The Diocese Breaks My Heart

 The Diocese Breaks my Heart

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Patricia Gibson and Monsignor Rohlfs

In January, 2002, we left for Haiti again and worked in a hospital on the southern coast for about a month. We brought back some kids for cardiac surgery at OSF at the end of the month. As detailed in another post, 2002 was Haitian Hearts best year raising money for Children's Hospital of Illinois ($445,000).

I felt bad that I had been fired by the hospital that I loved, but we were pressing forward with the work in Haiti.

I attempted many times to get an appointment with Bishop Jenky but was unsuccessful.

I met with a Monsignor in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria who described the “corporate malaise” at OSF. (This Monsignor was never allowed to meet with me again.) I decided to follow the Catholic Canon Law and consider filing a tribunal law suit against OSF for multiple reasons that will be outlined in further posts. A Catholic tribunal court is a “church-court” that does not seek a financial settlement; it searches for the truth and tries to correct the problem. This type of court is described in the Bible. I discussed this with Patricia Gibson in mid-2002. Gibson is a civil lawyer and canon law lawyer who left her practice to become Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

I presented my “case” to her complete with papers, articles, etc. describing the OSF debacle. She agreed completely, and would shake her head in disgust at the history I was giving her. She stated that it would be nice if this could be solved “administratively”. (The Diocese would sit down with OSF and try and figure this out around a table and see what could be done to protect the Sister’s mission and philosophy.) So for months, I met with her and other people to try and solve this “administratively”. On one occasion when Gibson and Monsignor Rohlfs (the Vicar General of the Diocese) met with the Sisters, Gibson related that Rohlfs was very disturbed about what he heard about OSF and that “Haitian Hearts is a minor problem” (compared to the others). I aked Gibson if she could be my canon law lawyer in a tribunal, if it occurred, against OSF. She declined immediately stating that “would be conflict of interest”. I didn’t completely understand this after I had poured out my heart and many specific details to her for many months regarding the problems at OSF. I thought she understood the corporate malaise as well as anyone. I was in for an education again.

I was encouraged that the Diocese would be pro active like this and when my brother and I met with Gibson and Rohlfs in Rohlfs office on December 2,2002 they helped us draft a letter of petition to the Sisters to discuss important issues to try and avoid a Church tribunal against OSF. (Four months later, both Rohlfs and Gibson told me that if I even “petitoned” the Sisters for a tribunal court, the Diocese would pull any support from Haitian Hearts in the media. Haitian kids suffering heart defects would be held hostage to not embarrassing the hospital with a tribunal court.)

During our meeting Monsignor Rohlfs looked up at my brother and me and asked us if the Diocese could be of any help to us regarding Haitian Hearts. We hadn’t come in that day (December 2, 2002) to discuss Haitian Hearts so that caught us off guard. I was headed back to Haiti in early January. We told him everything was going as well as possible, even with my firing from OSF the previous December, and OSF pulling all financial support from Haitian Hearts in July, 02. Haitian Hearts had raised more money for CHOI in 2002 than any other year as mentioned above.

Then I received a certified letter in the mail at home and understood why Monsignor Rohlfs may have been asking if we needed any help with Haitian Hearts…..

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My Comments in 2021---

1. Wow.

2. When I told a lawyer friend of mine in 2002 that I was going to the Diocese for help, he looked at me and kind of laughed and asked why did I think the Diocese would help me? I thought the question was kind of rude because I thought that the Diocese would help me for sure. I was wrong.

3. As mentioned above, I really thought Monsignor Rohlfs and Chancellor Gibson were going to help especially after listening to me much of 2002. 

4. The Tribunal Court definitely was the way to go for me.  I thought that OSF would not have been able to defend themselves and Bishop Jenky would have ruled against the hospital. 

5. And then in December 2002, the certified letter came from OSF.