The Role of the Catholic Church in Healthcare Provision Globally

Venerable Catherine McAuley

Faith guides the lives of individuals and communities worldwide with about 84% of the world's population identifying with a religious group. That is based on a comprehensive demographic study of 230 countries conducted over a decade ago by the Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey indicated that 31% identified as Christian, 23% as Muslim and 15% as Hindu. Catholics make up about 50% of the Christian community.

The contribution of the Catholic Church to healthcare services globally is about 25% but in parts of Sub-Saharan African this rises as high as 40% - 70%, especially in isolated rural areas. The contribution of Irish missionaries to the development and provision of these services throughout Africa is inestimable. It is common for people there to seek out "mission hospitals" because of the reputation they have for the provision of holistic care to patients.

Religious hospitals, run mainly by nuns, were some of the first modern healthcare providers in many countries. Even in wealthy countries like the United States, the Catholic Health Association comprises more than 600 hospitals and 1,600 long-term care and other health facilities in all 50 states making it the largest group of non-profit health care providers. It provides 14.5% of acute hospitals in one of the world's richest countries. Catholic Health Australia is comprised of 75 hospitals and 550 residential and community care services making it Australia's largest not-for-profit grouping of health and care services.

The tradition of Catholic hospitals is a long one stretching back to medieval Europe and beyond. Irish religious sisters were pioneers in the provision of healthcare in both the United States and in Australia. Mary Aikenhead founded the Religious Sisters of Charity in Ireland in 1815. Five of the sisters arrived in Sydney in 1838 where they established St Vincent's Hospital in 1857 as a free hospital for the poor. They subsequently established hospitals, hospices, research institutes and aged care facilities in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831 and her congregation went on to found hospitals and care centres across the globe, including the United States and Australia where their first foundation was made in 1846.

In an article - 'A Catholic Contribution to Global Public Health' published in the Annals of Global Health in March 2020, Dr Michael Rozier, Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice, went even further suggesting that the Catholic Church is a natural ally for global public health efforts. "A global institution with the resources and influence of the Catholic Church, even though its health-related efforts have traditionally focused on the provision of direct medical care, could be a more valuable partner for global public health than it traditionally has been".

It is ironic that whilst Rozier advocates for a broader role for the Catholic Church in healthcare, some forces in Ireland and elsewhere in the West are seeking to have its engagement in services provision reduced or completely secularised in a way that would compromise its faith values. "The Catholic Church role in health and schools can no longer be funded by State" thundered the headline on an opinion article in The Irish Times on 22 November last year written by Dr Peter Boylan, an ardent ant-Catholic and pro-abortion activist who campaigns to defund hospitals with a Catholic ethos if they do not compromise their Christian values.

If the Irish state was not dependent on faith-based organisations to provide 25% of hospital care, it is very likely that it would accede to these demands. The demand for the provision of abortion, euthanasia and sex-related surgeries in religious healthcare institutions is increasing throughout the West with severe pressure being put on them to compromise their faith values in return for public funds.

It was timely last month for Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations of the Holy See when addressing the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York to remind governments of the value and the extent of the healthcare services being provided by the Church.

"Faith has inspired many efforts to care for the poor and vulnerable around the world" he told delegates. "In some places, faith-based organisations are the only healthcare providers. Approximately one quarter of all healthcare facilities worldwide are Catholic and were created precisely to care for those no-one wanted to touch, often in challenging situations. In light of this, the Holy See's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development launched in 2021 an initiative on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Catholic healthcare facilities. Projects are now underway in different parts of the world and will help to reduce the spread of infectious disease and end preventable maternal and new-born deaths."

As the Trudeau-led government in Canada begins to choose euthanasia rather than healthcare for its elderly and vulnerable citizens - in the name of dignity, of course - it was also timely for Archbishop Gallagher to "underline that faith-based healthcare also witnesses to the inalienable dignity of the person, which must be at the centre of efforts to achieve universal health coverage, by focusing on healing and accompanying each person in his or her totality. In doing so, we cannot ignore the danger of an increasingly consumerist approach, where doctors act as mere service providers to wealthy clients, fulfilling and profiting from their individual desires. Such tendencies can create a certain contempt for the poor, the sick, the unborn, the disabled and the elderly, forgetting that human beings are fragile, dependent and limited in their corporeality."

And to that end, he promised that "the Holy See pledges to continue its efforts in promoting universal health coverage, in particular, to answer above all to the healthcare demands of the poorest, the excluded and those, who for economic or cultural reasons, see that their needs are not met."

As Dr Rozier wrote: "The corporal works of mercy are a touchstone for ministry of the Church and their core ideas are widely embraced in the world of global health." Indeed, many governments are dependent on the Church to provide services as the above statistics clearly show. However, he and governments need to understand too that the core values and beliefs of the Church cannot be compromised by the ever-increasingly aggressive demands of the secular world to accept its so-called progressive values on life and human dignity.

(Matt Moran is a writer and author living in Cork. His forthcoming book is 'The Cultural Colonisation of Africa by the West').