On Catholic Health Care in the United States

"The current U.S. health care system is, in large part, an outgrowth of health care institutions founded by Catholic sisters who emigrated from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Upon their arrival in the United States, many groups of sisters had only a few dollars and no formal medical training. Still, they visited the sick and set up informal hospitals during deadly epidemics. They even embarked by horse and wagon into the frontiers of the wild west, facing coyotes, violence, heat, and dehydration.

"As their efforts to care for the sick expanded, the sisters invested in the construction of hospitals, where they served as nurses and administrators. They integrated explicit religious practice into clinical care, and their habits were reminders of their Catholicity. In these times, no one questioned what made their institutions Catholic. The Catholic identity engrained and sustained through the presence of the sisters was so obvious that it was not a topic of conversation.

"Today, the Catholic health ministry has grown to include 642 hospitals and 1,600 continuing care facilities in all 50 states. One sixth of the patients in U.S. health care are treated in Catholic systems. With this expansion, the proportion of non-Catholic patients and employees has grown dramatically, and far fewer vowed religious hold leadership positions. . . .

A recent U.S. Catholic article offered an overview of Catholic health care in the United States and at what it means for a health care organization to be identified as Catholic.

To access the complete article, please visit:

U.S. Catholic: What makes a Catholic hospital Catholic? (March 2015)

Background information:

The Catholic Health Association of the United States: Catholic Health Care in the United States (January 2015)

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services