title: A moral quandary for sponsors. Like the family, and the state, sponsorship is an institution.
abstract: Nowadays many religious institutes are asking questions about sponsorship. The issue is usually phrased as the sponsoring of institutions. But it might be useful to ask about the institution of sponsorship instead. In The Good Society, Robert Bellah and his associates say that, on one hand, institutions are created by human beings; on the other hand, because we draw our sense of identity from them, institutions create us too. Bellah et al. also say that institutions, being human creations, are susceptible to corruption, especially when great wealth and power are involved. Since hospitals and healthcare systems obviously do involve wealth and power, we sponsors now have many questions, as well as some ambiguity about our sponsorship capability. One might even say that a moral debate is raging in our collective subconscious: Is loss of corporate influence something we would do something about if we could, or have we chosen some other value, such as ministerial diversity, instead? My institute, the Sisters of Mercy, has decided to continue our sponsorship of such organizations. As an institution, sponsorship is an essential bearer of our ideals and meanings. We need this institution to announce, to the world and to ourselves, that whatever power and wealth we possess are committed to mercy and justice.
authors.affiliation: Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amos
mesh_terms: D002410:Catholicism; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D016519:Hospitals, Religious / Q000592:standards*; D009014:Morals; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010067:Ownership / Q000592:standards*; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States