Technically it is, in so far as it is allowed by the Catholic Church to identify as a Catholic institution. But in reality, it is not. The bishop of Tulsa, of every diocese, should forbid Ascension from continuing to use the term Catholic, and the government should forbid it from claiming non-profit, tax exempt status.
That is my argument in this post.
I myself contacted a Wisconsin senator on record for saying Ascension is abusing its faith-based, non-profit status, really acting like a for-profit institution, in a corrupt way, violating its Christian mission statement. The senator themselves responded to me that this continues to be the case.
Ascension IS NOT a Catholic institution.
Of course the argument can be made that since the conciliar modernization of the Church, since the 1960’s, nearly every Catholic institution has become reduced down to the banal and worldly. Having been born in the post-modern era, I’ve heard many times the claim that Catholic hospitals are no longer Catholic, only in name only.
Ascension is the 4th largest business that owns hospitals in the US. The Wikipedia article on it describes it as a corrupt business with “profiteering over patient care” practices, citing several scandals to demonstrate that.
Per the article, its CEO makes more than any CEO of a non-profit business in the US, something like $13 Million a year. For sitting behind a desk running a “Catholic” hospital system. Executives and upper management, per the article, are suggested to be making disproportionate salaries.
Therefore, by all appearances, those running Ascension appear to be using its status as a Catholic non-profit as a Facade, to in reality fill their pockets with gold and silver meant for the poor and needy, the service of which is part of the very mission Christ gave to the Church (i.e. the Works of Mercy, which are salvific).
I know local Catholics who nearly lost their job when Ascension, even before Biden, forced its employees to take the clot shot, which is clear as day now to be deadly. They also resisted taking it since it was being forced on them, and due to its connection to baby murder.
Ascension, which claims to be Catholic, forced its employees, including devout, orthodox Catholics to take an experimental vaccine connected to abortion, when the pope himself even said in one of his statements it should be optional, not mandatory.
Ascension went against the pope and Catholic teaching.
The first time I heard of Ascension was during an internship at another hospital, from people in the department basically complaining that St. John’s hospital was being acquired by Ascension. They knew more than me. But they had already heard negative things about Ascension, and were afraid St. John’s would lose what Catholic identity it had left as a Faith-based, non-profit institution.
Since then, I’ve had an impression of Ascension being like The Borg in Star Trek, gobbling up local Catholic hospitals making them corrupt.
If Ascension is in your diocese, or if you’re in my own Tulsa diocese, wherever you are, call or email your bishop and voice your concerns about Ascension. Urge them to reconsider if Ascension is truly Catholic.
Because it is not.
By the way, it is difficult to promote truth and justice in this day and age publicly, especially when people know your identity. Invariably, that poses a risk that most cannot take.
Hence the power of the blog using a pen name Here I am able to say things many good priests would like to say from the pulpit, but feel they can’t without being persecuted.
At least through this format, the truth is proclaimed publicly, though I can tell you even using a pen name is no guarantee of being free from retaliation.
At any rate, as far as Catholic health care goes, it seems to rest in the hands of Catholic health care workers at the individual level, or Catholic doctors who run their practice in a Catholic way.
Suffering, including severe illness, is a part of human society to save souls, so in the end it has an eternal purpose.
Hopefully one day at least in my diocese St. John’s will return to ownership by a religious order, run like Sr. Teresa (RIP) ran St. John’s back in the day before it was sold to The Borg. Get back to subsidiarity and local ownership, that is the Catholic way according to papal teaching.
Imitate the original Catholic hospitals and other Catholic health care institutions that arose during the Middle Ages, in their focus on bringing Christ’s mercy to the sick and dying, ultimately for the salvation of souls.
And not mammon.