Louisiana Voice

Father Hecker is dead but the problems of the Catholic Church live on.

Lawrence Hecker, who received a life sentence just this past Dec. 18 (one week before Christmas) died in prison on Dec. 27 (two days after Christmas) after serving only 11 days after pleading guilty to sexually abusing altar boys decades ago.

Beginning with the very first court case, back in 1984 in Lafayette, Louisiana, involving sexual abuse of pre-teen altar boys by priests and continuing through the 2002 scandal in Boston through today, the church has paid out more than $5 billion (with a “B”) on some 20,000 claims against about 7000 Catholic priests – and each of those numbers continues to grow as more money is paid to more victims of more priests with each passing day.

The ugly truth is that Catholic boarding schools, with the blessings of the U.S. government, ripped thousands of Native American children from their homes from 1828 to 1970 and institutionalized them in efforts to “Americanize” them (do you get the irony of “Americanizing” Native Americans?) to the white man’s culture. It doesn’t take a math wizard to see that the U.S. government was sanctioning family separations long before the words “border crisis” were in vogue.

One such school was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Sports fans may recognize Carlisle as the alma mater of Olympic hero Jim Thorpe. He was one of the lucky ones. Over their 142-year history, more than 3100 Native American children died at the Catholic-run boarding schools.

Fast forward to today and we see Catholic dioceses all over the landscape declaring bankruptcy over the myriad sexual abuse claims. One of those is the Diocese of New Orleans where 550 victims have submitted a $1 billion (again, with a “B”) demand. Others include the Oakland Diocese which has been accused of illegally transferring $106 million in assets just before declaring bankruptcy; Buffalo, where the presiding judge has issued a decision to allow 17 new “test cases” to MOVE FORWARD, which will allow the litigation to determine liability and damages.

In reaction to that, the presiding judge in the New Orleans bankruptcy, Meredith Grabill, has indicated she will call the Buffalo judge for consultation. That can only mean she is considering allowing more of the New Orleans cases to go to trial.

One disturbing development there, however, is Grabill’s indication that she intended to “destroy” SEALED INFORMATION received by the court because the case-related information was so protected and inviolable that the court’s gag order could not be lifted under any circumstances. Never mind the fact that destruction of court records is highly unorthodox.

It might well be a stretch to do so, but it just seems that the timing was really bad for LSU to enter into a contract with Our Lady of the Lake, a Catholic-run hospital, to assume the contract for administering health care, including OB-GYN care, to LSU students.

Nor does it seem appropriate that all meetings at the LSU Student Health Center now begin with forced prayer, especially in light of the First Amendment which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

In fact, the former director of LSU’s Student Health Center, Julie Hupperich, has filed a LAWSUIT against the LSU Board of Supervisors on that point and others, according to Louisiana Illuminator, an online news service.

Hupperich alleges that non-medical personnel were able to access medical and mental health records of students which she said is a violation of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPAA), a privacy law that protects patients’ health information from disclosure to unauthorized recipients.

Even more revealing of OLOL’s motives behind the takeover, Hupperich said: the recovery of funds OLOL has donated to LSU in the past. She says in her petition that LSU Vice President of Finance and Administration Kimberly Lewis confided in her that OLOL was interested in “recouping” its multi-million-dollar contribution to the university through operation of the health center. Sounds like a little quid pro quo there to me.

She also alleges that health center employees are required to adhere to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and Catholic Social Teachings” in order to keep their jobs, which she claims also violates the First Amendment’s prohibition against a state-sponsored religion.

Agreeing to those policies limits health center employees in their ability to “provide complete birth control, gynecological, suicide prevention, mental health and sexual transition counseling and services,” Hupperich says in her lawsuit. 

The health center is only allowed to prescribe birth control to students in certain non-emergency cases, Hupperich alleges, and mental health providers must limit their counseling on suicide to advising that suicide is a “mortal sin,” she said. 

The pledge also requires providers to agree that life begins at conception and that “abortion is never permitted,” Louisiana Illuminator quotes the lawsuit as alleging.

The Louisiana Illuminator also said on Aug. 31, 2022, that when the partnership between LSU and OLOL was approved, Lewis assured the LSU Board of Supervisors that there would be NO CHANGES in the availability of gynecological and reproductive healthcare and that those responsibilities would not be turned over to OLOL “Because of the Lake’s relationship as a Catholic organization,” she said at the time, “we know that there are some differences, and we don’t want our students to not have access to all services they currently have.”

That distinction was even put in writing in the cooperative agreement between LSU and OLOL.

Now, two-and-one-half-years into the agreement, OLOL and the Catholic Church have apparently lain waste to any agreement not to disturb the status quo insofar as health care at LSU is concerned.

Instead, at a time when logic would dictate that its leaders should devote their time and energy to addressing a growing crisis that literally threatens to consume the church. It seems to be counter-productive to instead focus on such things as forced adherence to a religious belief as a condition of employment, denying critical health care and the clawback of funds donated to the university. The latter smacks of quid pro quo and would seem to render the term donation meaningless. It completely guts the very spirit of charitable giving – and most certainly sends the signal that any future giving will likewise have strings attached.