PASTORAL STATEMENT OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF NEW JERSEY ON HEALTH CARE

November 1995

Catholic health care in the United States exists in a pluralistic society, a society characterized by seemingly irreconcilable ethical differences. In such a society there is no shared conception of the good; judgments about human character and human goodness are often independent of each other. In our earlier statements we have addressed the general public setting forth direction and elaborating principles that we consider fundamental to public policy aspects of health care. Now, we, the Catholic Bishops of New Jersey, in our role of authentic teachers in the churches entrusted to us, speak principally to fellow-believers, as we set forth faith-based statements about Catholic health care. We propose to give an account of the basis for Catholic moral teaching and principles which govern Catholic health care.

Health involves not only a scientific concept but a moral judgment. It addresses the interconnected array of the elements of body, mind, spirit and emotion in which and through which human life is identified and experienced. Likewise, health care is not simply scientific but has specific moral dimensions. Catholic health care also involves primary moral judgments. It is delivered and received within a particular Christian religious community, which community is dedicated to faith and specific moral principles. In the tradition of Catholic health care, affirmation of human dignity guides the manner of treatment and care. The community is characterized by compassion, sustenance, companionship, prayer and sacraments. Care of the poor and the rejected is part of our Catholic commitment to reflect how God has acted to save us.

What kind of community are we which creates a system of health care which is precisely moral, particularly Christian and specifically Catholic? We are a community of faith and worship and fraternal love and care, who know who we are and become who we are through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In the life of Jesus, God reveals himself in the flesh not as a wonder worker who eradicated all human sickness, fear and confusion - but as the God who endured sickness, fear and confusion along with us. In the life of Jesus, we recognize not only a man who suffered but also the God who suffered along with us. In Jesus we encounter the God who did not escape death but died a human death. In his Resurrection we acknowledge not only the power of God but also the new life given by God C in fullness to Jesus, and in truth and in promise to us. God is still with us really, truly and personally. God dwells with us and within us through the power of his Holy Spirit and that makes us really and truly different: it makes us Christ-like. We who have been touched and saved and changed by God must make all this visible not only by our grateful faith-filled praise of God but also by our loving presence with each other and our compassionate care for one another. Catholic health care exists as a practical sign of living faith; it exists "to be Jesus' love for the other in the health care setting." (cf. Richard McCormick, S.J., "The Catholic Hospital Today: Mission Impossible," Origins, Vol. 24: No. 39, [Mar. 16, 1995], p. 649).

Catholic health care shares a number of aims with health care generally: to cure disease whenever possible, to relieve pain and anxiety, to offer programs of preventive medicine, and to offer palliative care to the terminal and dying. But we require even more from health care which is genuinely Catholic. As Catholics we journey in faith and love with the living and we keep watch with the dying. Moreover, we offer hope based on our conviction that all life exists under the ordinance of God, who is a trustworthy creator and a faithful savior. Contained within this hope is our certainty that suffering need not be absurd and that death need not be tragic. In all of our efforts the dignity of the person created in the image of God and re-created in the image of Christ is paramount. While we make no claim that such aims are exclusively Catholic, we insist that Catholic health care must embrace these components.

Grateful faith and responsive Christian love have always characterized Catholic health care. "In faithful imitation of Jesus Christ, the Church has served the sick, suffering, and dying in various ways throughout history. The zealous service of individuals and communities has provided shelter for the traveler; infirmaries for the sick; and homes for children, adults, and the elderly. In the United States, the many religious communities as well as dioceses that sponsor and staff this country's Catholic health care institutions and services have established an effective Catholic presence in health care. Modeling their efforts on the gospel parable of the Good Samaritan, these communities of women and men have exemplified authentic neighborliness to those in need (Lk 10:25-37). The Church seeks to ensure that the service offered in the past will be continued into the future." (National Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," Origins, Vol. 24: No. 27, [Dec. 15, 1994], p.452.

Catholic health care acknowledges that human life is a gift from God over which we exercise stewardship, not dominion. Catholic health care also witnesses to the saving love of God extending special concern to the helpless. For these reasons we are zealous in our protection of unborn life, and in our defense of incompetent and dying patients. For these same reasons we work to ensure that adequate health care be given to the poor.

We cannot ignore that there are forces which imperil the identity and integrity of Catholic health care. Some of these influences are external, some are internal; some are structural, some are personal. There are, for example, market forces which gauge the effectiveness of health care delivery solely in terms of profitability. There are mergers, integrated delivery networks and managed care organizations which have the potential of jeopardizing the identity of Catholic health care institutions. Then too, health insurance providers run the risk of exercising undue control over medical treatment options, of rationing care even when resources are readily available and putting the poor, the uninsured and the underinsured at risk. Among some who work in or support Catholic health care delivery systems there may be a tendency to believe that the overriding purpose of health care in a Catholic system is to cure sickness and to forestall death. This leads to a lack of sympathy for the rationale of Catholic health care and a lack of appreciation of its specific Catholic identity.

We members of the Catholic community are committed to provide health care because we are committed to witness to God's care. And in our community of commitment we discover that to provide health care is simply part of what it means to proclaim with our lives as well as with our lips that the rule of a trustworthy creator and faithful savior is at hand.