Bishop C. Andrew Doyle has fostered a sense of collaboration in health care - Houston Chronicle

From Christianity's earliest days, a shepherd's crook, called a crozier, has been the most visible symbol of a bishop's traditional duty to serve in the Christlike role of good shepherd for the flock of God.

Since 2008, that pastoral duty in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas has rested on the capable shoulders of one C. Andrew Doyle -"Andy" to almost everyone he meets, whether in the elevated duties of his episcopacy or at the grocery checkout.

For his successful shepherding of the sale of the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital system to Catholic Health Initiatives in 2013, Bishop Doyle receives our vote as the Houstonian whose work has had the most significant impact on health care and medicine in our community in 2013.

Of course, Doyle didn't do so all on his own. Suffragan Bishop Dena Harrison and the late Chester Jones, a long-time board member and executive chairman of the system, share in the honor, as does the leadership of Denver-based CHI. But Doyle's resoluteness saw the task to completion.

For nearly 60 years, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas' healing ministry through St. Luke's Hospital has touched countless hundreds of thousands of every faith and creed. But the year now ending has been one of great change for the hospital system. The sale of the St. Luke's System to Catholic Health Initiatives marks the beginning of a new era forced by economic and medical marketplace necessity. The diocese could not afford an estimated $1 billion in improvements that would be required for St. Luke's Hospital alone. Over the years, the medical needs of the community had shifted from a shortage of acute care facilities to one of access to primary care. St. Luke's had to adapt.

A stunning gift of abundance was created as a result of the sale: The St. Luke's system is now scheduled to receive from Catholic Health Initiatives the $1 billion in necessary upgrades that the diocese could never afford, while the newly formed Episcopal Health Foundation, the diocesan philanthropy, has already received $1 billion from the sale, making it one of the largest philanthropic institutions in Houston.

Already, health care is being made better across the 57 Texas counties in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas because of the work of the Episcopal Health Foundation's predecessor, the St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, created by then-Bishop Claude Payne in 1997. And this is only the beginning.

The newly endowed foundation will expand its reach enormously thanks to its greatly enhanced financial resources. This will have an impact, not only across Houston, but also in places like Falls County in Central Texas, a part of the diocese and one of the nation's poorest counties.

Meanwhile, Catholic Health Initiatives is showing its good citizenship as the newest member of the Texas Medical Center community with an important agreement to partner with Baylor College of Medicine in the role of teaching hospital. Here again, we notice a theme of collaboration to expand resources. Baylor must have a teaching hospital to remain a major medical school; Catholic Health Initiatives needs a reliable network of physicians to refer patients to its hospitals.

As one might expect, the path that led to the sale of the St. Luke's System to Catholic Health Initiatives was guided by regular, intentional prayer and informed by various epiphanies along the way. Among them:

1 The health care landscape had changed dramatically since 1954, when St. Luke's opened, and the St. Luke's system would have to adapt to changing times.

1 This was an opportunity, and both the diocese and St. Luke's system could deal from a position of strength.

1 The traditional mission and values of St. Luke's had to be preserved and protected.

1 The diocese would seek out a qualified party that shared its approach to both medicine and spirituality - one that cared about doing the work "on God's behalf" and would also value the St. Luke's "family" of physicians, nurses and others.

That party turned out to be Catholic Health Initiatives. Those with a historical bent will notice that relations between an Anglican/Episcopalian entity and a Roman Catholic one typically have been marked more by disagreement than common cause. We are grateful for this timely flowering of ecumenical cooperation in the stewardship of a treasured Houston institution. And for the leadership of Bishop Andy Doyle.