Fr Kevin Doran resigns from Mater Hospital boards

Fr Kevin Doran has resigned from two boards of the Mater Hospital after the institution issued a statement saying it would comply with new abortion legislation.

According to the Irish Catholic newspaper this morning, Fr Doran said he could not in conscience be a member of the Mater Hospital Board of Directors or Board of Governors.

“I can confirm that I have resigned because I can’t reconcile my own conscience personally with the statement, largely because I feel a Catholic hospital has to bear witness… to Gospel values alongside providing excellent care,” Fr Doran told the paper.

The hospital did not have a statement at the time of writing.

In a brief statement last week the Mater said it would comply with the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which sets out the circumstances where a termination of pregnancy may be performed.

The statement read: “The Mater Hospital has carefully considered the Act. The Hospital’s priority is to be at the frontier of compassion, concern and clinical care for all our patients. Having regard to that duty, the Hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the act.”

Previously Fr Doran said the hospital could “not comply” with the legislation as it ran counter to its Catholic ethos.

The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital is a Catholic voluntary hospital and was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1861. In its mission statement, the hospital says that by caring for the sick, “we participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ”.

The other members of the hospital’s board of directors are: John Morgan, Sr Margherita Rock, Sr Eugene Nolan, Prof Conor O’Keane, Mary Day, Caroline Pigott, Dr Mary Carmel Burke, Martin Cowley, Don Mahony, Prof Brendan Kinsley, Thomas Lynch and Eddie Shaw.