Legate Tom Moreland’s hospice ministry does battle with the Culture of Death . . . 

When Barbara Granzow went in for emergency surgery early this year, doctors discovered that she had stage-four liver cancer. At 78 years of age, the Windsor Heights, Iowa, resident wasn’t a candidate for chemotherapy. The doctor recommended hospice care.

Granzow’s daughter, Kim Lehman, had no hesitation about which provider to select. A Lutheran convert to Catholicism, Lehman wanted care that would respect her pro-life values and treat her mother with dignity and respect.

She turned to Iowa-based St. Jude Hospice, a Catholic company that offers home hospice care in 13 different locations throughout the Midwest.

“I wanted a provider that would respect her life and care for her, not hasten her death,” Lehman explained. “I knew that the way St. Jude’s run their hospice was very pro-life.”

Spiritual formation

Tom Moreland

St. Jude Hospice founder Tom Moreland, a member of Legatus’ Des Moines Chapter, says that his experience serving the dying with the Missionaries of Charity led him to his work as the CEO of a Catholic health care corporation. But he credits Catholic campus ministry at college for teaching him the faith.

Originally from Iowa City, Moreland attended Sunday Mass and was confirmed as a young man, but he never truly learned the faith. During his sophomore year at the University of Kansas, Moreland became involved with the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center.

“I was a lukewarm Catholic,” admits Moreland. “I didn’t know my faith.”

Through campus ministry, Moreland was able to take theology classes. “I really believe in campus ministry,” he said. “It’s where you’re formed and make decisions for life, morals, and your vocation.”

Moreland’s own vocation grew from his charitable work with the Missionaries of Charity in San Francisco. During the summers of his sophomore and junior years, he lived and worked with a dozen male AIDS patients.

“I went into it thinking this would be a good resume-builder,” said Moreland, but the work profoundly affected his spiritual life.

“Going to Mass, praying the rosary daily, and serving the dying showed me my vocation,” said Moreland. “I was able to see love in action. Every single sister is a version of Mother Teresa. They’ve been so formed that every one of them radiates Christ, just as she did.”

Moreland later worked as a volunteer coordinator for a hospice in Kansas City, received a graduate degree in health services administration, spent time working in health care in Thailand, and eventually opened the first St. Jude location in 2008 to offer home-based hospice care that follows the U.S. bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs).

Throw-away culture

Legate Tom Moreland, president of St. Jude Hospice, and Sr. Rose and Sr. Clare meet with patient Lorraine McPherson in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sadly, not all hospices provide ethical palliative care. Assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Montana, Washington and Vermont. And in July, Lithuanian health minister Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė told local media that euthanasia was an option for the poor.

American Life League founder Judie Brown recently wrote on the organization’s blog of a letter she received, sharing the tragic story of an American woman who placed her husband in hospice for temporary respite care. He was given a combination of medications that led to his death.

“Our throw-away culture, as Pope Francis has described it, embraces euthanasia out of convenience,” Moreland explained. “We should be surrounding the dying with love and mercy, not getting rid of them. Ethical hospice care is a way of battling a great evil like euthanasia.

“I wish I could say that all hospices are ethical, but they’re not,” he continued. “People need to do their research, interview them, and ask about their beliefs and values and whether they follow the Church’s Ethical and Religious Directives.”

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, agrees.

“One occasionally receives reports of hospice workers who may exercise something of a ‘push-them-along’ attitude, seeking to prematurely withdraw basic medicines like heart or blood pressure medications — or turning to morphine utilization too quickly,” he said. “Patients should never be offered immoral choices such as euthanasia or assisted suicide, and end-of-life planning sessions should never become a fulcrum or pressure point to coerce individuals towards unethical treatment options.”

Lehman, who placed her mother with St. Jude Hospice, used to work for Iowa Right to Life. “It was so common to get stories from family members who wanted help because so many providers wanted to deliberately take lives,” she said.

“My mom had worked in hospitals, so she was scared to be a hospice patient, but St. Jude came in with such love and respect,” Lehman said.

“They provided everything we needed. We knew for certain that she was safe in their hands.”

Barbara Granzow passed away at home on March 16, surrounded by her husband of 59 years and her family.

“When she died, they were back taking care of her,” said Lehmann through tears. “They called the funeral home, and they came to her wake. They were so good to my mom. I can’t imagine the experience being better outside the home than what we experienced in the home.

“St. Jude’s hires people for whom ministry is their mission. It’s a love center for people who are dying.”

Countering the culture

Key to St. Jude’s mission is following the 72 ERDs set forth by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. St. Jude’s mandates that employees know and follow these directives.

“Within two weeks of being hired, employees must take ERD Class 101,” explained Moreland. “Within two months, they take ERD Class 201. Employees also sign a page in the handbook saying that they will follow the directives and abide by the Church’s teachings and moral beliefs.”

Because many St. Jude employees aren’t Catholic, they also provide a Catholic 101 class to introduce employees to terminology and practices they may not be familiar with.

St. Jude’s also employs a vice president for mission, ethics, and community benefits to ensure that the company stays true to its founding values and beliefs.

Melanie Berte-Hickey, who serves in that role, says that the company’s Catholic identity begins with its mission statement and company values, and extends to the continuous education that employees receive on ethics, ERDs, and Catholicism, the employment of a priest or deacon in each of its locations, and the care that patients receive.

“Staff [are] expected to chart the ERDs that they feel relate to the care that is given,” Berte-Hickey explained.

St. Jude’s Hospice has received ecclesiastical endorsements from 10 bishops, including Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “I am pleased and grateful for the ministry in which they have chosen to engage — a ministry of love, comfort and healing,” he said.

Moreland said his involvement in Legatus is pivotal to his work.

“I’m the CEO of a Catholic business, but there’s still payroll to meet,” Moreland said. “I don’t know that I could do this without my faith. Legatus brings me to a place with other men and women who are running businesses and facing the same problems and stresses.

“With Legatus, you’re all on the same playing field. We all love Christ. Legatus constantly brings you back.”

TIM DRAKE is Legatus magazine’s editorial assistant.

Learn more:

SaintJudeHospice.org