Sacrament and Solidarity: Catholic Social Thought and Health Care Policy Reform

Abstract

The religion and politics border occupied by Catholic social thought and American health care policy contains rich material for reflection. Religious institutions, particularly Catholic, ate deeply embedded in both health care delivery and health care lobbying. Each activity is consciously driven by understandings of the imperatives of Catholic social thought and by institutional missions formulated with the intention of realizing commitments that flow from Christian faith lived within the Catholic tradition. Because health care delivery is powerfully shaped by public policies at the federal and state levels, Catholic leaders, Catholic institutions such as hospitals, and Catholic theologians have been driven to reflect on and to deliver health care within a context powerfully political and public. They have also for many years engaged in policy advocacy to influence the economic, social, and legal environment of their activity. Moreover, just as Catholic health care acts and advocates, it reacts to public policies that affect not only the externals of health care delivery, but also the essential mission and identity of Catholic institutions. Catholic health care has challenged and been challenged by public policy. This mutual questioning on an important boundary between politics and religion makes the topic of Catholic social thought and health care policy reform intensely interesting for students of church and state.