Sponsor/Sponsorship

A sponsor is an individual or organization (commonly a Catholic religious congregation or some other juridic person) that exercises stewardship over a Church ministry. Sponsorship is the ability and responsibility to ensure that a particular church ministry remains true to the Church’s healing mission, Catholic values and in some cases to the sponsor’s charism. Sponsorship includes an obligation to care for, nurture, and advance the ministry in order that it may continue the mission of Jesus. The Catholic Church sponsors health care ministry because it believes it must continue Jesus’ work on earth: to comfort and to heal persons--whole persons--physical, spiritual, emotional, social.

As the conclusion of the Ethical and Religious Directives states: "Catholic health care is a response to the challenge of Jesus to go and do likewise. Catholic health care services rejoice in the challenge to be Christ’s healing compassion in the world and see their ministry not only as an effort to restore and preserve health but also as a spiritual service and a sign of that final healing which will one day bring about the new creation that is the ultimate fruit of Jesus’ ministry and God’s love for us."

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