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CATHOLIC HOSPITAL AND NUNS OKAYED CLINTON AT FUNDRAISING EVENT

Event was sold out in one day

HAMILTON, ON, Feb 14, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The scandal of abortion-activist former President Bill Clinton being invited to speak at a Catholic hospital fundraiser was arranged by a foundation that regularly assists the hospital. However, Craig Dowhaniuk, spokesperson for the Morgan Firestone Foundation told LifeSite that before the Foundation booked Clinton as speaker they "approached the hospital and the nuns for their blessing" realizing there could be conflict around the selection and "since they didn't want to cause any embarrassment." Dowhaniuk told LifeSite that all 1000 of the $200 tickets for the fundraiser had sold out on the first day. The Foundation is picking up the tab for Clinton's speech with proceeds from the dinner going to the Hamilton Firestone Chest and Allergy Unit of Hamilton, Ontario's St. Joseph's hospital.

Dowhaniuk vividly recalls the 1991 Catholic protest over the scheduling of then New York Governor Mario Cuomo. When the Bishop of Hamilton encouraged Catholics not to attend we lost 200 attendees, said Dowhaniuk. With this Catholic protest in mind, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Hamilton who run the St. Joseph's Health Care System were consulted prior to the booking of Clinton - the nuns okayed the event.

The controversial approval of Clinton's speech at the Catholic hospital fundraiser is highlighted by a recent admission of error by a U.S. group for inviting Clinton to speak at its function. Media reports indicate that Philip J. Purcell, Chairman, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., apologized for arranging for Clinton to speak at a conference. "I fully understand why you are upset that former President Clinton spoke at one of our conferences. We clearly made a mistake. ... We should have been far more sensitive to the strong feelings of our clients over Mr. Clinton's personal behavior as President. ... In this case, we should have thought twice before the speaking invitation was extended. Our failure to do so was particularly unfortunate in light of Mr. Clinton's actions in leaving the White House," he said.

The Sisters of St. Joseph can be contacted at:

Sister Anne Anderson -President and Chair
Sister Margaret Doherty - Vice-President
Sister Joan McLoughlin - Treasurer

St. Joseph's Health Care System
Box 155, L.C.D. 1, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8L 7V7
Phone (905) 528-0138, Fax (905) 528-8883
Email contact Brian Guest:

For more see yesterday's LifeSite coverage at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/feb/01021301.html

See reports on firms rejecting Clinton for ethical reasons: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010214/ts/clinton_speech...

(the email address for the hospital on yesterday's news seems to be inactive)

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