In a society where attacks on human life seem relentless, a Catholic healthcare institution plans to bring compassionate pro-life care to the state of Michigan.
The Catholic News Agency reports that the Catholic Bishop of Lansing, Michigan, recently told his flock that a new Catholic hospital would be established in the area, as the nonprofit Catholic Healthcare International recently signed a deal with Trinity Healthcare to acquire the 140,000 sq ft hospital in Howell. The goal is to bring a new pro-life hospital and research center to the area.
When completed, the center aims to provide authentically Catholic, pro-life care and spread its ethos via a School of Osteopathic Medicine that will be located on the campus. The center will also contain outpatient and rehabilitative medicine, an embryo orphanage, a birthing unit, family practice, and the Terri Schiavo Home for the Brain Injured.
This initiative comes as pro-life medical practice is under attack throughout the country, especially in pro-abortion states.
In September, California’s Attorney General sued a Catholic hospital for not aborting a woman’s twins. In 2021, the state of Oregon targeted an entire Catholic healthcare system for not committing abortions. And of course, the name of the proposed home for the brain injured recalls the sad case of Terri Schiavo, who suffered a brain injury after a massive heart attack in 2005 and was allowed to starve to death because of her disability despite not being sick or dying. Relentless pressure has caused many Catholic health systems to sell or move out of hostile areas, while others have simply caved.
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Jere Palazzolo, founder of Catholic Healthcare International (CHI), acknowledged this as one of the systemic issues he wanted to address. “In a lot of Catholic systems, there is very little difference between them and secular systems,” Palazzolo told CNA. “We will emphasize the care of the unborn consistent with the teachings of the Catholic faith,” providing “a real continuum of care from conception to natural death.”
CHI is a nonprofit organization inspired by the work of famous 20th-century Italian Catholic saint, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio. In 1956, the humble Capuchin monk established the “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza,” or the “Home for the Relief of Suffering” in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Initially started as just a few beds in an old convent, the chronically ill St. Pio wanted to care for both the body and soul of the most needy.
The “work” of caring for these sick was “inspired and created to be a spiritual demonstration of God’s love through a call for charity,” according to CNA. “Without prayer, our House for the Relief of Suffering is somewhat like a plant without air and sun,” St. Pio said.
St. Pio’s idea eventually grew into a large hospital, expanding in scope and in renown, adopting new advancements, pioneering new research, and becoming one of the most state-of-the-art research hospitals in Europe. In 2023, Newsweek named it one of the World’s Best Smart Hospitals, just behind Yale New Haven Hospital.
“Padre Pio’s whole focus was the redemptive value of suffering,” Palazzolo said, according to the Catholic Review. “You can’t always make someone well, but you can help them relieve their suffering and find peace. My theory always has been that God is working on every single patient in a hospital as they are working on a crisis in their life.”
CHI aims to start the work of the Casa in 2026 after the final sale of the hospital.
