Ireland: the crossroads of Christian hospitals

Now that Western culture has abandoned its Christian legacy, the practice of abortion has been advocated as normal and even necessary in the implementation of public health policies.

This presents a dilemma for hospitals and other Christian healthcare institutions that are under regulatory framework. Many of these organizations have some government help and should rethink this if they wish to continue to do so. The Irish case illustrates this dilemma, which may well be experienced in Latin America, where pro-abortion policies have come into play.

In May, the Irish population decided to overrule a constitutional amendment restricting the legality of abortion only to cases in which the mother's life was at risk. Ireland is now considering a change in the law that would allow the induction of abortion for any reason within a period of up to 12 weeks.

The news was a shock because of the predominance of a nominally Catholic population in that country. Through official documents, the church of Rome has been historically opposed to the practice of abortion. Even Pope Francis himself, considered by many a progressive, even compared abortion to eugenics practiced by the Nazis.

A few days have passed since the Irish referendum, but Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has already announced some implementing measures. He made it clear that no medical institution that receives government funds will have the prerogative of refusing to perform abortions. Even Christian hospitals - which in that country are numerous - will have to practice abortion if it is requested by a patient within the parameters of the new law.

In the long run, it will be unsustainable for a religious institution to remain faithful to its principles that run counter to the implementation of this public policy. Although doctors and other health professionals have the right to say no to any request that violates their conscience, institutions as a whole are likely to be fined or lose the right to function while engaging in civil disobedience.

The subject is extremely delicate and shows a dark and contradictory side of recent cultural change and current political trends.

On the one hand, this exception admitted by the Irish government gives the individual the freedom to meet or not the demand for abortion. It seems to reaffirm the fairly traditional inviolability of individual conscience, which still provides a space for people of faith to remain in the Irish health care sector without fear of dismissal for just cause.

But even this guarantee is not seen as absolute, and recent facts show why. It was not long ago that we learned of the US Supreme Court's decision to grant freedom of conscience and religion to a confectioner who did not want to create a cake for a party celebrating the marriage between two men. The decision has caused controversy because public opinion has begun to relativize the freedom of conscience in favor of advancing the progressive agenda. From the political point of view, nothing seems to indicate firmly that this right will continue to be seen as a pillar of Western democracy.

On the other hand, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the confessional institutions of civil society. It is precisely the religious anchor of the mission of a hospital (orphanage, or school) that sets it apart from non-denominational institutions in the same industry. In the near future, we will see this mission being reformulated with a secular language, until the governmental imposition of practically contradicting the faith embraced by the institution is no longer apparent.

One exit that I would find particularly feasible would be for the institution in question to refuse to receive any public funding, which would give it greater autonomy and protection. Only very few entities would be able to survive heroically like this.

Writing to the Catholic Herald, Matthew Schmidtz blames democratic capitalism for this situation. The ideology of absolute freedom of choice would have set up an environment in which it would be possible to relativize even the value of life over that of freedom. This argument does not coincide with Ireland, due mainly to three factors. The first is that, as Father Ben Johnson notes, Ireland has had capitalism and democracy for a long time and has only now decided to take that turn. The second is that, as voter turnout surveys showed prior to the referendum, the more religious portion of the population showed a clear preference for maintaining abortion restraint. It is the secularization of European culture in general that has replaced traditional values ​​with preferences more in line with postmodern humanism that can be blamed for the voting choice of the remaining voters. The decision of the Irish people to follow the progressive path reflects a secularization of their society. Forcing abortion down to religious entities reflects the rise of a new religion as in the rest of Europe: the humanistic civil religion. Third, as Father Johnson notes, the Irish media have campaigned aggressively for the vote they eventually won.

At that crossroads, the religiously linked Irish health sector should decide whether to continue absorbing state funding in exchange for implementing the new public policies, or whether it will try to eliminate that dependency from the government. It is a dilemma between serving Moloch and disestablishing. Since many of these institutions are not sustainable without this help, they will have to close the doors. That will cost Irish society a lot. To further illustrate this cost, John Zmirak (among others) advocates a "Samson approach" as a sacrifice for the cause of combating the culture of death: hospitals would be not only closed but also blasted and unsold for another group to pass to implement infanticide where life was once promoted.

All this discussion makes it clear that capitalism certainly should not be blamed for this dramatic situation, but rather the invitation to a partnership, made to the government for a long time by these religious institutions, so that they could grow and expand their service to the population.

Most of the time, staying small is the price you pay for autonomy, even to stay true to the principles. This is a lesson that the religious institutions of civil society in Europe and North America have learned with great difficulty. It is a lesson that Christians in Latin America will soon have to swallow.

REFERENCES

Johnson, Ben. “‘Satanic’ capitalismo brought abortion to Ireland: First Things editor” Acton Institute Transatlantic Blog, 8 de Junho de 2018. Disponível em: acton.org/publications/transatlantic/2018/06/08/satanic-capitalism-brought-abortion-ireland-first-things
Lyman, Eric J. “Pope: abortion is ‘white glove’ equivalent to Nazi crimes,” USA Today, 16 de Junho de 2018. Disponível em: www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/16/pope-francis-abortion-equivalent-nazi-eugenics-crimes/707661002/
New, Michael J. “An Irish exit poll finds nuanced views about legal abortion,” National Review, 1 de Junho de 2018. Disponível em: www.nationalreview.com/corner/ireland-abortion-referendum-polls-show-ambivalent-voters/
Schmitz, Matthew. “St John Paul II’s chilling prophecy has been fulfilled in Ireland,” Catholic Herald, 7 de Junho de 2018. Disponível em: catholicherald.co.uk/issues/june-8th-2018/st-john-paul-iis-chilling-prophecy/
Zmirak, John. “What Ireland needs now: piles of rubble, where Catholic hospitals once stood,” The Stream, 15 de Junho de 2018. Disponível em: stream.org/ireland-needs-now-piles-rubble-catholic-hospitals-stood/