POTSDAM, N.Y. (AP) — A North Country hospital has dropped its pursuit of land owned by a Catholic church after the church included a ban on abortions in the deed.
St. Mary’s Catholic Church placed restrictions on "sordid and profane" purposes, which include abortions.
Canton-Potsdam Hospital learned of the restriction Sunday and dropped the deal.
Hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Sutcliffe said there were no hard feelings. "The church needs to be true to its mission, just as we need to be true to our mission," she said.
Of course a hospital that sees part of its mission as providing murder-for-hire services isn’t being exactly true it its mission. Of course that is why they keep revising the Hippocratic Oath instead of seeking to fulfill their mission they change the mission instead.
2 comments
All’s I can say is Potsdam!!!! That is good news.
As a former student at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam who used to cantor for the 5 PM Mass on Saturday at St. Mary’s, I want to applaud St. Mary’s for taking this stand. When I was there 10 years ago, I didn’t know what to make of the parish as I didn’t sense a fervent faith there, although the priest there was a good priest. In spite of that it seemed to me to be your typical American parish with parishoners who were lukewarm or indifferent towards their faith. Of course I was a student who was only in town when school was in session and except for cantoring a not-very-well-attended Mass on Saturday evenings, I never interacted with the parishoners or the priest. I was usually not around for the major solemnities either since the school breaks ususally coincided with them. Seeing St. Mary’s make these demands for the purchase of their land reassures me and gives me hope, especially for the Catholic students in the town.