Hospital workers get crash course in Catholic identity

When Mercy Hospital, the last remaining of a rich tradition of area Catholic hospitals, merged with UPMC four years ago it established a new model in this country, forming the first public-Catholic health care entity.

Father Lawrence DiNardo, who helped engineer that merger, spoke Jan. 20 on "Catholic Identity" at a day-long training session on Catholic Healthcare Ministry Basics at UPMC Mercy.

The presentations offered employees a deeper understanding of Catholic social teaching, the U.S. Catholic bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives and a review of the biblical roots of health care work.

Father DiNardo, diocesan vicar for canonical services and director of the Department for Canon and Civil Law Services, recalled that many of this country's earliest hospitals were founded by religious women. Locally, they began Catholic hospitals in almost every county of the diocese.

And sisters were numerous, too. At one point more than 2,500 sisters served throughout the diocese.

"Most hospitals were owned, operated and literally run with the blood, sweat and tears" of sisters of the Franciscan, Divine Providence, Charity and Mercy orders, who began hospitals in this area.

"Now we're down to UPMC Mercy, a remnant of all that faithful care over those years," Father DiNardo said, noting that important works continue to be undertaken within the "hallowed walls" of Mercy.

When Mercy Hospital became part of UPMC, it was the first time a Catholic hospital here became part of a secular health system.

"The idea of a hospital owned by a public corporation with a faith-based element to it was kind of foreign to Catholic thinking," he said.

The key issue was to try to maintain its Catholicity, Father DiNardo said.

This innovative partnership between UPMC, a public corporation, and the Mercy sisters, as former owners/operators, and the diocesan bishop, resulted from sustained efforts to forge a new structure, merging into one operation "while maintaining the Catholic tradition and faith in the Pittsburgh market."

"The ultimate question was, 'Do we let Mercy pass into the sunset too, or do we try something different?'" Father DiNardo said.

The main concern was to keep Mercy's "faith-based mission."

"We had to try to bring together secular and Catholic operations, and the challenge was to keep its Catholic mission."

"We began with building blocks," he said, "and we asked what do we have to do to continue to keep Mercy 'Catholic?'"

Together, they studied practical, structural and faith issues and, "Thus was born UPMC Mercy," he said.

It was key that the diocesan bishop play a continuing role, Father DiNardo said of those negotiations. So organizers agreed that the bishop would have authority to name three board members. (Father DiNardo is one of them).

And they had to ensure that Mercy continue its charitable work for those in need.

"That's something they've always done, and something that was also always done at St. Francis Hospital," he said, adding that since the merger, "We've certainly fulfilled that mission and increased the care."

They formed a special ethics committee, ensured that pastoral care would continue and they agreed to apply all parts of the U.S. bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives, which ensure dignity and care from the moment of birth to the moment of natural death.

"We had the responsibility to assure that mission integration will always be part of this place because the healing ministry of Jesus is being done here," he said.

"Working here, you are performing a ministry of Christ," he told the employees. "We live the life of the Gospel out each day in the lives we touch. We offer patients pastoral care. Our standard is to be concerned with everybody, but especially with the poor and marginalized. Our actions reflect the message of Jesus. Our duty is to promote and defend the dignity of human life."

And "how are we doing?" he asked of the current state at UPMC Mercy. "Exceptionally well," he answered his own question.

"I'm a cautious person by nature, and when I was entrusted with the responsibility to help put this all together I wondered how it would work," Father DiNardo said. "It had never been done before, we had no road map.

"It has worked because of the people we've had who've helped that along. We still maintained a lot of Sisters of Mercy who are still here, and we had great support from administrative leaders."

Father DiNardo said that when he is contacted by officials in other cities and states considering similar mergers, he tells them to do it, because it worked.

And he told the employees, "that's due to you. Those who were here at the transition did a lot to make it happen. They need to be thanked."