Friends of Saint Benedict Center Join Right to Life Groups in Opposing Hospital Merger

The Friends of Saint Benedict Center today joined New Hampshire Right to Life and former State Representative Barbara Hagan in opposing the merger of Dartmouth Hitchcock Health with Granite One Health, which includes Manchester's Catholic Medical Center.

The two health care entities, which signed a letter of intent to merge in January, announced, earlier today, that their respective boards have now formally accepted an agreement to combine, subject to regulatory approval by the Federal Trade Commission and the Charitable Trusts Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

As part of the announcement, Manchester Bishop Peter Libasci has issued a nihil obstat---a declaration of no objection---permitting the incorporation of Catholic Medical Center into the new, secular dominated hospital system.

The Friends of Saint Benedict are characterizing the merger as "a scandalous betrayal of all of those who founded and who sustained, for more than a century, Catholic health care in New Hampshire."

Friends of Saint Benedict Center Communications Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "The Catholic community in New Hampshire deserves authentically Catholic medical institutions and authentically Catholic health care, uncompromised by hostile secular influences."

"In America today, Catholic and secular medicine hold antithetical, indeed irreconcilable, positions on a range of issues including the humanity of the unborn, end of life care, the liceity of contraception and sterilizations, in vitro fertilization, the concept of gender identity, and the conscience rights of health care workers. Claims by the Diocese of Manchester that the Catholic identity of CMC will be preserved are unpersuasive, particularly in view of the fact that the dominant partner, Dartmouth Hitchcock Health, will control a three-fifths majority on the combined board."

The FOSBC is also joining Barbara Hagan and New Hampshire Right to Life in raising the issue of conflict of interest in the position that the former Chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester, Diane Quinlan---a seventeen year employee of the diocese---now holds in the Charitable Trusts Unit of the Attorney General's Office. "A firewall of separation is mandated in this case," Doyle said.

The Friends of Saint Benedict Center is an organization of concerned lay Catholics who have come together to provide moral and materiel support for the Brothers and Sisters of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to advocate for them in the public square, and to oppose the unjust attempts by the Diocese of Manchester to suppress their apostolate.

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

friendsofthesbc@gmail.com