Jesuit Father Robert McTeigue is used to fighting a war against bioethical confusion.
The newest member of the prestigious National Ethics Committee of the Catholic Medical Association, will equip bioethics students at the University of Mary in North Dakota and anyone else interested from the community to do the same.
More from Fr. McTeigue
His three-part presentation Aug. 19 followed by case studies will look at philosophical and theological resources for bioethics plus virtue and courage in Catholic Health Care. Fr. McTeigue’s presentation is part of the university’s second bioethics seminar Aug. 18-20.
“Students have two options: be prepared or be surprised. And they can’t afford to be surprised,” Fr. McTeigue said. “The seminar will help them be prepared to identify opposition — moral, spiritual, medical, legal, intellectual — as well as allies.”
He said the secular culture will become increasingly hostile to Catholic morals and health care. The bioethics seminar, entitled “Courage as an Essential Virtue for the Catholic Healthcare Provider,” kicks off with an Aug. 18 lunch presentation on “Integrating Faith, Reason, Law and Bioethics.”
It concludes with lectures on “Medicine and Bioethics,” followed by “Health Care and Biomedical Industry Ethics.
University of Mary’s M.S. in Bioethics program is at the forefront of bioethics education and addressing modern-day issues. Because the program is in partnership with the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), it’s one that McTeigue and other bioethics experts around the world hold in high esteem as the university holds true to its Christian, Catholic beliefs.
“A truly Catholic program in bioethics brings much-needed correctives to the field of bioethics in the U.S.,” Fr. McTeigue explained. “An authentically Catholic program brings to bioethics an unshakeable commitment to good science; a long, noble heritage of moral reflection rooted in natural law; a sense of the sacredness of each human life that is found in what Christ has revealed to the Church He founded. As medicine is often practiced today, people armed with tremendous technical power accompanied by an impoverished capacity for moral reflection can cause great harm. Catholic bioethics can be the antidote.”
Fr. McTeigue believes in taking the fight to the trenches, where universities like Mary and Catholic healthcare providers can proudly wave the flag high and capture territory in minds of the influential.
“Even as the battle unfolds, I see light and hope when I look at the Catholic Medical Association here in the U.S. Skilled and heroic healthcare providers are fighting the good fight to be true to their medical calling and their Catholic faith. In particular, young Catholic medical students are eager to join the cause.”
