For Sister Keehan DC, President of the Catholic Health Association,  the role of Catholics in the health-care industry is an absolute necessity.

In a wide-ranging interview for St. Anthony’s Messenger she points out that if you look at the history of Catholic health care, it has come about for the most part because there’s been a need.  And Catholic health care is certainly filling that need. According to CHA’s Web site (www.chausa.org), one in six patients in the United States is cared for in a Catholic hospital each year. There are 615 Catholic hospitals and 62 Catholic health-care systems in the United States. Catholic health-care organizations are present in each of the 50 states.

“The church has a long history of being with people when they’re needed and some of those key times are around health-care issues,” she said.

“It’s one thing to say I believe in the dignity of life and I don’t think you should have an abortion. But if you don’t offer quality maternity care and quality pediatric care, if you don’t get out there and advocate for job training and Medicaid coverage for women, it’s just talk. And so for credibility the church has to be out there.”

“You can’t just say, ‘I think we should not have euthanasia.’ We have to be out there leading in support programs of care for the dying and having them available for people who need them,” she said.

“So, quite frankly, it’s critical to the church’s faithfulness to the gospel that we are in the works of mercy and in them in a competent and compassionate way.”

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