CANBERRA, Australia (ChurchMilitant.com) – The archbishop of Canberra is fighting back after the government of the Australian Capital Territory announced measures to seize the Calvary Public Hospital run by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr (right) with “husband” Anthony
“I am deeply troubled about the situation and its implications,” Abp. Christopher Prowse wrote on Thursday in a letter to the faithful of the archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, slamming the “shocking news” of the state’s decision to “compulsorily acquire” the hospital.
Prowse warned that “this extraordinary and completely unnecessary government intervention could set the scene for future ‘acquisitions’ of any faith-based health facility, or, indeed, any faith-based enterprise including education or social welfare.”
“I am also concerned that this action, based on obsessive government control, would deprive future Catholic generations in Canberra of the choice of hospital care based on the ethos of our cherished Catholic faith,” Prowse stressed.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the first openly homosexual head of state in Australia, led the forced takeover of the hospital after the April 2023 “Inquiry into Abortion and Reproductive Choice in the ACT,” asked the Catholic hospital to provide full abortion services “in accordance with human rights.”
“Following the legality of abortion, societal punitive responses may have ended from the State but they still prosper at the hands of the Church,” the report stated. “The medical care limited by Calvary’s Catholic ethos has implications for life-saving reproductive care beyond the provision of abortion.”
The report dedicated an entire subsection to the hospital’s refusal to provide abortion, linking it to the report’s subsection on “Stigma and Harassment.”
“It is intensely problematic for the ACT to be reliant on a public hospital that will not provide termination of pregnancy services, and whose management (and no doubt many staff) are opposed to providing it on religious grounds, and where those grounds come with an implicit moral judgement,” a participant in the inquiry was quoted as saying.
The report noted that it was “problematic” that Calvary Public Hospital, which is funded by the government, was “restricted in the services that can be delivered to the Canberra community” because of its “overriding religious ethos.”
“The ACT government needs to address what the Committee perceives as an ethically fraught dependence on the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary for provision of health services,” the report concluded.
Archbishop Prowse, however, noted that “no convincing reasons to date have been offered by the ACT government” and “no systemic issues of concern regarding Calvary’s health outcomes has been identified.”
Moreover, “76 years remain on the contract negotiated and signed in 2010 with the then Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher,” the prelate wrote, adding that the hospital has been offering “high quality patient care under our Catholic ethos for the past 44 years on this site.”
Calvary Public Hospital, Bruce
The archbishop also expressed concern for the future of the 1,800 workers of the hospital and their families, who “must be worried about the ramifications of this decision for their future employment.”
Faithful Catholics in Canberra attribute the present government’s hostility to the hospital to Barr’s extremist anti-Christian positions on homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion.
In an appearance on ABC TV in 2021, Barr derided Christians who held an orthodox position on human sexuality.
“I don’t need saving. Gay and lesbian people do not need saving. The starting point in this debate should not be that we are broken and that we need love or saving. Even by well-meaning Christians. Thank you very much,” Barr said.
In his victory speech after winning the elections in 2020, the Labor politician acknowledged his so-called husband Anthony, then reached over to hug him and planted a big kiss as his family and party workers cheered.
“Finally, my husband Anthony. You are my rock. My life is so much better since we got married,” Barr declared. “We’ve been together, nearly 21 years and are about to have our first wedding anniversary. Anthony, I love you.”
Barr is also the first head of state or territory in Australia legally married to a same-sex partner.
“Calvary is extremely disappointed in the ACT government’s unexpected and unilateral decision to introduce legislation that effectively dissolves our partnership on public health delivery in the Territory,” Calvary’s chief executive Martin Bowles said in a statement.