Bishop Declares Hospital No Longer Catholic

(Portland, Oregon) The Diocese of Baker has decertified, as no longer Catholic, central Oregon's largest medical center.

Baker Bishop Robert F. Vasa said St. Charles Medical Center in Bend "gradually moved away" from church ethical and religious standards and can no longer be called Catholic.

"As bishop, I am responsible for attesting to the full Catholicity of the hospitals in my diocese, a responsibility which I take very seriously, and I have reached the conclusion that I can no longer attest to the Catholicity of St. Charles," Bishop Vasa wrote in the Feb. 18 issue of the Catholic Sentinel, diocesan newspaper for Portland and Baker.

The main point of contention is tubal ligation, a form of permanent female reproductive sterilization.

According to the bishop, the St. Charles board of directors believes that Catholic doctrine is merely a suggestion and, therefore, optional. Nevertheless, the bishop said that the medical center can keep the name and the cross on top of the building. Heh.