Posted on 07/03/2014 8:46:09 AM PDT by Welchie25
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced July 1 that it is selling six nursing homes and one assisted living facility operated by archdiocesan Catholic Health Care Services to a Flushing, New York, health care management company for $145 million.
The company, Center Management Group, owns and operates 15 nursing homes in New York and New Jersey. Under the agreement, the company has pledged to maintain the Catholic character of the nursing homes.
The date for the sale has not been set.
The $145 million sale price for the nursing homes will be decreased by certain obligations under the terms of the agreement. Coupled with the initial payment of $53 million for the long-term lease of the archdiocesan cemeteries, both deals will go a long way toward easing the financial crisis.
In describing the archdioceses financial status, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said: We become a little more stable with each step we take. We still have a way to go, but everything is being done so that we can best fulfill the churchs mission of evangelization and service to those in need.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
"Yes, Excellency. Sell the Nursing Homes. After all how would it look if we were to sell off the Cathedral?"
Nursing homes have no collection plates
Even better for the owners - a steady stream of Medicaid $$$. Almost everyone in nursing homes is on Medicaid or soon will be.
I hope that includes standing up to BO's death panels.
One of the problems is that the religious orders that staffed these homes (and schools) were taken over by the left and now have nearly vanished.
Apb Chaput is orthodox in theology, very evangelically oriented, very pro-life and a supporter of natural marriage, and an excellent writer and speaker for orthodox Christianity. (Unfortunately, he’s not good on the Old Rite mass, although he tolerates it.)
But what he and many other short-sighted people don’t understand is that there was never a time when Catholic old age homes, hospitals, etc. were more needed than now.
The elderly are on Obama’s hit list, and even if Obama gives up office, I have little doubt that another “progressive” will be elected. And to “progressives,” progess means getting rid of anybody who they believe makes society less efficient: the elderly first, then the handicapped, and then anybody they don’t like.
The Church could stand up to this, but I think few if any of the bishops understand what’s at stake here.
This is pure B.S.
The Catholic character of those institutions and most of all types of Catholic institutions was lost already, so the promise that the Catholic character of the nursing homes will be kept is empty blathering.
Catholic character is selfless, loyal to Jesus Christ and the infallible teachings of the Magisterium, pro-life through and through. It is not the cafeteria character of most of the modern so-called Catholic people and institutions.
Had it still been Catholic, it would not have needed to be sold. It would have been so winsome as to flourish.
Were Nancy Pelosi to behave like a loyal Catholic, she would be at the border encouraging a mercy ship to take the pobrecitos back to their families. She would be hammering at her fellow legislators to empower and yes, even force, the sending countries to develop their own economies and families.
We Catholics need to re-capture our faith.
This is pure B.S.
The Catholic character of those institutions and most of all types of Catholic institutions was lost already, so the promise that the Catholic character of the nursing homes will be kept is empty blathering.
Catholic character is selfless, loyal to Jesus Christ and the infallible teachings of the Magisterium, pro-life through and through. It is not the cafeteria character of most of the modern so-called Catholic people and institutions.
Had it still been Catholic, it would not have needed to be sold. It would have been so winsome as to flourish.
Were Nancy Pelosi to behave like a loyal Catholic, she would be at the border encouraging a mercy ship to take the pobrecitos back to their families. She would be hammering at her fellow legislators to empower and yes, even force, the sending countries to develop their own economies and families.
We Catholics need to re-capture our faith.
Catholic ping!
I’m wondering if this is being done so that the Archdiocese does not have to adhere to providing abortion and abortifacients to employees.
Get rid of the government dollars and the strings attached to them.
I was wondering the same thing. A two-fer: gain more solvency and rid the diocese of burdensome regulation.
Whew!
Glad no Anti-Catholic Bigots showed up on this thread, to intentionally miss the point that AB Chaput is doing a masterful job of cleaning up the mess he was handed in PA.
I've been preaching that message for a long time.
35 years ago, my wife and I decided to put our children in a Baptist church school, one of the first things the Pastor/superintendent told us was what he tells all parents, that if any parent ever accepted government money or subsidizes, of any kind, their children would no longer be able to attend the school. We agreed with that policy whole heartedly.
Another example which we support is, Illinois Baptist Children's Homes, various states have them. They have never accepted any government money in their history, as a result they only adopt children into Christian homes, that consist of a man and woman as husband and wife. They are never under threat of losing government (tax payers) money, they exist and even thrive without it, relying solely on donations from individuals and churches.
Thank God for them.
Their fees are on a sliding scale, you don't have to be wealthy to adopt a child but as in most adoption agencies, babies are in small supply and much demand.
As I already noted, many states have these homes, they are more common in the mid west. If anyone is interested, just Goggle (or Bing) - insert the state desired with "Baptist Children's Home"
And by the way, they adopt to any Christian family, not just Baptist.
Goggle or Google either one, spell check doesn't know the difference.
Thank for pinging, NYer.
This seems like a pretty good deal.
Archbishop Chaput wrote the book on understanding govt vs the Church.
He is putting it into the agreement that this be run as a Catholic institution, I should think he’ll want the new managers to handle the employee birth control argument, I don’t know.
Either way, the residents are assured a catholic environment, chapels with Catholic imagery, which is more than the Vets are assured at the moment.
The courts are going to go after the Church.
Hobby Lobby decision was about Protestant women, and still someone? took out a $70,000.00 full page ad in the NYT today denouncing the Catholic Church over it.
I agree with your comments about Archbishop Chaput. I find him refreshing, positive, and challenging.
I doubt the decision to sell the nursing homes came easily. Unfortunately the archdiocese needs to strengthen its overall finances, and this is probably the main reason for the decision. The schools certainly are on tight budgets, and compensation levels reflect it. The pension plan is being phased out in favor of a defined contribution plan. This has a lot of people upset. Back when they could staff more of the school system with nuns and brothers, compensation could be lower. With an increasing proportion of lay teachers who need to support families, compensation costs have gone up. No easy answers.
I looked that up earlier today, responding to one of these HL threads
The entire quote is very interesting
I love the way Archbishop Chaput is cleaning up the Philadelphia Archdiocese. He is a wonderful, Godly man. Selling of parts to support the most important core tasks is a good way to raise money.
I wonder if the childhood chant, ‘If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all” might apply to this forum? To Free Republic?
Agreed, G Larry. Chaput is doing a wonderful job. Maybe the bigots could do something constructive to make life around them better, rather than just to shoot the same-old, tired venom. Gets tedious, doen’t it?
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