The controversy over sterilizations at a Catholic hospital system in the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, continues.
As we reported in November, Bishop Alvaro Corrada of Tyler said an investigation in the diocese — following up on a inquiry started by Our Sunday Visitor newspaper — had found that Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler and Christus St. Michael’s Health System in Texarkana had been guilty of a “serious misinterpretation” of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services” when they allowed sterilizations to be performed there. Christus St. Michael’s quickly announced that it would stop all direct sterilizations.
But Trinity Mother Frances, in a statement, recently announced that “medically necessary indirect sterilizations” would continue there, under its reading of the Catholic directives.
Bishop Corrada has issued a lengthy statement on “human dignity, conscience and health care” that addresses the matter. Stay tuned. This controversy seems unlikely to go away quietly.
