BARCELONA, August 30, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The bishop of Terrassa, in the Catalonia region of Spain, is maintaining his silence in the face of the pro-abortion and pro-contraceptive policies of Catholic hospitals in his diocese, according to Fr. Custodio Ballester, a Barcelona priest who is leading protests against the institutions.
Ballester told LifeSiteNews that the administration of the General Hospital of Granollers, which is situated in the Barcelona-area diocese of Terrassa, “has refused to cease doing surgical abortions in the face of the order of the bishop of Terrassa last October.”
But despite the hospital’s continuing defiance of Bishop Josep Àngel Sáiz Meneses, “everything is continuing as usual,” said Ballester. “The bishop hasn’t said or done anything more. The pastor and two parochial representatives continue on the board of directors.”
“The General Hospital of Granollers announces on its website that it supports emergency contraception for its Primary Attention Centers (CAP) with the abortifacient pharmaceutical Levonorgestrel,” said Ballester. “It also specifies that it does early detection of fetal deformities with the only reason of aborting, as they themselves have declared on various occasions.”
Another medical institution linked to the diocese, the Comarcal de St. Celoni Hospital, has also done nothing to reverse its policy of performing abortions, despite the resignation of one priest on the board of directors in protest, said Ballester.
“Following the resignation of the pastor from the board of directors, the three members named by the [local] parish in the board of trustees continue in their positions because they refuse to follow the decision of the pastor and they publicly defy him,” Ballester added, noting that, in this case as well, “the bishop of Tarrasa continues to be silent.”
Ballester, in conjunction with other priests and lay organizations, is leading monthly protests outside another Barcelona-area hospital, in order to call attention to the ongoing inaction of local bishops in the face of the pro-abortion and contraceptive practices of hospitals linked to their dioceses.
Although the archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, has publicly ordered the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital to cease doing abortions, the hospital has only recently said that it will cease to carry out the deadly procedure - except in cases in which it understands the mother’s life to be at risk.
At the latest protest, which took place at the Santa Creu hospital on August 25, Ballester told Intereconomia Television that the policy is nothing more than a “filter” to allow abortion. Abortion advocates often use conceptions of “health risk” that are broad and vague, permitting abortions in a wide variety of circumstances. Organizers have said that they will continue to protest outside the hospital on the 25th of each month as long as objectionable policies remain in effect.
Contact information:
Diocese of Terassa
C/ Vinyals, 49
08221 TERRASSA (BARCELONA)
Tel.: (34) 93.733.71.20
Fax: (34) 93.733.70.95
email: bisbatdeterrassa@bisbatdeterrassa.org
web: www.bisbatdeterrassa.org
Archdiocese of Barcelona (http://www.arqbcn.org/es/contactar/formulario)
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Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
00193 Roma,
Piazza Pio XII, 10
Phone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax: 06.69.88.53.03
William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
phone: 011.3906.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.3906.69.88.34.13
Fax: 06.69.88.34.09
E-mail: cdf@cfaith.va
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