The Child: A Preeminent Good

The child holds the center of our attention this time of year. There are the beautiful portrayals of the holy Virgin, cradling her infant son in her arms after His birth. Eight days later, according to Jewish tradition, the baby boy is circumcised, the first shedding of His blood for our redemption. Forty days after his birth Jesus is presented in the Temple at the same time His Mother undergoes the ritual of purification. These are intimate moments with our attention and our love focused on the holy Child.

The Cause of the Present Disorder

When I was a young graduate (1962), abortion was still illegal, and unborn children were secure in their mothers’ wombs. The sale and distribution of contraceptives was illegal in Pennsylvania where I grew up. Physicians still devoted themselves to healing their patients rather than helping them kill themselves. There was no gay agenda, no transgender movement. There was no LGBTQ+ lobby. Families were still generally intact. But so much of that has changed in the span of a single lifetime – mine.

A Source of Guidance and Comfort

Watching a loved one suffer and die is painful beyond words. And that pain often clouds judgment, leading to confusion and doubt about what medical interventions are truly the most caring and appropriate. For 45 years I have been associated with The National Catholic Bioethics Center and have taught moral theology in two seminaries. I have given talks on care at the end of life, on advanced medical directives, and on a Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions when a patient becomes incompetent. Over the years, I also counseled individuals having to make difficult health care decisions. None of that, however, even begins to have the existential relevance when it is one’s own loved one who is suffering and dying.

The Bioethics of High-Risk Pregnancy

Two lives are frequently in danger in high-risk pregnancies, making the right ethical course of action difficult at times to see. Respect for the equal dignity of all human beings leads Catholic bioethicists and the Church to strive for solutions that rescue mother and child while acknowledging difficult circumstances where it is not possible to save both. Here there is a marked contrast to much secular and utilitarian thinking that frequently defaults to prioritizing protecting the life of the person who can most easily be preserved, usually the mother. Prior to viability outside the womb, the extreme vulnerability of preborn babies makes killing them frequently the easiest path to follow in terms of what is least medically risky.

New Temptations and Transgessions

There is a Christian and very specifically Catholic wisdom concerning the human body and human sexuality.

The Last Words of the Dying

The largest number of consultations we receive at The National Catholic Bioethics Center deal with end-of-life decisions. Sometimes people even call after the death of loved ones to ask if they made the right decisions on their behalf. They want to be reassured that they did the most loving things they could have for them. In cherishing the memory of loved ones, it is striking how often their last words are mentioned.

A Model of Catholic Bioethics: Venerable Jérôme Lejeune

Bioethics is one of the few academic disciplines and professions that does not have a patron saint. We at The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) think this may change soon.

Bioethics and the Dignity of the Human Body

Catholic Bioethics has a special focus on the dignity of the human body. This flows naturally from the great appreciation we should always have for the marvelous qualities of our flesh and blood. The human person is a composite being of body, soul, and spirit.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and of the Dying, Pray for Us!

I was thrilled when the Church proclaimed a year of St. Joseph from December 8, 2020, to December 8, 2021. In his apostolic letter Patris corde (With a Father’s Heart), Pope Francis urges us “to increase our love for this great saint, . . . to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.” We need St. Joseph more than ever in the midst of this COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Vital Importance of Conscientious Discernment

Making good conscientious discernments is one of the most important tasks of every person. If we cannot see clearly what is right or wrong, or possess the inner strength to pursue what is right, we can expect serious trouble to follow. The worst possibility is our own eternal separation from God in hell or our leading others into this calamity.

The Right Not to be Forced to Die Alone

As the historic COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying worldwide and draconian emergency measures are being reinstituted in Europe and elsewhere, I see an urgent need to repeat a defense of the right of patients not to be forced to die alone in hospitals or nursing homes.

Discerning Ordinary vs. Extraordinary Means in Catholic Bioethics

One of the most important tasks in bioethics is distinguishing between ordinary and extraordinary means when it comes to medical care. The reason this distinction is so vital is that Catholics have a moral obligation to receive ordinary care for themselves and give it to others. What is deemed to be extraordinary is morally optional; persons can choose if they do or do not want to receive such care.

Catholics, Bioethics & Voting

Catholics, like all other citizens of the United States of America, have a duty to participate in our representative form of government by informing themselves about the issues and stances of candidates and then voting.

Samaritanus bonus

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) recently issued a letter, Samaritanus bonus: on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life. This document from the Church provides important guidance about the Catholic view of end of life care. It notes with regret that we live in an age when euthanasia and assisted suicide are growing threats and temptations to people all over the world.

In Catholic Bioethics All Human Lives Are Precious

The difference between the Catholic perspective on the dignity and rights of human persons and those of many secular and liberal thinkers seems to be widening. The COVID-19 pandemic and recent events have only served to make the contrast even more stark between truly Catholic health care and other visions of public health or medicine.

Why Study Bioethics?

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) exists to promote and defend God’s plan for creation and the dignity of the human person as championed by the Catholic Church. It is an exciting and a vital mission in our day when so many scientific discoveries and cultural trends attack and exploit vulnerable human beings and the very order of nature.

My Vision for Bioethics

The world needs education about bioethics because most people still do not know what a bioethicist does. Even some health care professionals have only vague ideas about it.

Crux interview with NCBC President Joseph Meaney by Charles Collins, Managing Editor

An interview with Joseph Meaney published in Crux on March 25, 2020.

Messages from Our President and President Emeritus