A Year-End Letter from our President, Dr. John Haas

Help support the National Catholic Bioethics Center as we fight to preserve Life and Freedom in America this coming year. Whether you choose to help us change the world through a donation, through prayer, or by visiting our social media sites, please read the letter from our leader and support The NCBC with your Time, Talent, and Treasure as 2012 comes to a close.

May God bless you all.
Have a happy New Year.

A Year-End Message from NCBC President, Dr. John Haas
Dear Friends, There is still time to help The National Catholic Bioethics Center face the challenges of 2013 as it fast approaches. You have one last chance to support The NCBC's mission in the year 2012; and remember, your efforts today will also help you, as this contribution in 2012 is tax-deductible. You can assist us securely with a credit or debit card on our Donation Page. The fight against the ever encroaching “Culture of Death” is going to be very challenging in 2013, and we need you to help us make valuable contributions to this critical engagement. To give you a sense of the impending struggles we will all face this coming year, our newest ethicist, John DiCamillo, has recently written an opinion piece on the Health and Human Service Mandate which requires all employers, including religious ones, to provide contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacient drugs and devices in their health plans. Read it here. At this point, our only recourse is to go to our Lord in hopeful prayer and to fight injustice in the courts. This year, thanks to God,  there have been several victories in our nation amid the defeats. So please make a final contribution to assist us in our work, which becomes more crucial every day. Help The National Catholic Bioethics Center in these final hours of 2012 and make The NCBC's victories for Life and Freedom a victory for yourself as well. May God bless you and yours richly in the coming year! Sincerely, John M. Haas Ph.D, S.T.L., K.M.President
The National Catholic Bioethics Center 6399 Drexel Road, Philadelphia, PA 19151 Website www.ncbcenter.org Phone (215) 877-2660  Fax (215) 877-2688 Privacy Policy  |  Email Preferences	https://ncbcenter.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=1199

Merry Christmas!

Letters to The Center

As we prepare to break for Christmas, spend time with loved ones, and celebrate the coming of our Savior, many of us count our blessings from this year and try to make a concerted effort to give to those in need. At the National Catholic Bioethics Center, we make it our daily mission to give of our time and talent as we provide important and highly sought services: Individual and institutional consultation services, scholarly publication, educational programs, and more. The NCBC staff even makes themselves available 24 hours a day to address moral and ethical emergencies our brothers and sisters encounter while dealing with a medical quandary.

In relation to these services, The NCBC received an encouraging Christmas gift this year in the form of a thank-you letter from a national organization: 

Good Morning,

I would like to introduce myself. I am the Medical Specialist for Heartbeat International, http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/ and http://www.heartbeatservices.org/services-homepage.  

Heartbeat International has approximately 1,400 affiliates national and international, including pregnancy resource centers many of whom are medical clinics, maternity homes, adoption agencies and abortion recovery programs.  I am extremely grateful for the medical information you have available on your site and for the wonderful work you are doing in the defense of life. I write a bimonthly e-publication, Medical Matters, for our affiliate medical clinics on issues and topics of importance to those medical professionals who are working in the pregnancy center medical clinics, and find your site helpful. We appreciate the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the great work you are doing. May God richly bless you and all you do in defense of life. Thank you!

Blessings,

Susan Dammann RN

Medical Specialist/LAS

Heartbeat International

Thank you, Susan, for your kind words and genuine praise. We are heartened to hear that many people and large groups are availing themselves of the resources we provide. We hope all of those in need of guidance will contact us and we invite everyone this New Year to make use of the many tools and references available on our website. Have a Merry Christmas!

Peace, 

The National Catholic Bioethics Center

Read it!

Take a look at some of the ways we are making a significant difference in the nation right now:

Read the Federal Court of Appeals ruling in brief

Read the whole brief  that named the NCBC as a friend-of-the-court (pages 2-3)

See The National Catholic Bioethics Center's Advocacy Page to keep up with the numerous matters of public policy which require The NCBC's assistance.

NCBC in the News...Again!

It looks as though Christmas has come early here at The NCBC! Right on the heels of a recent victory, the National Catholic Bioethics Center read the recent court documents reporting a victory for Belmont Abbey and and Wheaton Colleges. As reported by The Becket Fund, the ruling protects the interests of religiously affiliated Colleges and Universities and, as General Counsel of the Becket Fund Kyle Duncan says:

“This is a win not just for Belmont Abbey and Wheaton, but for all religious non-profits challenging the mandate...The government has now been forced to promise that it will never enforce the current mandate against religious employers like Wheaton and Belmont Abbey and a federal appellate court will hold the government to its word.”

• www.becketfund.org  

The NCBC again signed on to an Amicus Curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief in this Federal Appeals Case and they provided invaluable information to the case. The Center stood proudly as one of: 

"Six national organizations whose members include physicians, bioethicists, and other healthcare professionals who have a profound interest in defending the sanctity of human life in their roles as healthcare providers, medical experts, and consumers. Amici are sensitive to healthcare disparities and are supportive of a variety of public, private, and charitable efforts that address health care affordability and accessibility. However, Amici deeply oppose the requirement imposed by the Appellees on nearly all private insurance plans to cover drugs and devices with life-ending mechanisms of action. This requirement violates Appellants’ sincerely held religious beliefs and freedom of conscience."

• Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Appellants and Reversal of the Lower Court

 It is important to note that The Center, as well as the other interested parties named in the document, express their deep reservations regarding the institutional infringements of the HHS mandate while upholding their unequivocal support of the moral and ethical means necessary to mitigate and end the disparities in healthcare reception. The National Catholic Bioethics Center desires to improve the spiritual and physical existence of humanity through the syntheses of Faith and Reason, of morals and ethics. The NCBC supports opposition to these mandates and any infringement upon the individual moral conscience; not because of callous ignorance of the needs of humanity, but because of the belief that this is simply not the way to ameliorate the problems at hand. We hope that the U.S. Government will not continue to stall the attempts to gain transparency and finality regarding these problems. We hope that this victory and others like it will show the heartfelt concern, not intransigence, of The NCBC and other interested parties in America. 

Let us pray for continued clarity regarding these issues as The National Catholic Bioethics Center pursues the best and most effective means of bringing true Charity to healthcare and the world.

And finally, a sincere congratulations to our fellow Amici Curiae in this case, to the Becket Fund, and to Belmont Abbey and Wheaton College!

Read it!

Read the full press release here.
Read the full transcript of the case.
Read the full friend-of-the-court brief that named The NCBC (page 3).

NCBC in the News

It is always nice to receive a little good news. At The Center, really good news comes a little at a time and is always welcome. News of a small but meaningful victory arrived recently when The NCBC was notified by The Christian Legal Society of the successful completion of a case being pursued in the Illinois Fourth District Appellate court:

ILLINOIS PHARMACISTS PREVAIL AGAINST “BLAGOJEVICH RULE”

"WASHINGTON – In a significant victory for medical professionals’ religious liberty, the Illinois Attorney General announced today that the State would not appeal a judicial ruling that protects Illinois pharmacists’ conscience rights. In September 2012, an Illinois appellate court ruled against the “Blagojevich Rule,” a regulation that would have forced Illinois pharmacists to dispense abortion-inducing drugs despite their religious and moral convictions. The State had been expected to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. But fortunately, after seven years of litigation, the Attorney General today finally bowed to judicial rulings telling the State to respect pharmacists’ conscience rights...The Christian Legal Society filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International, the Catholic Conference of Illinois, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center [page 3 of the brief]. The brief was prepared by Kevin Todd and John Lillig of the law firm of Hoogendoorn & Talbot LLP, Chicago, Illinois."

• News post et al. from clsnet.org

The NCBC was signed as a friend-of-the-court for its significant contribution to the research needed to make an informed decision in the case and for the help of The NCBC's consultation, particularly from Marie Hilliard, regarding the matter at hand. We are so proud of our staff here, and are overjoyed for this victory in Illinois. Most importantly, we are glad to assist the defense of life and protect the morals and ethics of pharmacists across the nation. 

 It seems to be particularly difficult for pharmacists with moral convictions these days. They are the men and women who are confronted, in seemingly innocuous places like grocery stores, with the direct consequences of moral and ethical transgressions in our nation. They often fight alone, or worse, are cowed into silence. In the daily struggle to uphold the dignity of the human person, The National Catholic Bioethics center works to protect the consciences of these individuals and of all.

As one of our pharmaceutical experts, Father Pau, would say: "Aren't pharmacists just the best!"

Meet an NCBC Ethicist!

Today's post is an interview with an Ethicist at The NCBC. It marks the first of what I hope will become our "Meet an Ethicist" serial here on NCBCmedia. I hope you enjoy! Click Read More to see my conversation with Fr. Pau Agulles. 

Read it!

Read the entire packet from this year's conference. (English and Italian in the same document)
Read more about the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers.
See and read presentations from the archives of past conferences.

Where in the World is Dr. Haas?

Dr. Haas (left) and NCBC
Board Member Dr. Tersigni (right)
together at the Vatican

Our President, Chief Ethicist, and fearless leader Dr. John Haas travels more in a month than many people do in their entire lives. Trying to keep up with his movements throughout the weeks is both interesting and challenging. Well the NCBC Blog says: "Challenge Accepted!" We will be bringing you posts about all of the the genuinely interesting travels of Dr. Haas whenever we can. Unfortunately we are already sorely behind, so we will have to begin where we are able. One of the most interesting trips Dr. Haas took this Fall was to Rome from November 15th-17th. While there, he attended the 27th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, held at the Vatican. Dr. Haas is a Consultor to the Council and as a guest speaker, Dr. Haas gave a presentation on Ethical Committees in Hospitals Today as part of the "Ethics and Humanization" portion of the Conference. He was joined by NCBC Board Member Dr. Anthony Tersigni. Dr. Tersigni gave a presentation entitled Hospital Management: Between Rationalization and the Right to Health. The conference was conducted under the theme of the human and spiritual mission of hospitals and the hospital setting as a primary place for evangelization.

Dr. Haas and
Archbishop Zymowski

Dr . Haas also had the pleasure of visiting briefly with Archbishop Zygmunt Zymowski, the President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers.

News regarding this conference might go unnoticed and unappreciated if one did not consider the ultimate mission of the conference this year:

"This twenty-seventh international conference of ours will concentrate on the theological and anthropological aspects of the world of health and illness which converge in and characterise [sic] the life of a hospital and life inside a hospital, a temple of humanity and a crossroads of peoples, a setting for human mission and a profound expression of the theandricity."

• Taken from the Presentation Packet for the XXVII International Conference of the Pontifical Council of Healthcare Workers

Now one sees that what may have seemed like a vaguely interesting, but perhaps abstract and obscure meeting of medical experts is now shown in the light of its ultimate goal: To be a forum to discuss the incredible function of healthcare systems in our world. These systems do not just operate as crossroads of theology, anthropology, and medicine. Rather, these systems and institutions exist as the embodiment of the human attempt to provide a fully integrated ministry which finds its foundation in the two natures of Christ. The hospital serves as an institution where the human spirit rises to the occasion of treating the illnesses of the human body, emulating, in a way, our Lord's mission on Earth.

If this Council's mission is to:

"Stimulate and promote the work of formation, study and action carried out by the diverse Catholic International Organizations (C.I.O.s) in the health care field as well as other groups and associations which work in this sector, on different levels and in different ways."

• http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/hlthwork/documents/rc_pc_hlthwork_pro_20051996_en.html

then it can only follow that the Council desires to use this international conference to help implement their truly beautiful understanding of healthcare, as stated above, into the many areas of the healthcare system.

With Councils and conferences such as these, the Catholic Church clearly makes it her mission to instill the humane into healthcare and the moral into medicine.

We are glad to know and see that The NCBC was so well represented at this conference in November.

New Arrivals

Before we begin our regular and rigorous treatment of the myriad of topics we encounter every day here at the NCBC, it is high time we bring our readers up to date on a little internal news.

We are happy to have welcomed two new members to our staff this Summer:

Deacon John Hunter was chosen to be the new Executive Vice President of the NCBC in July, 2012. Prior to working at the NCBC, Deacon Hunter was the Executive Director of the Office of Development for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He directed all major fundraising efforts within the Archdiocese, including The John Neumann Stewards, The annual Catholic Charities Appeal, Planned Giving, The Cardinals Christmas Party for Children, and the Heritage of Faith/Vision of Hope Capital Campaign. During his Diocesan work, Deacon Hunter was responsible for the Archdiocese's distribution of 2.2 million dollars in scholarship funds to families in need in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Before his time with the Diocese, Deacon Hunter was the President of J.E. Caldwell & Co. Jewelers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was responsible for sales and operations of 9 retail stores in the Tri-State area. Before that time, Deacon Hunter was Vice President of Tiffany and Co. and he opened the first Tiffany's store in Philadelphia. John Hunter was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002 and celebrated his 10th anniversary as a deacon this summer. The NCBC is so grateful for John Hunter's presence here, and for his unflagging labor as he helps guide NCBC through her day to day financial affairs and operation. Deacon Hunter is a jewelry and watch enthusiast, and regales us with tales of beautiful chronometers you would have to see to believe.

Our other new arrival is Father Pau Agulles. He is a visiting scholar at the NCBC and he has been with us since the beginning of September. We are ecstatic to have him here and his presence brings us a delightful dose of humor, thought provoking conversation, and captivating anecdotes told in the compelling manner that only Continental Europeans can seem to imitate. He is a blessing to us here. Feel free to read more about Father Pau in Other Contributors. We are excited to have him working with the NCBC and he will be posting here when he is able.



I have the pleasure of interviewing Father Pau later this week, and I am pleased to report that his interview will be available shortly thereafter. I hope you look forward to hearing his trenchant and informative perspective as much as I.

Read it!

Want to read the USCCB's Directives too? (It's quite good!) Click here.

The First Post: A Point of Departure

"Health care in the United States is marked by extraordinary change. Not only is there continuing change in clinical practice due to technological advances, but the health care system in the United States is being challenged by both institutional and social factors as well. At the same time, there are a number of developments within the Catholic Church affecting the ecclesial mission of health care. Among these are significant changes in religious orders and congregations, the increased involvement of lay men and women, a heightened awareness of the Church’s social role in the world, and developments in moral theology since the Second Vatican Council. A contemporary understanding of the Catholic health care ministry must take into account the new challenges presented by transitions both in the Church and in American society. 

Throughout the centuries, with the aid of other sciences, a body of moral principles has emerged that expresses the Church’s teaching on medical and moral matters and has proven to be pertinent and applicable to the ever-changing circumstances of health care and its delivery."

• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, (Washington, D.C.: USCCB Publishing, 2009), 1.

In response to Bishops' aforementioned challenges to our Faith, and in carrying out our charge to care for both the bodies and souls of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we believe that the same "body of moral principles" provide a guide and a rational direction for the National Catholic Bioethics Center's mission to protect and promote a contemporary, moral, and faithful understanding of the practice of health care and the Church's rightful role in assisting and ensuring its ethical administration. This is what we work to protect and uphold.

This is what we do.

The purpose of this blog is to try and create an open and active forum for discussing the issue of morality and ethics in modern medical science. These issues affect us in infinite ways, but they are things that we may not have the time or presence of mind to consider on an average day.

We hope you will take the time to consider them with us here.

We hope that you will visit and read often. We hope you will be, at times, outraged by accounts of the heedless transgressions of human dignity that occur in our world. We also hope to instill hope with each account of positive change the NCBC and the Church effect. We hope to compel you to be instruments of change in your own communities.

We want to take some time here to show you a little bit of who we are and to explain why we feel so strongly about all of this. We want you to understand why Bioethics matter to all of us.

Most of all, we hope you look at these issues in a way you hadn't before. We hope we can teach you something new and help broaden our understanding of these issues.

Peace,
The National Catholic Bioethics Center