I have an ACTION ITEM for you good readers. You have been generous to causes I have mentioned in the past. Sometimes people have a hard time finding causes to support. This is one of them that I admire.
RIGHT NOW… they have a “matching grant” from a generous patron. Every donation to the clinic from now to the end of the year will be matched, so your donation does double duty.
I have written about Our Lady of Hope Clinic before. This is one of the worthiest causes I have seen for a while and it could use your help, wherever you are.
This could be a new model for health care in a rapidly changing – disintegrating – time. The “Affordable” Care Act really isn’t. It is going to be harder in the future for people to get health care, not easier. And for those without much bucks?
They have a DONATION page.
Contact Julie Jensen, Director of Development, at Julie -AT- ourladyofhopeclinic -DOT- org, or by calling (608) 957-1137.
I was in the clinic yesterday for something. The doctor told me that whenever I mention them on the blog, they get donations from all over.
In the clinic you see a sign on the wall explaining that
“Our Lady of Hope Clinic practices medicine consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church”
Therefore, they will not refer for abortion, prescribe contraception, refer for sterilization, refer for in vitro fertilization, etc.
And…
“We will practice in complete accord with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.”
This is a worthy cause.
I suggest that it is a model that may be duplicated in other places, especially as the chaos really starts to begin in healthcare in these USA.
I appreciate that this is an American Clinic operating in accordance with the law in its state. I give lectures and legal advice to organisations in England and for several years I have been emphasising that Catholic Organisations should make it explicit in their Constitution that they operate “in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church”. if they did that it would help them to take advantage of the Religious exemptions that do exist in our Equality Act. The exemptions are restrictive but they do exist.
St Margarets Childrens Society in Scotland made it clear in their Constitution that they operated in accordance with Church teaching and they were successful in defending themselves when challenged by the Charity regulator. All Catholic organisations whichever side of the Atlantic they are should make it clear and up front that they are CATHOLIC in how they operate. They can not longer rely on officials etc simply accepting that they have a “Catholic Ethos” or something equally vacuous.