Ascension Saint Agnes nurses to protest Catholic hospital chain’s unfaithful financial investments

NNU will release a shocking new report Monday, showing Ascension investment holdings appear to reject Vatican, U.S. Bishops guidance

Registered nurses employed by Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. will hold a rally and press conference on Monday, September 15 to protest Ascension Health's financial investments, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

The nurses, joined by community allies, including members of the Baltimore Catholic community, will detail and respond to the findings in a new report by NNU, which found that hundreds of millions of dollars of Ascension investment holdings directly contradict the benevolent image Ascension promotes for itself as a Catholic hospital and leader in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

What: Baltimore nurses press conference revealing unfaithful Ascension investments
When: Monday, Sept. 15 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Where: Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, 900 S. Caton Ave, Baltimore, Md.

"We hope this is a wake-up call to the Catholic Church's leadership that Ascension is far from the Catholic values it pretends to practice," said Nicki Horvat, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ascension St. Agnes in Baltimore, Maryland. "As union nurses who have lived Ascension's hypocrisy, on our shifts and at the bargaining table, it's still shocking sometimes to see just how far Ascension is from practicing what they preach. We want Ascension to do better: start by disclosing its investment holdings and then divest from these harmful corporations."

The report, Rejecting the Call: How Ascension's Unethical and Socially Irresponsible Investments Contravene Catholic Social Teaching, set to be released on September 15, will detail the Catholic hospital chain's investments in industries producing armaments, addictive substances, labor law breaches, human rights violations, and climate destructive practices. These investments appear to violate investment criteria set forward by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
NNOC/NNU represents more than 600 registered nurses at Saint Agnes. Ascension Saint Agnes nurses in Baltimore have been in bargaining for more than 18 months and held a historic strike in July to protest Ascension management's refusal to address their urgent concerns about patient care, safe staffing, and high staff turnover in contract negotiations.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.