(RNS) — A nurse’s union report says American Catholic health care giant Ascension has invested hundreds of millions of dollars of its pension fund in industries the union says are contrary to Catholic teaching.
On Monday (Sept. 15), at a rally for Baltimore nurses who are in contract negotiations with Ascension, National Nurses United plans to release the report alleging Ascension Master Pension Trust’s investments in weapons manufacturers, military contractors, mining companies, fossil fuels and other companies are at odds with Catholic values.
NNU leaders say the report illustrates that Ascension has resources it is not investing in its Baltimore hospital. Robin Buckner, a vascular access nurse who has worked at Ascension’s St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore for about a decade, said the report backs up the nurses’ claim that Ascension should put its resources to better use.
“ That money could be used for the patients and the staff,” said Buckner, who is not religious, referring to Ascension’s mission statement committing to “serving all persons with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable.”
Ascension’s investment practices have come under scrutiny before, especially its partnership with private equity firm Towerbrook Capital Partners, through which it invested $200 million into a medical debt collection company that had previously faced an investigation by the Minnesota attorney general for aggressive and allegedly illegal collection practices. An investigation from Stat reported the tax-exempt health system is “moonlighting as a private equity firm.”
In July, NNU n …