Naming center at Catholic hospital for Giuliani raises questions

Published: 2004-09-10

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The naming of a new center of a Catholic hospital in New York for former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has raised questions in light of the U.S. bishops' policy of refusing honors to politicians who support legal abortion. Ground was broken Sept. 1 for the Rudolph W. Giuliani Trauma Center at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, which is part of the St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York. In a statement adopted June 18 at a special assembly in Englewood, Colo., the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared, "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." Father Frank Pavone, a priest of the New York Archdiocese and president of Priests for Life, saw the hospital's action as troubling and a clear violation of the bishops' policy. In a Sept. 8 telephone interview, he said naming a unit of a hospital for someone was clearly an honor and that support for legal abortion was a basic violation of Catholic principles. He said, however, that the focus should not be on what bishops were allowing politicians to do, but "what politicians are allowing the abortionists to do."

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