Catholic Diocese Tucson

CATHOLIC OUTLOOK 7 SEPTEMBER 2019 Carondelet endowment supports Catholic healthcare in diocese Photo by Allen Haeger, courtesy of diocesan Archives This photo, taken some time in the 1980s, shows Father James Modeen blessing the statue of St. Mary and the Infant Child. The statue was at the new main entrance to Carondelet St. Mary’s Hospital. Photo courtesy of diocesan Archives This photo, taken some time in the 1980s, shows St. Joseph Sister St. Joan Willert, CEO of Carondelet Health Care, left, and Bishop Manuel Moreno walking through a Carondelet hospital. To date, the board has approved almost $700,000 in grants. By BISHOP EMERITUS GERALD F. KICANAS The story of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet coming to the Diocese of Tucson reads like an engrossing thriller. Traveling from California by horse cart, the sisters endured storms, floods, cowboys asking them to marry them, dangerous roads, fear of attack, snakes and scorpions in order to open up hospitals and schools in our Tucson community. They opened St. Mary Hospital and later St. Joseph’s, and Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales. They have carried on that tradition by providing health care to the indigent and all in need of medical services in our communities. What great good the Sisters have wrought among us! The Sisters were not able to maintain the hospitals and so they sold them to Ascension Health Network, a Catholic hospitals group that continued the rich tradition and foundation laid by the Sisters. The hospitals continued to experience serious financial challenges, and Ascension sold the hospitals to Tenet, a for-profit national hospital system, in 2015. Tenet expressed a strong desire to maintain the Catholic identity of the hospitals, so the Diocese signed an agreement with Tenet to ensure the hospitals’ Catholicity. Tenet agreed to allow the hospitals to follow the ethical and religious directives of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, to continue to serve the poor and indigent, and to maintain chaplains to meet the spiritual needs of their patients. However, Tenet is a for- profit system. The Carondelet Foundation formed a long time ago, and its assets, accumulated over many years, could not be transferred to Tenet. Instead, some of those funds were turned over to the Diocese of Tucson to be used for Catholic healthcare initiatives that would allow the good work begun by the Sisters of St. Joseph to continue. The Diocese received about $9 million from the Carondelet Foundation; the St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Endowment Board was established to oversee those funds. Board members were appointed by the bishop to assist him in providing grants to individuals and organizations engaged in Catholic healthcare within the Diocese of Tucson. There were several restricted funds that were a part of the Carondelet Foundation, including the Klinger Fund for burn victims and patients in Southern Arizona, the Dardis Fund and the Jane Robb Fund. Both the Dardis and Jane Robb Funds were meant to be distributed for nursing scholarships. The largest fund ($6 million) is restricted to support Catholic healthcare initiatives. These funds are held by the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Tucson as endowments. The interest from these endowments can be used to provide grants. The St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Endowment Board consists of Bishop Edward Weisenburger; Carondelet Board members Mary Anne Faye and William Assenmacher; former hospital administrator Thomas Plantz; medical expert from the Critical Path Institute Michelle Morgan; St. Joseph Sister Irma Odabashian; former Moderator of the Curia Msgr. Jeremiah McCarthy, who provides counsel to Tenet on the ethical and religious directives and serves on the Tenet Ethical Board as a consultant; and me. Catholic Foundation Interim Executive Director Ernie Nedder serves as chairman. This board has responsibility to review grant proposals and award grants using the earnings from the various funds. To date, the board has approved almost $700,000 in grants: - Provision of nursing care in our Catholic schools, - Assistance to St. Elizabeth Health Center, - Support for the respite center being developed by Catholic Community Services to assist homeless released from hospitals, - Support to Catholic Community Services for a medical advocate to assist people with disabilities, - Assistance with hospital bills for a burn victim. Grants are given out once per year. Applications are available on the Diocese of Tucson Catholic Foundation website tinyurl.com/ yxdhwwy6. Among the opportunities for grants are nursing scholarships. Those receiving a one-year nursing scholarship through the fund must attend Pima Community College and must commit a certain amount of time after earning their degree serving in a Catholic hospital in the Diocese of Tucson. Grants will be awarded annually; the deadline to apply is Dec. 31. The St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Endowment Fund ensures that the great work begun by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet will continue into the future. Questions or inquiries can be made to Ernie Nedder or Katheryn Hutchinson at the Catholic Foundation: enedder@ diocesetucson.org , (520) 838-2506 and khutchinson@diocesetucson. org , (520) 838-2505.