LOCAL DIOCESE WILL TAKE OVER THE SPONSORSHIP OF ST. FRANCIS

Religious sponsorship of St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau will be transferred from the Franciscan Sisters of Wheaton, Ill., to the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau effective Jan. 1.

The announcement was made by St. Francis Board of Directors Chairman Robert B. Hendrix, Bishop John Leibrecht of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Sister Rose Mary Pint, provincial directress of the Wheaton Franciscans.

All three said they view the sponsorship change as a way of preserving the medical center's Catholic mission and identity.

Hendrix said St. Francis will continue to operate as an independent, not-for-profit corporation. He said that sponsorship by the diocese will not change the medical center's ownership or financial responsibilities; rather, it will ensure operations at the medical center within Roman Catholic ethical and religious tenets.

Under diocesan sponsorship, Franciscan sisters currently working at St. Francis will continue their service to the medical center.

"Transferring sponsorship to the diocese is designed to meet existing and future community needs, a goal we always have held above any issues of control," said Pint. "It also is an opportunity for further entrusting the laity with responsibility for the church's healing ministry."

It was at the request of local civic leaders that the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters founded the original St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau in 1875, providing staff and administration.

Throughout the years, the sisters' tradition of meeting the needs of the times involved bringing lay persons into key positions for hospital operations and as board members.

"I am grateful to the Wheaton Franciscans for their more-than-century-long service to health care in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois," said Leibrecht. "I am also deeply grateful to the board of directors at St. Francis Medical Center for its commitment to continue as a Catholic center for health care."

St. Francis will become one of the few medical facilities in the United States to have a sponsorship relationship with its diocese. Earlier this year, the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters similarly transferred sponsorship of St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis to the St. Louis Archdiocese.