Biden admin orders Catholic hospital to snuff out sanctuary candle or lose all federal funding

[Stone]

Biden admin orders Catholic hospital to snuff out sanctuary candle or lose all federal funding
'In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma.'



One of the sanctuary lamps of the Saint Francis Health System
Lori Windham/Twitter

Thu May 4, 2023
TULSA, Oklahoma (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden’s administration wants to snuff out the light of the faith – literally.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanded that Saint Francis Health System in Oklahoma extinguish two candles – a small sanctuary candle that has burned since 1960 and another that has burned without problem for 15 years at another Saint Francis hospital.

If they don’t, the system will lose accreditation and all federal funding, jeopardizing healthcare for thousands of low-income, disabled, and elderly citizens. Yet, no other inspector in the healthcare system’s history has ever identified the small candle as a safety issue.

The Catholic hospital system is fighting back with the help of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an accomplished First Amendment litigation group.

“In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma,” a May 3 legal letter from the group, written by Senior Counsel Lori Windham, stated.

Windham noted that the administration’s actions violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) by requiring the hospital to hide its faith without a compelling government interest. The religious liberty group reminded the administration of professed Catholic President Joe Biden that Catholic Canon Law requires that a candle be lit wherever there is the Blessed Sacrament.

Becket noted:

The Code of Canon Law requires that wherever the Blessed Sacrament is kept, a special lamp must shine continuously. The living flame is so important to worship that the Fifth Chapter of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal expressly mandates that ‘a special lamp, fueled by oil or wax, should shine prominently to indicate the presence of Christ and honor it.’ Saint Francis believes that the laws governing the liturgy and chapel suitability have been divinely instituted by Jesus Christ Himself and that derogating from
these laws is an affront to God.

“There has not been a day in Saint Francis history where the living flame has been extinguished,” the group wrote. “And Saint Francis’s religious identity and mission are intimately united with the living flame of the sanctuary candle.”

The letter further noted that the candle is securely kept in the chapel and there are ample sprinklers around to cope with the unlikely possibility of the flame escaping. A fire marshal has already approved the flame in annual inspections and CMS’s own guidelines clearly allow for flames for religious purposes and primarily prohibit them in proximity to medical equipment.

Furthermore, the surveyor with the federal government incorrectly called the enclosed candle an “open flame.” When challenged, the bureaucrat changed his tune and said that lighter briefly used to light the candle is an “open flame” and violates federal safety standards.

Becket noted that the group has won six separate Supreme Court cases, including defeating the Obama administration’s birth control mandate on Hobby Lobby and other religious businesses as well as twice successfully representing the Little Sisters of the Poor. The second time included a defeat of efforts by leftist attorney generals such as Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and California’s Xavier Becerra to violate the nuns’ religious liberty. Becerra now runs Health and Human Services, which includes CMS.

RFRA, the federal religious freedom law, states that government actors can only violate someone’s religious beliefs if there is a “compelling government interest” and their methods are the “least restrictive means” available.

But there are other flames permitted by CMS, which undermines its claim that snuffing out the sanctuary candle is the “least restrictive” way to ensure fire safety.

“There are over a dozen prudently managed flames around the hospital: from flames in the kitchen (pilot lights for stoves and ovens), to gas dryers in the laundry room, to flames in gas water heaters, to welding for electrical and construction purposes,” the letter noted. “Yet the government permits these flames, used for secular reasons, while prohibiting flames in a chapel, used for religious reasons.”

Furthermore, CMS officials have refused to work with Saint Francis on other solutions. “It could ask that Saint Francis add additional shielding, or inspect the flame to confirm it is nowhere near oxygen equipment,” the attorney wrote. “It could accept Saint Francis’s proposal to add tile on the wall and floor around the candle. The fact that the government hasn’t even entertained such alternatives shows that it has not and cannot demonstrate that it is using the least restrictive means for furthering its interest in fire safety.”

The letter said that if the administration does not back off it can expect to lose a lawsuit.


CMS threat continues Biden admin’s long war against faithful Christians

This is only the latest action the Biden administration has taken against people of faith. For example, his administration tried to force Catholic and other religious healthcare institutions to violate their religious freedoms and provide “sex change operations” to gender-confused kids.

His politicized Department of Justice has also conducted armed raids on pro-life Catholic fathers for alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. So far one of those charges against Mark Houck has already been dismissed by a federal court.

In October 2022, the FBI raided the home of pro-life advocate Paul Vaughn in front of his children and arrested him, charging him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations,” as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.

More recently, the FBI’s Richmond field office, in a memo signed off on by its top attorney, released an intelligence report which labeled traditional Catholics who like the Latin Mass or express skepticism about the benefits of the Second Vatican Council as “radical traditionalist Catholic[s).”

The FBI withdrew the memo after backlash. The intelligence product relied on questionable sources, including the disgraced leftist Southern Poverty Law Center and an Atlantic article that fretted about Rosary prayer beads being a symbol of extremists.

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Biden Admin Backs Down In Standoff With Catholic Hospital Over Chapel Candle

ZH | MAY 07, 2023
Authored by Ross Muscato via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Biden administration announced on May 5 that it is stepping back from a previous decision demanding that a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma remove a lit candle from its chapel—a practice and observance sacred to Catholics—or lose its ability to accept Medicare, Medicaid, or Children’s Health (CHIP) patients.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), had ruled in April that the candle, which has burned continuously for 15 years at Saint Francis Hospital South in Tulsa, was a safety hazard—even though a local fire marshal cleared the candle and CMS permitted other flames, including pilot lights, in the hospital.

CMS said its decision was based on the findings of an independent group, The Joint Commission, which reviews hospitals to determine if they meet the standards necessary to be accredited to receive Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP patients.

The 12th largest U.S. health care network, Saint Francis Health System is the Catholic owner and operator of Saint Francis Hospital South, eight other hospitals, and 110 clinics in Oklahoma. Saint Francis appealed the CMS decree and sought a reasonable accommodation.

CMS denied Saint Francis’ request in a letter dated April 20.

Yet, following widespread protest, media attention, and a pre-litigation letter a leading religious liberty legal group, Becket Law, along with Yetter Coleman LLP, sent to CMS on behalf of Saint Francis, alleging that prohibiting the candle was a violation of the First Amendment free exercise of religion clause, the agency said it is now open to working with Saint Francis to find an arrangement that permits the burning candle to stay.

Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel for Becket Law, said that CMS’ adjusting its position is a win for religious freedom.

“The decision of CMS shows that religious liberty protections extend to practicing your faith, and that includes providing health care and worship in a chapel,” Windham told The Epoch Times. “These protections apply to everyone. Today it’s a candle. Tomorrow it could be something else.

“And so, a good decision today for Saint Francis is a good decision for religious believers across the country.”

In a statement that CMS shared with The Epoch Times, the agency said: “CMS is aware of a safety finding involving a fire risk, made by an independent accrediting organization, issued to a hospital in Oklahoma. CMS met with the hospital and accreditation organization, and issued a waiver to allow the hospital to mitigate the potential fire risk and correct the safety finding. The hospital will work with the accrediting organization on next steps.”

Windham said Saint Francis has put up a sign to let people know there is a flame in the chapel and plans to put a rail or other barrier in place to prevent people from getting too close.

Saint Francis Health System, with its stated mission to “extend the presence and healing ministry of Christ to all who seek its services,” treats approximately 400,000 people annually and has delivered more than $650 million in free care to people in need over the past five years.

The organization employs more than 10,000 and has a volunteer force of 700.


Infringing on Religious Freedom

A lit candle in a chapel is a fundamental component of the Catholic canon law, of the rules and ways the church governs itself.

As was the case before the CMS judgment, the candle is set within two layers of glass, on a metal base with a metal top, and affixed to the wall.

When CMS said the candle had to go, it struck at the spiritual and cultural heart and foundation of the purpose of the Saint Francis Health System.

“We’re being asked to choose between serving those in need and worshiping God in the chapel, but they go hand in hand,” said Barry Steichen, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Saint Francis Health System, in a May 3 statement.

“Our work depends upon our faith in the living God, and the sanctuary candle represents this to us.”

The 13-page pre-litigation letter sent to CMS asserted that prohibiting the candle was an example of consistently applying rules and regulations and violating religious freedom.

“You have threatened to deny accreditation because Saint Francis keeps a candle—an eternal flame—in its hospital sanctuary,” wrote Windham. “For 15 years, that flame has burned without problem or concern in Saint Francis Hospital South in Tulsa; and for 63 years, the eternal flame has burned at Saint Francis Hospital Yale Campus, the largest hospital in the state of Oklahoma, without problem or concern.”

“From the moment Saint Francis opened its doors in 1960, this flame has been maintained without interruption. In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma.”