Church Tribunal Against OSF–2002--December 2019

 

(Photo by John Carroll–April 2018)

In 2002, I attempted numerous times to get an appointment with Bishop Jenky to inform him of my concerns with OSF. But I was never granted the appointment. I did meet with a Monsignor in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria in 2002 who described the “corporate malaise” at OSF. But this was about as far as it went. (And this Monsignor was never allowed to meet with me again.)

So I decided to follow Catholic Canon Law and to petition for a tribunal lawsuit against OSF. 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. In mid-2002, I discussed a tribunal court with Patricia Gibson. 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 tribunal “case” to her complete with big brown folders full of notes, articles, etc. describing the OSF debacle. Gibson would shake her head in disgust at the story I was telling 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 in 2002, I met with her and other people in the Dioceses 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 other issues at OSF which had nothing to do with Haitian Hearts.

I was encouraged that the Diocese would be proactive like this, and when my brother and I met with Gibson and Rohlfs in Rohlf’s 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 “petitioned” the Sisters for a tribunal court, the Diocese would go to the media “against Haitian Hearts” and pull Diocesan support from Haitian Hearts. Haitian kids suffering from heart defects would be held hostage to NOT embarrassing OSF with a tribunal court.)

During our December meeting, Monsignor Rohlfs looked at my brother and me and asked us if the Diocese could be of any help to us regarding Haitian Hearts. This question caught us off guard. I was looking forward to my next Haiti trip which I had planned for January, 2003. 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 Children’s Hospital of Illinois in 2002 than any other year–$445,000.

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

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org