Catholic Medical Ethics

Many parishioners at St. Thomas More work in many different fields of medicine, and experience daily ethical questions. This channel is intended to  be a source of  reliable information and advice on  Medical Ethics from a Catholic viewpoint. It will include information on local lectures, discussions and events, and links to teaching documents from the Vatican, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese of Raleigh and Catholic Universities and Publishers.

Please email suggestions and comments to Jim Hynes, Director of Elementary and Adult Faith Formation.

Resources for Catholic Teaching on Medical Ethics

Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of a Person)

An Instruction from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on ethical issues arising from biomedical research, provides guidance on how to respect human life and human procreation in our heavily scientific age, published in English on December 12, 2008.

Read an article about this document from The Good Steward newsletter

As background to this document, here are several of its precursors:

Donum Vitae - "The Gift of Life" from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1987
Evangelium Vitae - "The Gospel of Life" from Pope John Paul II, 1995
Humanae Vitae - "On the Transmission of Human Life" from Pope Paul VI, 1968

Issues

What's New?

Abortion
Aging
Church Documents on Life Issues
Cloning
Contraception
Disabilities
End-of-Life issues
Fetal Research
Health Care Policy
In-Vitro Fertilization
On Fertility Treatments: "Life Giving Love in an Age of Technology"
Natural Family Planning
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services - from the US Bishops
"Women Deserve Better" Campaign

Institutions

National Catholic Bioethics Center
Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University
Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
Center for Health Care Ethics - St. Louis University
Catholic Health Association
Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care
Guild of Catholic Doctors - England and Wales
Catholic Medical Association - of the USA and Canada
Southern Cross Bioethics Institute - Australia
Institute of Catholic Bioethics - St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia

Articles

Medical Ethics - Lectures and Events

"White Mass" - for health care workers, 7:00 PM on October 18 (The Feast of St. Luke, the Physician) at St. Thomas More, with Bishop Burbidge, with Reception to follow. 

Last Updated: July 26 2010