Overview

“Introduction to Catholic Health Care Ethics” is the NCBC’s semester-long (16-week) undergraduate-level course delivered online in an asynchronous format. It is taught by NCBC staff in collaboration with local institutions, and all content is faithful to the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Students who complete the course can earn three undergraduate credits through the NCBC’s partnership with Catholic International University (CIU).

Why the NCBC?

The NCBC is a faithful and trusted source for bioethics and health care ethics education serving the Catholic Church in the United States and internationally.
With six full-time ethicists, the NCBC maintains expertise on a wide range of bioethics and health care issues. Bishops and priests regularly consult with the NCBC.

Benefit for Catholic high schools and homeschooling networks

Institutions can offer a quality, comprehensive course that addresses complex bioethics and health care ethics challenges that students face today and will face in the future.
Through fidelity to the Catholic moral tradition, the NCBC course complements the institution’s Catholic identity and mission.
Institutions can provide students with an (additional) option to earn undergraduate credit while in high school.

Delivery

The course is delivered in four parts.

Foundations of Catholic moral theology and the principles of the patient-professional relationship.
Beginning-of-life challenges which include determining when human life begins, surgical and chemical abortion, contraception, fertility awareness, medical interventions for pregnancy complications, and assisted reproductive technologies.
Gender ideology and transgenderism which explores medical interventions for “transitioning” (particularly with adolescents) and Catholic pastoral responses to those who experience gender incongruence.
End-of-life challenges which include medically assisted nutrition and hydration (feeding tube), euthanasia & assisted suicide, and organ donation.

Texts

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, 6th edition (2018)
Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP, Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, 2nd edition (2021)
Magisterial documents including Donum vitae (1987), Evangelium vitae (1995), Dignitas personae (2008), and Samaritanus bonus (2020)
NCBC book chapters, guides, ethicist statements, and podcasts

Contact information

For further information on the “Introduction to Catholic Health Care Ethics” course, please contact Joe Zalot, NCBC Director of Education, at 215-871-2014 or jzalot@ncbcenter.org.

About our Director of Education

Featured

Joe Zalot, PhD

Joe joined The National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2017 and became Director of Education in 2023. In this role he oversees the NCBC Certification Program, Two-Day Seminars, Chaplain Program, and undergraduate “Introduction to Catholic Health Care Ethics” course. He also produces and hosts the Center’s Bioethics on Air podcast and has authored multiple statements, guides, and book chapters for NCBC publications.

Prior to the NCBC, he served from 2015 to 2017 as the regional director of ethics and spiritual care for Mercy Health–Cincinnati and also as a lecturer at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary/Athenaeum of Ohio. From 2004 to 2009 he was an assistant professor, and from 2009 to 2015 an assistant professor (with tenure), at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, where he taught courses in health care ethics, business ethics, sexual and reproductive ethics, and Christian Marriage.

Joe earned his PhD from Marquette University in 2002, an MEd from Boston College in 1997, an MEd from Springfield College in 1991, and a BA from St. Anselm College in 1989. He has written two books and various articles and reviews, and he presents at academic conferences both domestically and internationally.

Health Care Ethics Course for Catholic High Schools and Homeschooling Networks