Dr. Haas Reports from Rome -- Day 3 of the Colloquium

The President of The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Dr. John Haas, is in Rome this week to attend an international colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman organized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Dr. Haas will also be attending the annual assembly of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care for Healthcare Workers, for which he serves as a Consultor. 

Dr. Haas is providing daily reports of the proceedings of both those meetings for the benefit of those who are visitors to our website and social media sites. We will provide regular updates to you here on the Blog this week!

Click here to read about day 1 of the Humanum Colloquium.

Click here to read about Day 2 of the Humanum Colloquium

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The third day of the conference was a radical shift from the two previous days.  There were no papers in the morning.  Instead there was the Wednesday audience with Pope Francis for participants in the colloquium – and a few hundred other people.  It was a beautiful, clear day with a bright blue sky.  The participants in the conference were taken as a group and placed in chairs near the Pope.  Francis lived up to his image of being outgoing and freewheeling with the crowd, taking one baby after another in his arms and kissing them.  I asked a Swiss Guard if his job were more demanding now with this Pope, and he responded diplomatically, “It is certainly more interesting!”

A Swiss Guard checking credentials

Spotted at the Colloquium: The Honorable Mary Ann Glendon,
Professor of Law and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

Also spotted: Dr. John Garvey, President of Catholic University

Dr. Haas got to meet the new Archbishop of Sydney,
His Excellency Anthony Fisher, OP, at the Colloquium.

Father Scott Borgman (driving) was kind enough to take Dr. Haas to one of his appointments!

At 12:15, as others were heading to lunch, I reported to the Swiss Guards at St. Anne’s Gate of the Vatican to keep an appointment with my mentor, Pope Emeritus Benedict!  The Swiss Guards checked  my passport and then had a driver take me up to the convent in the Vatican Gardens which had been renovated to accommodate the Pope Emeritus.  We were first taken to a sitting room and offered a seat.  Shortly a religious sister came in and visited with me, asking me how I knew the Holy Father.  She said that Pope Emeritus would see me for 10 or 15 minutes.  

After a short time I was taken in an elevator to his apartments.  As I came in, he entered through a door across the room, walking slowly but steadily.  It was a great joy to see him again.  He sat on a couch in the room and I sat in a chair beside it.  He was very alert.  He asked about the work of the NCBC and even remembered projects with which we had collaborated.  He remembered having twice addressed the Bishops’ Workshops which are organized every other year by the NCBC and underwritten by the Knights of Columbus.  I showed him the material we had prepared for the next Workshop planned for February 2015, and he seemed most interested.  He has a remarkable memory.

He asked me about the HUMANUM conference I was attending and so was quite aware of what was going on.  He said it would have been inconceivable thirty years ago that there would be the need to defend marriage against the assaults of something such as same-sex marriage.  He said the current situation was a result of the collapse of Christian culture.   He spoke of the beauty of Catholic folk customs, so dear to him in Bavaria, which helped to nurture sound family life.  Indeed, he said it was important to nurture such customs in our day lest they die out.  We visited for about 40 minutes after which he gave me a commemorative medal and a holy card.  The convent sits on a hill above the dome of St. Peter’s.  The walk down the hill provided stunning views of the basilica – and the opportunity to reflect on the significant contributions Benedict XVI made to Catholic thought and practice.    

Dr. Haas and His Holiness Benedict, Pope Emeritus

The View of Saint Peter's Basilica from the residence of the Pope Emeritus

After lunch with some friends I headed back for the conclusion of the Humanum conference.

Passing Saint Peter's on the way to lunch

 Archbishop Luis Ladaria, SJ, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, chaired the afternoon session.  The Archbishop made it clear that marriage of a man and a woman is a natural institution for which there is no substitute.  In the Church this natural institution becomes a supernatural, sacramental reality.  Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke with his customary clarity on the nature of marriage and the plans of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.  As a conclusion to the colloquium, the Pentecostal minister Dr. Rivers and his wife Mrs. Jacqueline Cooke-Rivers delivered a rousing “Affirmation of Marriage”, taking turns in making declarations on the beauty of marriage and the unique and essential contribution it makes to society.    There was tremendous enthusiasm on the part of participants as the program concluded with renewed commitment to work in defense of marriage.

***

Check the NCBC Blog this week, and keep your eyes on our Facebook or Twitter accounts for notices of new posts. You won't want to miss these glimpses into the daily life of the Church in service to the world!

Photos From Rome -- All the photos from Dr. Haas's Journey

Many of these photos will appear in the body of his daily reports from Rome and will be categorized and captioned, some will only be here and will remain unlabeled. This post will function as the full album for the time being!

Dr. John Haas with Archbishop Charles Chaput, who is an NCBC Board Member

NCBC Board Member, Mr. Zurlo

COMING NEXT WEEK: NCBC President Reporting From Rome

The President of The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Dr. John Haas, will be travelling to Rome next week to attend an international colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman organized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

NCBC President, Dr. John Haas

Later in the week, Dr. Haas will be attending the annual assembly of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care for Healthcare Workers, for which he serves as a Consultor. The Council is headed by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski who will direct the presentations on The Person with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Animating Hope. Dr. Haas intends to provide daily reports of the proceedings of both those meetings for the benefit of those who are visitors to our website. The reports will allow our readers to be eye-witnesses to the efforts of the Church in the defense and strengthening of marriage and in service to the sick and suffering through her healthcare ministries throughout the world. We will provide regular updates to you here on the Blog next week!


So please, check the NCBC Blog next week, and keep your eyes on our Facebook or Twitter accounts for notices of new posts. You won't want to miss these glimpses into the daily life of the Church in service to the world.

The Global Reach of the NCBC: Dr. Haas Reflects

Over the course of one month’s time NCBC President, Dr. John Haas, had two trips to Rome for tasks associated with his Vatican appointments. Between February and March, Dr. Haas attended the annual meeting and assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life and a special plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers.

Amid the whirlwind of activity that has surrounded the The National Catholic Bioethics Center recently, Dr. Haas has had some time to collect his thoughts and recollections of his travels. 

What follows is Dr. Haas’ report of those two trips to Rome:

The Pontifical Academy for Life

The Pontifical Academy for Life had its annual assembly and members’ meeting February 20th and 21st at the Augustinian College by St. Peter’s Square. Customarily the meetings take place in the Synod Hall of Paul VI but this year a consistory was taking place at the same time and the Cardinals of the Church supplanted us! The day before the opening of the Assembly I attended the meeting of the Directive Council which discussed possible themes for future assemblies, reviewed possible candidates, and discussed other business of the Academy.


Because of the Consistory and the creation of new Cardinals, the Holy Father was unable to receive the members of the Academy in a private audience as has been customary. However, the members of the Academy were invited to be seated with him at the time of his public Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square.

 

                                                             Public audience with Pope Francis

The theme this year was “Aging and Disability”, an increasing problem in Europe and North America with the attendant threats to human dignity and increased calls for physician-assisted-suicide or even euthanasia. As a member of the Directive Council of the Academy (thanks to Pope Benedict), I presided over one of the initial sessions of the assembly. Board Member and neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Buchanan gave an excellent presentation entitled: “Disabilities through Cognitive Impairment and Dementia”.


It was quite a festive occasion this year since we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Academy. The meetings began with mass celebrated at the tomb of St. John Paul II who established the Academy. The principal celebrant was Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference, and a member of the Academy.  

   

                                                  Mass in front of the Holy Remains of John Paul II

The Workshop concluded with a banquet for Academy members amidst classical statuary and friezes in the Vatican Museum. 

 

I also serve on the board of the International Federation of Bioethics Centers and Institutes of Personalist Inspiration (i.e., the thought of John Paul II!) and had a meeting for it as well. This past year we had our program in Havana, Cuba with a theme of health care and social justice.

The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers

Approximately every five years the Consultors and Members of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers are summoned to Rome. The Plenary Session was opened with a mass for the participants by the Cardinal Secretary of State who had communicated the consent of Pope Francis that the Plenary Session take place. It was the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Council by St. John Paul II. (The Pope had initially formed the Pontifical Academy for Life through the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. Among Vatican offices, a Council has a higher standing than an Academy.)


At the first meeting of Members and Consultors, there were reports on the activities of the Council since it founding, particularly concerning the observances of the World Day of the Sick on February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. After our first session participants were taken to the Clementine Hall in the Apostolic Palace for a private audience with the Holy Father. He thanked us for our work and praised the work of all Catholic health care workers around the world in their service to the sick and the suffering. (When I met him I told him that I brought greetings from The National Catholic Bioethics Center and from my family, all nine children and spouses and twenty-seven grandchildren at which he gave me a “thumbs-up” which the photographer caught!)

                           The members of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers sit with Francis.

  Archbishop Zimowski Addresses Pope Francis and the Council

                                                                 Dr. Haas with Pope Francis

 

                                                                     The Papal 'Thumbs Up'!

On the second day of the Plenary Session, March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, mass was offered by the President of the Council, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, in the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia just off the Via Conciliazione.

 

                                                             Mass with Archbishop Zimowski

Following mass and a light breakfast, our work continued. In 1995 the Council had issued its Charter for Health Care Workers under Cardinal Angelini. It has been common knowledge that it was being revised, and there were reports on the revisions taking place.


While in Rome, I took advantage of the occasion to meet with the President, Chancellor and Coordinating Secretary of the Pontifical Academy for Life even though our own assembly had taken place a mere month before. One of the problems with the visits to Rome during conferences and assemblies is that the schedules are so full it is difficult to address other projects with which one is involved. I then had a meeting the day after the Plenary Session with the President, Secretary and Sub-Secretary of the Council. One of the subjects discussed was the International Association of Health Care Institutions. Its President is Dr. Anthony Tersigni who serves on our board and is the President/CEO of Ascension Health.


There was also a meeting at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which has recently sent to the Bishops of the United States guidelines for collaborative ventures with non-Catholic health care institutions. It was also a joy and privilege to be able to have lunch with Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, former President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, founder of the Bioethics Institute at the Gimelli Hospital, and author of Personalist Bioethics which the Center has translated and published. While in Rome, I also take advantage of the opportunity to invite a group of moral theologians out to dinner so I can keep up with developments in the work and thinking taking place in academic circles there.

 

                                                            Meeting with Cardinal Sgreccia

It was a very full and productive week. However, as I later reflected on it, I saw much of supernatural significance. I would like to share some reflections with the hope I am not being overly pietistic.


We all know that we are facing the gravest governmental threat to the practice of our religion perhaps in the history of our Republic. The HHS Mandate would have all employers cover contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs and devices in the health insurance provided their employees, despite the strong religious and moral objections of many employers. It is a scientific fact that a new human life comes into existence at the moment of conception and that intra-uterine devices and certain “morning after pills” can prevent a new, tiny human being from implanting in the womb. This is a particularly sobering thought when one considers that our redemption began at the moment the Blessed Virgin conceived the Christ Child in her womb at the annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel.


This fact was very much on my mind as Archbishop Zymowski celebrated mass on the Feast of the Annunciation in Santo Spirito in Sassia. I was especially aware that it was on that very day that the Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments on the legal challenges to the HHS Mandate brought by those with strong moral objections. Everything is in God’s Providence, I thought, even the day on which the Justices would hear the case! I prayed intensely for those who would be arguing the moral case and for the Justices that they might judge rightly. Also, I thought the Archbishop’s homily was a moving and a providential reflection on what was actually happening in our own country. I attach it for your edification, HERE.


It just so happened that I was also in Rome on the occasion of the visit of President Obama with the Holy Father on Thursday of that week, March 27. In fact, I stood on the Via Conciliazione as the President’s motorcade went speeding and screaming by. I think I counted 17 vehicles, not to mention the squadrons of motorcycles. I thought of this display of wealth and power on the way to visit a man who has called us to embrace the poor and who himself lived a life of poverty. Nonetheless, I prayed for the President as he sped by and for the Pope who waited to receive him.


While the meeting was taking place I obviously could not help but reflect on the encounter between President Obama and Pope Benedict in July 2009. At that time Pope Benedict had presented the President with a copy of the Vatican Instruction Dignitas Personae, which defended the life of every human being from the moment of conception. It also condemned interventions that would prevent an embryo from implanting in the uterus, the very issue argued before the Supreme Court earlier in the week.


Two world leaders met face to face that day, one a courageous champion of a Culture of Life and the other representing forces who have shaped a Culture of Death. Pope Francis had repeatedly condemned abortion that “kills children that will never see the light of day”. I thought of St. Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” For our part, none of us play the role of world leaders! But we do nonetheless have our essential roles in the Church and in the world. As our contribution to the struggle, we are called to individual holiness and to fidelity to the tasks with which God has entrusted us in our little part of the world, wherever it may be.


Once again, the Eternal City was the locus of great worldly and spiritual struggles. And we, through our involvement with The National Catholic Bioethics Center and in our own way, were party to it that week.

Dr. Haas Hits NPR Again, Talks Pope Francis

After his recent defense of both the USCCB and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Dr. Haas returned to the radio and to NPR's Diane Rehm show last week to participate in a panel discussion on Pope Francis. The discussion on His Holiness was excellent and enlightening and it served as an altogether pleasant foil to the undeniably strained discussions from the weeks before. Dr. Haas was able to make several good points throughout the interview and his opinions on Pope Francis provided a forthright and thought-provoking look into the actions - and related perceptions - of our Supreme Pontiff.

You can stream Dr. Haas's full discussion of Pope Francis through the Diane Rehm Show's media player, HERE.

Where in the World is Doctor Haas? -- PAPAL EDITION

Dr. Haas Completes Successful Trip to Rome, Meets Pope Francis

Dr. Haas serves on the Directive Council of the Pontifical Academy for Life and had to be in Rome for its meeting on Friday, September 27. He took advantage of being there to follow up on a number of projects of the NCBC in its service to the Holy See and the Church. As a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care to Health Workers, he met with its President, Archbishop Zymunt Zimowksi, to discuss some of their projects.

Dr. Anthony Tersigni, President and CEO of Ascension Health and a member of the NCBC board, was appointed by Archbishop Zimowski to head the International Association of Catholic Hospitals. Dr. Tersigni will be addressing the assembly of the Council that meets in November.

 

Dr. Haas with Archbishop Zimowski

Dr. Haas also managed a visit to the Bioethics Center at the Gemelli Hospital of the Sacred Heart University. The Bioethics Center was founded by Cardinal Elio Sgreccia and is now headed by Dr. Antonio Spagnolo, a physican who works at the Gemelli. Dr. Haas was able to deliver a number of volumes of Cardinal Sgreccia’s Personalist Bioethics which was translated and published by the NCBC. The English translation of Cardinal Sgreccia’s book by the Center’s John Di Camillo and Michael Miller is in heavy demand for course work there in bioethics as well as at the Regina Apostolorum. Dr. Spagnolo, President of the Bioethics Center, is also Chairman of the Board of the International Federation of Bioethics Institutes and Centers of Personalist Inspiration (FIBIP). Dr. Haas also serves on that board and helped plan and to raise money for its most recent conference held in Havana, Cuba.



While at the Vatican, Dr. Haas also met with members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, including Archbishop Luis Ladaria, S.J., its Secretary, about a number of issues. After the meeting, Cardinal Sgreccia graciously invited Dr. Haas to lunch to discuss further distribution of the English language edition of book. That evening Dr. Haas was privileged to have dinner with several moralists from the Santa Croce University, including Father Pau who had served for a number of months at the NCBC.



Friday morning was the meeting of the Directive Council of the Pontifical Academy for Life which met at the headquarters of the Academy at the end of the Via Concilizione down from the Vatican and beside the Tiber River. A number of issues were addressed including the admission of new members and the planning of future conferences. There are eight members of the Council which meets under the direction of the President of the Academy, Bishop Ignacio Carrasco, a Spanish physician, moral theologian, and former university rector. At 11:30 the meeting was adjourned so that the Governing Council could meet with Pope Francis.

 

 

Dr. Haas enjoys lunch with Cardinal Sgreccia

Dr. Haas described the meeting below:


“I thought perhaps we would meet with the Holy Father in the Domus Sanctae Martae, the Vatican ‘hotel’ which is used for guests on official business – and to house the Cardinals during a conclave! I had seen the Holy Father in the Domus where he has chosen to live. He would casually come in for breakfast with guests – and leave just as causally! However, I must say that the atmosphere in the Domus is no longer so casual as it used to be since the Pope has taken up residence there. Barricades are now in front of the building with two Vatican police officers at their posts. After passing between them, one makes one’s way between two Swiss Guards standing at the door of the hotel; and plainclothes policemen are a new feature in lobby! But at least the Holy Father is closer to the people as he has said he wants to be.


In any event, we were told to report to the apostolic palace, not the Domus, for the meeting. We passed by Swiss Guards standing at attention with their halberds, we climbed vast stair cases, crossed a large sun-lit piazza, entered another large building, mounted more stairs, and walked through one palatial room after another, a couple with papal thrones. I thought to myself, ‘Well, Francis may want to live simply, but he is the pope.’ Every time we were taken into an ornate room and told to wait I thought it would be the room for the audience. But then we would be fetched and taken to another room. Finally we were ushered into a large room by Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the head of the papal household who had faithfully served Pope Benedict and continues his service to the Vatican.

 

Dr. Haas with the Head of The Papal Household, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein

Dr. Haas and the rest of the Governing Council prepare to meet the Pope

 

The Anteroom

 

Awaiting the Pope

As we entered the large reception room, the Holy Father greeted the eight of us. He was most warm and gracious. I knew he spoke no English, so I spoke to him in Spanish. I held out a photograph of our Christmas picture with our nine children, their spouses and twenty-four grandchildren and asked him to bless the family. He looked at the picture and joked, “Que poco!” [“How few!”]. But then he placed his hand over the picture and paused for quite some time praying for the family. I was quite moved by his earnest sincerity.

I have not received my copies of the photos from our meeting just yet, but you can see the digital proofs from the Vatican below:

  

Dr. Haas meets His Holiness, Pope Francis, for the first time.

Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Vatican Photography Service

                                             Que Poco!Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Vatican Photography Service

 

Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Vatican Photography Service

Soon, the lighthearted nature of Francis turned serious and sober as he spoke to us about our work. He said we would have to struggle against the current. ‘In fact’, he said, ‘you will spend the rest of your lives working against the current.’ He told us to remember that every step forward we were able to make, the forces of the Culture of Death would also take a step forward. He said there was a death penalty abroad in the world, taking many forms; abortion, capital punishment, warfare. He said we had to struggle against it to bring about a Culture of Life. He spoke softly, looking down, and he chose his words carefully and deliberately. When he finished, he gave each of us a rosary and then bestowed on us his blessing to carry on the struggle.


As we left the room, I encountered Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who was to be received next by the Holy Father. He greeted me warmly, and we reminisced briefly about his having addressed the bishops gathered at our Workshop in Dallas in February. We all returned to the tasks of the Council and the Pontifical Academy for Life greatly encouraged! And I was personally most gratified at the critical role the NCBC is privileged play in the life of the Church.”


That same afternoon Dr. Haas was interviewed by EWTN for a television program the network was preparing on the Pontifical Academy for Life. He did one interview in English and then one in German. He was then interviewed by Catholic News Agency (CNA) about the work of the Academy. As with all of his trips to Rome, every minute was filled with meetings and activities on behalf of The National Catholic Bioethics Center and its service to the Church.

If you wish to see the full slideshow of the visit of Dr. Haas and the rest of the Governing Council, you may do so by visiting the Vatican Photography Service website and scrolling to page 10, HERE.

Where in the World is Doctor Haas?

August was for me, personally, a month of rest.  First, family and friends headed to the South Tyrolean Alps for some serious mountain hiking and climbing.  I then led a group around southern Germany on a program I organized called “Benedict’s Bavaria”.  We visited the beautiful villages, farmlands, monasteries, lakes and Bavarian Alps associated with the life of Josef Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict.  It was a wonderfully refreshing and spiritually uplifting two weeks. 

However, all the issues with which the Center has been so engaged were waiting for me upon my return!  But I was able to take them on refreshed and renewed!  And of course, the faithful staff who stayed behind continued to advance the mission to which the Center is so committed.

After returning from vacation, I left for two receptions in Kentucky which were organized on behalf of the Center. The Most Reverend Joseph Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville, serves on the board of the NCBC and helped prepare the event. He graciously arranged for me to travel to Kentucky to inform health care professionals of the work of The National Catholic Bioethics Center.  On Thursday, August 9, the Most Reverend Ronald Gainer, Bishop of Lexington, welcomed me to a reception held at the Catholic Center in his diocese. The reception was attended by physicians, nurses, hospital administrators and those involved in the pro-life movement.  

The following day, I drove over to Louisville for a reception at the residence of Archbishop Kurtz.

 
Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D.
Archbishop of Louisville and Dr. Haas's gracious host.

There were approximately 40 individuals at each reception and the Center was able to enlist a number of new individual and institutional members.  These opportunities are very important for advancing the work of the Center and letting Catholics and others know of the resources that are available through the Center to assist in the pro-life struggle!

If you would like to further support our work and help increase the availability of the Center's tremendous resources, please consider making a donation to the NCBC.

Please pray for me as I continue in my travels throughout the Fall and Winter.

May God bless you all!

Dr. John M. Haas

President

The National Catholic Bioethics Center