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By PATRICIA CORRIGAN

Fr. Charlie Bouchard, OP, is retiring as CHA's senior director of theology and sponsorship at the end of June after decades in leadership in Catholic education and the church's health care ministry.

Fr. Bouchard joined CHA's mission services team in 2015. He has counseled and assisted sponsors and members of ministerial juridic persons in carrying out their canonical responsibilities for the Catholic health ministry. He also has worked with church leaders and bishops at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and at the Holy See on a range of issues involving health care, social justice, public policy and the church.

"Working at CHA, meeting our members, sponsors, and execs, is the best job I have ever had. I have been able to think about church and ministry in a whole new way," Fr. Bouchard said. "I love the CHA staff and would stay another 10 years if I could!"

Diarmuid Rooney, vice president of sponsorship and mission services at CHA, said Fr. Bouchard "has been very active in deepening the ministry's understanding of the church's teachings and pastoral concerns for the transgender community." He said Fr. Bouchard was instrumental in arranging a meeting where transpersons and parents of transchildren shared their experiences with the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine.

Before moving into his current role, Fr. Bouchard was CHA's senior director, theology and ethics, supporting the Catholic health ministry nationwide as an author, educator and consultant on the church's theological and ethical teachings. He also was executive editor of CHA's quarterly online publication Health Care Ethics USA.

Prior to joining CHA, Fr. Bouchard was provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great in Chicago. He also held several other leadership positions, including vice president of theological education at St. Louis' Ascension Health from 2007 to 2011. He was the president of the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis from 1989 to 2007.