Leaders of the executive committee of the CHA Board of Trustees visited the Vatican in late June to share their perspectives on the issues impacting Catholic health care in the U.S. with officials from four dicasteries within the Roman Curia.
Visits included a meeting with staff from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, of which CHA President and Chief Executive Officer Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, is a member. The meeting resulted in planned collaborations among the participants
on issues of mutual concern. Dicasteries are administrative offices of the Vatican that support and advise the pope.
The group also met with Joseph Donnelly, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and his staff.
Pictured, from left, are Laura Kaiser, president and chief executive officer of SSM Health and CHA board chair; Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle, a member of the CHA executive committee; Sr. Mary; Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, adjunct secretary
of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Bishop George Leo Thomas of Las Vegas, immediate past member of the CHA executive committee; Lydia Jumonville, president and chief executive officer of SCL Health and a CHA executive committee member;
Damond Boatwright, president and chief executive officer of Hospital Sisters Health System and CHA vice chair and chair-elect; and Dr. Rhonda Medows, president of population health management at Providence
St. Joseph Health, immediate past chair
of CHA. She is speaker of the association's membership assembly.
"It is important for the Roman Curia to understand the U.S. reality and the challenges we are facing given COVID along with economic, governmental and societal changes," Sr. Mary said. "It is equally important for our members to understand the responsibilities
of the Holy See for the global church. It is clearly a time to foster relationships, build trust, and advance our collective work of furthering the healing ministry of Jesus."