History
The Catholic Healthcare Story
The 1980s and early 1990s were crucial years for the Catholic health care and aged care sectors. The loss of subsidies and the growth of large commercial operations in the private hospital sector threatened the mission of Catholic private hospitals. Catholic public hospitals faced a very uncertain future and the aged care reforms of 1987 would mean a complete overhaul of the Catholic aged care sector.
These large and fundamental policy changes occurred as the Catholic sector experienced change in the nature of its leadership. In 1987 all but three of its private hospitals were led by Sister Administrators and by 1993 the ratio had been reversed.
The reforms to private health insurance, public hospital funding and aged care funding created an environment of great strategic uncertainty.
The health care industry was changing.
These changes and the sale of a Catholic hospital in Victoria to a for-profit provider, made many religious congregations and Church groups consider how to secure the future and sustainability of their health care ministries.
In addition, the majority of religious communities were ageing. Some religious communities believed they lacked the care knowledge and experience to meet the maturing and more sophisticated health care sector needs. There was also fear that long-standing Church ministries with inadequate support would be acquired by for-profit health care organisations.
The Catholic Church lacked the necessary infrastructure to support the future of its diverse health care ministries. In order to sustain the Church's involvement in health care, a new approach was required.
"The future of Catholic health care must build upon what has and is being achieved in and through the present structures ... whatever steps are taken to shape our future - rather than let the future shape us - they must give new hope and new impetus to the ministry in the context of continuity with the past and openness of what the future may hold." - Dr Roger Austin DCL STL, Inaugural Chairman, Catholic Health Care Services Trustees [NSW & ACT].
Pioneering thinkers promote collaborative healthcare relationships
A small working party pioneered a new way of thinking about Church, lay leadership and health care in the early 1990s to counter the increasing market share of for-profit hospitals. At the time, there was no structure that allowed the Catholic health care sector to collaboratively expand ministries or to take on new ministries.
The working party suggested that collaborative structures were critical to the continuation of the Church's health care ministries. This resulted in debate, consultation and research across Catholic health care communities in 1992 and 1993. The consultations revealed that a model of ministry sponsorship needed to be explored. This new model would facilitate the transition and transfer of Church health care ministries to lay-managed organisations. The proposed model would ensure that the mission, values and ethos of Christian traditions would be retained through Church membership that supported the new organisation.
Many religious communities believed these collaborative structures would not succeed, while others saw it as the only way forward. There was a core group that truly believed there was ultimately, one mission, one motivation and one ministry.
These pioneering religious groups later became the founding members of Catholic Healthcare.
The birth of Catholic Healthcare
Having researched and consulted widely over a two year period there were two important events in 1993 and 1994 that were the catalyst for the foundation of Catholic Healthcare.
The NSW State Government put out a tender for the development of Hawkesbury District Health Service, a new community hospital to be based at Windsor. The tender was limited to the not-for-profit sector. At the time of the tender, there was not one single Catholic health care provider in New South Wales ready to respond quickly and effectively.
Around the same time, the Newcastle Mater Misericordiae Hospital (NMMH), which was governed by the Sisters of Mercy Singleton, faced significant management challenges and was at risk of closure. Eager to restore the hospital to viability, the Sisters looked to the broad Catholic health care sector for support. Unfortunately the sector had no focal point through which it could assist.
The Sisters then approached the Catholic industry health care body, Australian Catholic Health Care Association, (now Catholic Health Australia) for assistance. It was through the Association's support and guidance that the Hospital appointed a consulting firm to temporarily manage and implement the changes required to the hospital structure.
These two important events reinforced the need for a new, innovative and flexible way of being Church in health care. It was a response to these two events that brought theory into practise and grace into action.
"They were walking with us. They were managing our hospital. They were thinking with us and involving us, a religious congregation, to form this new body. Newcastle Mater Misericordiae Hospital was part of the evolution and creation of Catholic Healthcare." - Sr Monica Sinclair RSM, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, Singleton at the time of Catholic Healthcare's foundation.
Finding the right model and Church structure
"No one wanted to risk everything and yet huge risk was needed. We had to believe in ourselves and the Providence of God. It could happen." - Sr Clare Nolan RSC, Vicar of the Sisters of Charity at the time of Catholic Healthcare's foundation.
Inspired by the spirit of collaboration and wanting to respond to the needs of the Newcastle Mater and the Hawkesbury District Health Service tender opportunity, six pioneering religious congregations in June 1994 founded Catholic Healthcare as a new organisation of the Catholic Church's ministry in care.
These pioneering congregations included:
- Sisters of Charity
- Sisters of St John of God
- St John of God Brothers
- Sisters of St Joseph NSW Province
- Sisters of Mercy Singleton
- Sisters of the Little Company of Mary.
These congregations became the founding Member organisations of Catholic Health Care Services (NSW & ACT).
Auspiced by the Bishops of NSW and the ACT, the role of this new organisation was to support Catholic health care and to find new ways of continuing and extending the Church's mission in care: the healing mission of Jesus.
"The early days of Catholic Healthcare were exciting and called for courage. There was great hope and intense passion for the future, but there was also anxiety and hurt. People supported each other during some really tough times. They sat, reflected, and disagreed, but ultimately believed in the mission with real passion and had great trust in each other. There were deep and excellent sharings around the vision. Catholic Healthcare was an experience of Church." - Sr Mary Reardon RSJ, Council of the Sisters of St Joseph (NSW Province) at the time of Catholic Healthcare's foundation.
Finding the right model and Church structure was critical to the success of Catholic Healthcare. The new model required a structure that was faithful to the message of Vatican II and the inspiration of the Spirit. It also needed to embrace the collaboration of Church including religious groups, parishes and bishops with lay people.
"The Church, as Vatican II reminds us, has always had the duty of scrutinising the signs of the times so as to ensure the message of salvation is preached to the ends of the Earth. The Church has ever developed and adopted new structures to carry on, more effectively, its mission." - Decree, Catholic Healthcare Services (NSW & ACT) Statutes
Becoming a Public Juridic Person
It was decided that the most appropriate structure for Catholic Healthcare was to be established as a Public Juridic Person (PJP). As a PJP entity, Catholic Healthcare is authorised by the Roman Catholic Church to act in the name of the Church. As a PJP, Catholic Healthcare has the equivalent standing of a religious congregation, parish or Diocese.
This was an important and significant step for the Catholic Church in Australia.
Catholic Healthcare was the first organisation to be established as a Public Juridic Person in Australia and importantly the first lay-managed public juridic person in health care to be entrusted with Church ministries.
"For the Church to authorise congregations to come together and form a new body, for the purposes of management, trusteeship and governance was very important and a wonderful possibility. There was no blue print, no steps to follow, but there was a deep sense of openness to the Spirit and a faith commitment." - Sr Monica Sinclair RSM
Catholic Healthcare was driven by a strategic vision by what was essentially a volunteer group of religious congregations. These men and women brought passion, courage, selflessness, open minds and goodwill. Their collaborative belief in the organisation and their desire to make its vision come alive sustained them, for Catholic Healthcare had no auspicing parent body and no financial backing or resources.
Similar to St Peter, Catholic Healthcare stepped out into the deep to respond to a call.
"Collaboration is the recognition that each of us has something to give that's of value for the whole and I think that's the risk that Catholic Healthcare took. Catholic Healthcare seized the moment and ran with it and that takes faith and hope and a lot of trust, trust in God and in ourselves." - Sr Mary Reardon RSJ
Catholic Healthcare's founding vision
Catholic Healthcare's founding vision is captured in the Decree of Foundation given at St Mary's Cathedral on 21 July 1994 by the Bishops of NSW and the ACT:
"Anticipating the new millennium and motivated by the desire to ensure the continuation of Christ's healing presence in the world through a health care service that is authentically Christian, the meeting of the Bishops of the Province of Sydney was asked to establish a new Catholic organisation which will share in the mission of the Church through the ministry of Catholic health care."
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