PASTOR’S NOTES

We renew our examination of the ethical directives of health care with the concern our American Bishops have in the area of experimentation. They certainly wish for progress in curing disease and alleviating suffering. But as in other areas of treatment they demand that the patient is respected. They state that informed consent is key. If the person is no longer responsible for decision making in terms of their own condition, then “the surrogate can give…consent only if the experiment entails no significant risk to the person’s well being. Moreover, the greater the person’s incompetency and vulnerability, the greater the reasons must be to perform any medical experimentation, especially non-therapeutic.” (31)

For decades the Catholic theological tradition has dealt with one’s obligation of caring for oneself or others in a medical context. Very clearly, our shepherds state: “While every person is obliged to use ordinary means to preserve his or her life and health, no person should be obliged to submit to a health care procedure that the person has judged, with a free and informed conscience, not to provide a reasonable hope of benefit without imposing excessive risks and burdens on the patient or excessive expense to family or community. The well-being of the whole person must be taken into account in deciding about any therapeutic intervention or use of technology. Therapeutic procedures that are likely to cause harm or undesirable side-effects can be justified only by a proportionate benefit to the patient.” (32-33). The general principles expressed herein will be discussed specifically in later sections. In terms of the latter one, i.e. double effect it must be stated unequivocally that one is never permitted to perform a morally evil act even if it might result in a good conclusion. Our leaders give an example of the proper utilization of this moral precept. They insist that if one becomes aware of a human being suffering from abuse or violence they should report it to the proper authorities. This is especially true in the case of professional medical personnel. Frequently they are privy to knowledge through their visits to and examination of the young and aged. The Church teaches in this document that: “Compassionate and understanding care should be given to a person who is the victim of sexual assault. Health care providers should cooperate with law enforcement officials and offer the person psychological and spiritual support as well as accurate medical information. A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault. If, after appropriate testing, there is no evidence that conception has occurred already, she may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation, or fertilization. It is not permissible, however, to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the removal, destruction, or interference with the implantation of a fertilized ovum.” (36) To assist medical facilities, personnel, families and individual patients this document calls for the formation of ethics committees. The complexity of moral issues and medical procedures certainly calls for the collaboration of clergy, health professionals, ethicists, and the general public.

With the upcoming anniversary of the tragic judicial decision of Roe v. Wade and the on-going debate concerning federal funding of abortion, the insights of part 4 of the Ethical Directives are especially relevant. In its all encompassing introduction it is stated: “The Church’s commitment to human dignity inspires an abiding concern for the sanctity of human life from its very beginning, and with the dignity of marriage and of the marriage act by which human life is transmitted. The Church cannot approve medical practices that undermine the biological, psychological and moral bonds on which the strength of marriage and the family depends. Catholic health care ministry witnesses to the sanctity of life ‘from the moment of conception until death’. The Church’s defense of life encompasses the unborn and the care of women and their children during and after pregnancy. The Church’s commitment to life is seen in its willingness to collaborate with others to alleviate the causes of the high infant mortality rate and to provide adequate health care to mothers and their children before and after birth. The Church has the deepest respect for the family, for the marriage covenant, and for the love that binds a married couple together. This includes respect for the marriage act by which husband and wife express their love and cooperate with God in the creation of a new human being…For legitimate reasons of responsible parenthood, married couples may limit the number of their children by natural means. The Church cannot approve contraceptive interventions that ‘either in anticipation of the marital act, or in its accomplishment or in the development of its natural consequences, have the purpose, whether as an end or a means, to render procreation impossible.’ Such interventions violate ‘the inseparable connection, willed by God …between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive and procreative meaning.’ With the advance of the biological and medical sciences, society has at its disposal new technologies for responding to the problem of infertility. While we rejoice in the potential for good inherent in many of these technologies, we cannot assume that what is technically possible is always morally right. Reproductive technologies that substitute for the marriage act are not consistent with human dignity. Just as the marriage act is joined naturally to procreation, so procreation is joined naturally to the marriage act…Because the moral law is rooted in the whole of human nature, human persons, through intelligent reflection on their own spiritual destiny, can discover and cooperate in the plan of the Creator! Next week we will discuss the specific directives covering this most important value.

Before I conclude this week’s column permit me to express my gratitude and that of Father Perry for all the Christmas greetings, gifts, and remembrances. May God continue to bless all of us and our beloved parish.

Vivat Jesus

Fr. Brian