PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
JULY 1, 2019 VOLUME 35, NUMBER 12
Ministry celebrates Sr. Carol Keehan, commissions Sr. Mary Haddad
Catholic health care’s positive influence can right wrongs
Catholic Health Assembly ushers in new chapter for CHA By JULIE MINDA
DALLAS — During a packed three days in the Lone Star State, speakers and nearly 850 attendees at the Catholic Health Assembly honored Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, on the eve of her retirement as CHA president and chief executive officer and welcomed her successor, Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM. CHA Board Chair Kevin Sexton announced that CHA is inaugurating the “Sister Carol Keehan Award” at next year’s assembly to recognize an individual who has “demonstrated a deep commitment to social justice and the common good” and works courageously on behalf of the most vulnerable in society. Sr. Carol had held CHA’s top position for nearly 14 years. Sr. Mary, who was CHA vice president of sponsorship and mission services, succeeds Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, left, and Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, share the her in the association’s top post. stage at the assembly.
I write to you in late May from 35,000 feet on my return flight to St. Louis. I’ve spent the week under Sr. Carol’s tutelage in CHA’s Washington, D.C., office, getting oriented for my new role at CHA which officially begins July 1. But at this moment, as the plane ascends, the landscape is awash in cloud dappled sunlight, I pause to let go of the stress of travel and take in God’s grandeur below. I can’t help but ponder my role in this vast universe. I am reminded that each of us in Catholic health care are called to be God’s hands reaching out to care for the poor and the vulnerable. It is a Continued on 13
Jerry Naunheim Jr./© CHA
By SR. MARY HADDAD, RSM CHA president and chief executive officer
During the opening session of the assembly, Michael Slubowski, outgoing chair of the CHA Board of Trustees, told attendees, “I know that you share my feelings of respect, gratitude and love for Sr. Carol. I have said over and over again that she exemplifies the words, ‘caring spirit.’ We are so inspired by her leadership and resolve and her unrelenting commitment to our healing ministry.” At Sr. Mary’s commissioning ceremony the following day, Sexton spoke of Sr. Mary’s broad experience, personal confidence, engaging interpersonal skills and strong faith. He said she has the characteristics needed “to take on this leadership challenge and succeed.” Quoting Sr. Carol, Sexton said, “Under Sr. Mary’s leadership, I believe Catholic health care’s best days are ahead of it.”
‘Challenging’ times During general session remarks, Sr. Carol said the past year has been financially challenging for almost Continued on 12
CEO panelists: Mergers, acquisitions can further the Catholic health mission
By KEN LEISER
By JULIE MINDA
DALLAS — Long before his Emmy Awardwinning journalism career and anchor spot on the ABC hidden-camera series “What Would You Do?”, 6-year-old John Quiñones sat in Mrs. Gregory’s first-grade class.
DALLAS — Some of the largest systems in the Catholic health ministry have undertaken a dizzying array of mergers, consolidations, acquisitions and divestitures in recent years. At the Catholic Health Assembly, three Catholic health care executives described how and why their organizations are entering into the deals they’re choosing to complete — and how those decisions relate to the ministry’s mission. The June 10 panel was called “Heart of the Matter: A CEO Fireside Chat.” During the question-and-answer-style chat at the assembly, Lloyd Dean, Kevin Lofton and Mary Starmann-Harrison gave their takes on the pros, cons, challenges and benefits of those deals. Dean and Lofton are chief executives of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health; and Starmann-Harrison is president and chief executive of Hospital Sisters Health System, a 15-hospital system based in Springfield, Ill. CHA board chairman Kevin Sexton moderated the discussion. In the spotlight during the session was the Jan. 31 merger that united Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives to form the 142-hospital, $29.2 billion CommonSpirit Health. Lofton said CommonSpirit has the potential to alter the landscape of health care in the United States. “A small goal,” he joked.
Jerry Naunheim Jr./© CHA
Quiñones shares his journey from poverty to broadcasting career
John Quiñones
Jerry Naunheim Jr./© CHA
Discussing church relations are, from left, Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight, and Fr. J. Bryan Hehir. Session moderator Kim Daniels is at right. Sr. Carol retired as CHA’s president and chief executive officer at the end of June. Bishop McKnight heads the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo. Fr. Hehir is professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard University and Daniels is associate director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
It was his first day in public schools in San Antonio. He spoke no English. Mrs. Gregory spoke no Spanish. He mistakenly thought the recess bell at 10 a.m. meant school was out for the day, so he went home. His late mother, Maria, who had to drop out of grade school to go to work, grabbed him by the ear that day and took him back to Mrs. Gregory’s class. “She knew the value of an education not having gotten one herself,” Quiñones recalled. During a June 10 keynote address at the Catholic Health Assembly, Quiñones Continued on 13
Panelists say honesty, remorse and decisive action are needed to repair church By MARY ANN STEINER
DALLAS — The 2019 Catholic Health Assembly’s opening session was a panel discussion about church relations, with particular focus on the clergy sexual abuse crisis and how it is affecting the credibility of the church’s sponsored ministries, including Catholic health care. The participants were Fr. J. Bryan Hehir, professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, who was until June 30 CHA’s president and chief executive officer; and Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Mo. Kim Daniels, associate
director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, facilitated the conversation. Daniels set the context by identifying the particular crises of the last year that have rocked the Catholic faithful and marked this as a crucial moment in Catholic history: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was expelled from the priesthood after the church determined there were credible allegations that he had sexually abused minors and seminarians; Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s subsequent resignation over what he did not bring to light related to accusations of sexual abuse by clerics; the Pittsburgh grand jury report on ongoing clergy abuse over Continued on 10
New model Dean said that, orchestrated correctly, mergers and acquisitions can hugely Continued on 12