PRINTER'S NO. 3117
No. 215 Session of 1980
INTRODUCED BY CALTAGIRONE, IRVIS, MANDERINO, PETRARCA, FREIND,
ITKIN, WHITE, ZITTERMAN, BROWN, HELFRICK, COCHRAN, CIMINI,
BENNETT, GAMBLE, MULLEN, MRKONIC, YAHNER, FISCHER, LEHR,
HASAY, PISTELLA, HARPER, SALVATORE AND DAVIES, MARCH 18, 1980
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MARCH 18, 1980
In the House of Representatives, March 18, 1980
1 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare plans
2 to dismiss, before July 1, 1980, 96 Protestant, Catholic and
3 Jewish Chaplains as staff employees of State mental health and
4 mental retardation centers; and
5 WHEREAS, These chaplains, as members of hospital treatment
6 teams, are currently providing effective service to nearly
7 20,000 residents of these institutions; and
8 WHEREAS, The Department of Public Welfare now plans, to
9 substitute for this successful staff chaplaincy program, a
10 revision to a system of reduced services through individual
11 contract arrangements, which system had proven grossly deficient
12 in the 1950's; and
13 WHEREAS, Transferring these chaplains from salaried staff
14 positions on hospital treatment teams to contractual
15 arrangements will seriously threaten their ability to render
16 spiritual services to the patients in their care; and
1 WHEREAS, There will be a minimal savings in taxpayers'
2 dollars at a cost of weakening the spiritual care of the
3 residents; therefore be it
4 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
5 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania opposes the plan of the Department
6 of Public Welfare to eliminate staff chaplaincies in State
7 mental health and mental retardation centers as an unacceptable
8 threat to the spiritual well-being of their nearly 20,000
9 patients; and be it further
10 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
11 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania strongly urges the Department of
12 Public Welfare to rescind its plan to eliminate the program of
13 staff chaplaincies; and be it further
14 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the
15 Secretary of Public Welfare, Helen B. O'Bannon, and to the
16 Governor, Dick Thornburgh.
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