, interns and residents will follow U.S.
bishops Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Services.
- Tenet will care for the poor at the same level as the hospital
has in the past.
- Tenet will continue existing education programs in pediatrics,
obstetrics and gynecology in accord with those at other Catholic hospitals.
Rigali said in his statement, I regret that a solution
involving Catholic partnership was not able to be had. He added: I
look forward to collaborating with the Jesuit authorities, the board of
trustees and Fr. Biondi in order to strengthen St. Louis Universitys
Catholic identity and its institutional relationship with the Catholic church,
as well as its ability to serve effectively the needs of the entire
community.
Other U.S. prelates who have spoken out against selling to a
for-profit firm are Cardinals Bernard Law of Boston, John OConnor of New
York and James Hickey of Washington.
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has approved terms of the
sale.
National Catholic Reporter, March 6,
1998
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