Calvin Robinson by Gage Skidmore / Flickr (Left), Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza by Marcello Castigliego / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic hospital in the charism of St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for the Relief of Suffering) in Italy is coming to Howell, Michigan, in 2026, along with an ardently pro-life and pro-family medical school.
Catholic Healthcare International (CHI) is spearheading the twofold vision. According to a news release, CHI has signed a purchase agreement to buy a 140,000-square-foot hospital in Howell, which will be run in the style of Padre Pio.
“In 1956, Saint Padre Pio’s call was to create a chain of hospitals around the world, caring for the sick and suffering, in the footsteps of Jesus Christ,” CHI stated in the news release. “From small donations, he developed the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, which has grown into a major research medical center, now administered by The Vatican. To date, no other Casas have been created, but CHI aims to change that.”
The need for a Catholic medical school to protect life in America and serve at the hospital presented itself early on, resulting in the decision to establish a school in Howell as well. The proposed Saint Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine is currently seeking accreditation.
According to CHI founder Jere Palazzolo, the Casa USA Home for the Relief of Suffering will not only include the medical school but will also feature an embryo orphanage, a center for unborn children, a birthing unit, and a family medicine practice. The hospital will also offer a home for those who have suffered brain injuries. It will be named after Terri Schiavo, a woman whose euthanization in 2005 after years of being in a vegetative state sparked controversy across America.
Dr. George Mychaskiw, who is the president of the proposed medical school, stated in the news release that the school will combat elements of Western medicine that violate the dignity of human life.
“[E]uphemisms of ‘reproductive health care,’ ‘ending suffering,’ and ‘no one would want to live like that,’ are more reminiscent of Germany in 1942 than what health care should be in 2024,” Mychaskiw stated. “This medical school will armor physicians with the faith and truth to stand with their patients, protecting the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable.”
Fr. Calvin Robinson, a cleric in the branch of Anglicanism that is most similar to Catholicism, spoke at a recent event to announce the hospital and medical school and reminded attendees of the importance of a strongly religious medical practice.
“If you give in to the woke mob, you have no legs to stand on,” he stated, according to the news release. “Either you stand for something or you do not stand at all.”
