National Nurses United, the union that represents nurses at Baltimore’s Ascension St. Agnes Hospital, is pointing out some investments made by the Ascension organization that may go against some of the Catholic teachings it upholds.
A new report from the union shows that the health system’s pension trust put $8.3 million in major weapons manufacturers and military contractors.
The organization also invested more than $96 million in mining companies and millions in tobacco alcohol and gambling.
The report also points out that the organization’s CEO took home a compensation package of more than $9 million in 2023.
“These investments may violate investment criteria put forward by the 2022 Vatican document, Mensuram Bonam: Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors,” a release from the union stated.
That document is a mandate for how to properly invest funds as a Catholic organization.
“Ascension is choosing to invest its profits into investments that you know might have a high return rate for more profit, but are essentially against the teachings of the Catholic Church that they claim to follow,” said Niki Horvat, a nurse at St. Agnes.
Ascension is standing by its investments.
“Our investments are guided by our charitable mission and align with the Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” said Christine Gleason, senior director of external communications at Ascension. “We follow faith-based standards to avoid investing directly in companies or sectors that conflict with Catholic social teaching. The overwhelming majority of our portfolio supports innovation, health, sustainability and community well-being.”
The nurses union and St. Agnes have been at loggerheads for 18 months trying to hammer out a bargaining agreement.
The nurses are demanding better nurse-to-patient ratios, an end to the practice of assigning nurses to wards where they do not have expertise, and a stoppage to patient assignments to charge nurses so they can better resource nurses they are managing.
“We are seeing experienced nurses leave our hospital and the nursing profession altogether due to the working conditions at Saint Agnes,” said Robin Buckner, a registered nurse on the vascular access team. “We need to stop the exodus of nurses by improving nurse staffing. When we have too many patients to care for, patient outcomes suffer. It means patients are waiting for pain medications, waiting for a nurse to answer their call light, or for assistance to get out of bed. This is why we are fighting for safe nurse-to-patient ratios in our contracts.”
Ascension hospitals all over the nation have been criticized for their staffing model. In 2022, The New York Times conducted an investigation that found the company created its own staffing crisis before COVID put pressure on the healthcare system, stating that many “cut staff to skeletal levels” that compromised patient safety.
