NCBC Ethicist Publishes New Article: Pope Francis Affirms Natural Marriage

Pope Francis is a most beloved Pontiff and his every word and deed garners unparalleled attention and interest. When our Holy Father speaks, however, he often does so with the candid and extemporaneous flair that has been his hallmark. As a result, the passionate and often nuanced words of Pope Francis are being referenced and interpreted constantly in the media, with varying degrees of success and clarity.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. Di Camillo, has cut through some confusion, however, in his new article titled: Pope Francis Affirms Natural Marriage, Not Same-Sex Unions. In the piece, John applies his Italian fluency (he translated the NCBC publication Personalist Bioethics from its original Italian) and his knowledge of the nuances in ethics and language to tackle recent interpretations and sensationalized misapprehensions of Francis' stance on marriage and same-sex unions following the Pope's interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on March 5th.

You can read the entire piece on the NCBC website, HERE.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. Di Camillo, Be.L.

Thank you John!

NCBC Ethicist to Speak in Corpus Christi This Weekend

As he reaches the tail-end of a particularly busy week, NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. DiCamillo, will be gearing up for a pair of presentations at the 2014 Ministry Conference in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas this weekend. The event takes place on Saturday, January 11th and John will be delivering two talks entitled: Living Stones: Catholics, Business, and Cooperation with Evil and: Worship vs. Practice? The HHS Mandate and Religious Liberty. 

Both presentations will address key aspects of Catholic identity and religious liberty, especially in the light of the injustices Catholics in the U.S. are facing today.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. DiCamillo

For more information on the Conference, and to view a poster for the event, please visit the related Diocesan web page, HERE.

Safe travels, John!

NCBC Ethicist Grapples with Issue of Brain Death, Weighs in on Jahi McMath Case

The National Catholic Bioethics Center has been commenting on questions about brain death and reaching out to those with related concerns as the difficult issue of assessing and caring for persons suffering cerebral damage has reentered the consciousness of Americans. This week, as media outlets continued to report on the tragic case of Jahi McMath in California, Staff Ethicist John A. DiCamillo gave an interview to the Catholic News Agency that has been picked up by religious and secular media contributors and is being cited widely.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. DiCamillo

John's opinions were quoted, notably, by Catholic blogger Simcha Fisher and John provided more quotes to Religious News correspondent (and Washington Post contributor) Cathy Lynn Grossman in two excellent pieces related to the news on the McMath case.

Please take a little time and learn about a few elements of the NCBC's stance on brain death highlighted in John DiCamillo's interview with the Catholic News Agency, HERE.

To read two excellent follow-up pieces in response to John's interview, please see Simcha Fisher's post HERE 

and Cathy Grossman's piece HERE.

Stay tuned to the NCBCblog, as we expect further commentary on the issue of brain death will be forthcoming.

And most importantly, please pray for Jahi McMath and her family.

BREAKING -- The NCBC Releases Updated Assessment of the Health and Human Services Mandate

Since October 1, 2013, the federal and state-subsidized health insurance exchanges called for by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) have been open for enrollment. In August 2012, the NCBC published a moral analysis of the options for non-exempt employers facing decisions about health insurance for their employees in light of the regulations established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).


In light of the inundating streams of (sometimes conflicting) information that come to the public regarding the manner in which the mandates are being implemented, and in light what the mandates will entail for Catholic Americans, The NCBC is pleased to announce the release of an updated assessment of the HHS Mandate. Our new publication, which will appear officially in the February edition of the monthly bulletin Ethics and Medics, revises the "previous moral analysis of the HHS mandate" published in August.

The new analysis offers:

"Additional relevant considerations to assist in understanding how employers and [now] individuals may decide, through health care exchanges or private plans, to provisionally purchase health insurance coverage for themselves and/or their employees without illicitly cooperating in evil. We also discuss how employers and individuals must consider a number of important moral and practical concerns as the exchanges become available, including provisions for coverage of direct abortion, uncertainties surrounding implementation, physicians who decline to accept exchange-based insurance, the escalation of costs within and outside the exchanges, the potential impact of scandal, and the serious duty to take action and remain steadfast in opposing the HHS mandate."


This crucial document is of great important for the public and we have given it a proud place as the masthead document of the newly christened OpenAccess page on the NCBC website. It is with pleasure that we provide this document to you for free, ahead of its slated February release. So please, take some time to read our HHS assessment now, before it hits the presses next year.

Visit the NCBC OpenAccess page HERE.

Happy Friday

NCBC Ethicist Speaking TONIGHT

John A. Di Camillo, Staff Ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, will be giving a presentation tonight at St. John of the Cross Parish in Roslyn, PA from 7 to 9 P.M.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. Di Camillo

John will be speaking on end-of-life care and decision making. The seminar answers the question: Are my actions or is my inaction causing death? John will highlight some of the issues that arise when caring for the elderly, the disabled, or the dying. John will discuss many of those issues that are confusing to the average person and misrepresented by popular culture. The program will address Catholic moral teaching in relation to the question of disproportionate means of treatment, the use of assisted nutrition and hydration, and the trouble with euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and advance directives. 

The speech will be followed by a period open for questions and answers.

John Di Camillo's presentation tonight is in conjunction with his excellent work representing the NCBC as a sitting member the Respect Life Leadership Council of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. John's presentation comes as one of a five-part series on Life Affirming Choices and is sponsored and coordinated by the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Office For Life and Family.

The Church location is:

St. John of the Cross Parish

2741 Woodland Rd

Roslyn, PA 19001

For more information, see page 4 of the St. John bulletin announcement HERE

Thank you for your hard work, John!

Who is Free to Exercise Religion? An NCBC Ethicist Weighs In

John A. Di Camillo, Staff Ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, has just completed an article that targets and addresses conflicting opinions that have arisen in the United States courts as the Judiciary continues in attempting to delineate and interpret the "identity, purpose, and scope of business entities and the relationship of those entities to their owners and to religious exercise" in light of the HHS mandates and government enforcement of the unjust laws.

John Di Camillo provides a deeper look into the ongoing battle for religious freedom as:

"Two federal courts of appeal have come to opposite conclusions regarding whether for-profit companies can claim religious liberty protections. All for-profit and most non-profit organizations in the United States continue to be impacted by the legal requirement that was established by a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and incrementally clarified by regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services, which has come to be known as the HHS Mandate. The HHS Mandate requires that employers who offer health insurance include, at no cost to employees, the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices, including surgical sterilizations as well as abortion-inducing drugs and devices such as ellaOne, Plan B, and IUDs. Providing this sort of insurance coverage is at odds with the moral values and religious convictions of many U.S. citizens and business owners, especially Catholics."

Read the full article HERE.

NCBC Ethicist Reflects on His Recently Published Work: "Personalist Bioethics"

In February, The National Catholic Bioethics Center proudly announced the release of its newest publication: Elio Cardinal Sgreccia's monumental work, the Manuale di bioetica, under the English title, Personalist Bioethics: Foundations and Applications. Three years of labor reached fruition in this first English-language translation of Cardinal Sgreccia's landmark bioethical treatise, and it is one of the NCBC's most popular publications to date.

After taking some time to breathe since the project's publication, the translator of this seminal book, NCBC Staff Ethicist John A. Di Camillo, returned to the work and collected some of his thoughts on it. He has put these reflections to paper with a few words about the book itself, including two powerful excerpts, about how he became involved with its translation, and about what he discovered throughout the joyful, trying, and magnificently rewarding task of bringing the Manuale di bioetica to the English-speaking world.

From the start of his reflection, John states that:

" The gap between the often reductive world of the sciences, which I eagerly dissected, and the expansive and nostalgic world of Italian language, culture, literature, and history, which I dearly loved, threatened to one day expand and consume the one or the other. The void seemed unbridgeable."

Read on to find out how he bridged the void and how his work on Sgreccia synthesized his two worlds.

Read the full piece HERE.

Happy Friday!

UPDATE: Video of Philadelphia Archdiocesan Pro-Life Summit Available NOW

John A. DiCamillo, Staff Ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, has been representing the NCBC while sitting as a member of the Respect Life Leadership Council of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. As part of his participation with the Archdiocese, John presented at the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Summit hosted by the Office for Life and Family in July.

Video footage of the Pro-Life Summit is now available on Youtube! 

You can watch John DiCamillo's talk, titled as The Catholic Individual and Business Owner: Health Care Insurance Options, HERE. The presentation explored some of options and responses available to individuals and business owners in light of the HHS portion of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).

You can watch the whole Pro-Life Summit on Youtube as well! Take a look at the entire event (covered in the first six videos on the page) HERE.

THIS WEEKEND: NCBC Ethicist to Speak on Responding to the HHS Mandates

For the past several months, NCBC Staff Ethicist, John A. DiCamillo has been representing the NCBC while sitting as a member of the Respect Life Leadership Council of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which is organized and run by Archdiocesan Office for Life and Family. As part of his active participation with the Archdiocese, John will be presenting at the Pro-Life Summit hosted by the Office for Life and Family this Saturday, July 20th. John will be presenting on the HHS mandate and the ways Catholic individuals and for-profit employers can respond to the unjust legislation.

John will be part of a series of brief presentations occurring that day. The event will be hosted at the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Pastoral Center and will be open to the public. The event will be preceded by Mass with Archbishop Chaput at 9:00 A.M. in the Cathedral.

  

For more details, see the flyer for the event HERE.

To view a schedule and the full list of Saturday's talks, click HERE 

If you cannot attend the talks, never fear! You should be able to tune in to local radio stations WISP 1570 and WCOJ 1420 at 10:00 A.M. to hear live updates on the proceedings.

NCBC Staff Ethicist, John DiCamillo

Thank you for all your hard work, John!