LITTLE ROCK, Ark, Oct 1 (LSN) - Columbia Doctors Hospital, owned by the St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center was told by the Vatican to stop offering tubal ligations to women. The hospital instituted the practice, which defies Catholic teaching, in order to receive government grants that were denied without the practice. Bishop Andrew McDonald initially allowed the procedure at the request of the hospital but submitted his permission to Rome for verification. The Associated Press reported today that Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert, vicar general of the Diocese of Little Rock, said the Vatican “felt the arrangement should be discontinued.” This development is likely to result in appeals to the Vatican about some of the many other North American Catholic hospitals that also offer such services with local bishops turning a blind eye to violations of Church teaching. See the AP story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19990929/aponline035940_000.htm