Luminous
A Catholic Woman and Her Thoughts on Life, the Universe, and Everything
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Give and Take of Spirituality in Medicine - Dr. Scott Bateman, MD
Dr. Scott Bateman, MD – Chief of Pediatrics Critical Care, UMass Medical Center
The Give and Take of Spirituality in Medicine:
Tales from the Pediatric ICU
April 30th 2008 - 4th Annual Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy Conference - Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality - Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA

(1 Peter 3:15 – 16) - But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you. But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope.

Spirituality – he first found it in nature – the beauty of the mountains, he would look at nature, look at the world, with awe and wonder. He had an innate inner sense of compassion that lead him into medicine.

As a young doctor he entered into a “surreal state of mind” when first asked by a young patient, no more than 11 or 12 years old, “what will it feel like when I die?” His lack of faith, lack of training in religion and in school, hadn’t prepared him for anything like this. He had no idea what to say. He felt completely at sea. In giving her a “medical explanation” he felt he let her down. When he told her that she’d gradually “fall asleep” and “dream forever”, she cried, and then she took a breath, and said, “but I like my dreams!” He felt he’d received grace from his patient. He knew he had to do better. “Medicine’s best intentions had failed.”

Unconditional Love – as taught by the family of a brain-injured child, and the joy in that child’s life and death.

Rebirth – as taught by a child on a ventilator – weaned off – and looked up and said “Hi Mom!” – what a sense of rebirth, so near to death, and then finally rejoining life, and her family again. What joy!

Faith – a family at the beside of a terribly sick infant – holding hands, holding on, praying together. Never letting go, even in the face of their fear and grief.

Every situation is so different. Many questions have no answers – and without a basis in FAITH, it becomes harder and harder to not only cope with the suffering one sees every day, but help others cope with their own suffering, that they must live every day. All one can do is stuff it down, cry, suffer silently. And then pain builds internally.

One day he was asked “Where is God in your life, doctor?” And he was dumbfounded. He realized, finally, that there was “something”, and the lack of an answer to that specific question lead to a specific search.

He was drawn from the vague spirituality of “nature” into Catholic spirituality by suffering. Catholicism had answers for what to do with suffering. Something would be done with that suffering – offer it up – join it with Christ – the image of the Pieta was the epitome of this concept. Grace, love, sorrow – all at once. The Pieta was every one of his patients. He was holding them up, suffering, at the foot of the Cross.

Suffering leads to Hope

Salvifici Doloris of Pope John Paul II - http://tinyurl.com/3acxq

“Declaring the power of salvific suffering, the Apostle Paul says: "In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church"”
  • …what we express by the word "suffering" seems to be particularly essential to the nature of man. It is as deep as man himself, precisely because it manifests in its own way that depth which is proper to man, and in its own way surpasses it. Suffering seems to belong to man's transcendence: it is one of those points in which man is in a certain sense "destined" to go beyond himself, and he is called to this in a mysterious way.

  • ….Man suffers in different ways, ways not always considered by medicine, not even in its most advanced specializations. Suffering is something which is still wider than sickness, more complex and at the same time still more deeply rooted in humanity itself.
    ….Insofar as the words "suffering" and "pain", can, up to a certain degree, be used as synonyms, physical suffering is present when "the body is hurting" in some way, whereas moral suffering is "pain of the soul". In fact, it is a question of pain of a spiritual nature, and not only of the "psychological" dimension of pain which accompanies both moral and physical suffering The vastness and the many forms of moral suffering are certainly no less in number than the forms of physical suffering.

  • .... it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace....

  • When this body is gravely ill, totally incapacitated, and the person is almost incapable of living and acting, all the more do interior maturity and spiritual greatness become evident, constituting a touching lesson to those who are healthy and normal.
    This interior maturity and spiritual greatness in suffering are certainly the result of a particular conversion and cooperation with the grace of the Crucified Redeemer. It is he himself who acts at the heart of human sufferings through his Spirit of truth, through the consoling Spirit. It is he who transforms, in a certain sense, the very substance of the spiritual life, indicating for the person who suffers a place close to himself. It is he—as the interior Master and Guide—who reveals to the suffering brother and sister this wonderful interchange, situated at the very heart of the mystery of the Redemption. Suffering is, in itself, an experience of evil. But Christ has made suffering the firmest basis of the definitive good, namely the good of eternal salvation. By his suffering on the Cross, Christ reached the very roots of evil, of sin and death. He conquered the author of evil, Satan, and his permanent rebellion against the Creator. To the suffering brother or sister Christ discloses and gradually reveals the horizons of the Kingdom of God: the horizons of a world converted to the Creator, of a world free from sin, a world being built on the saving power of love. And slowly but effectively, Christ leads into this world, into this Kingdom of the Father, suffering man, in a certain sense through the very heart of his suffering. For suffering cannot be transformed and changed by a grace from outside, but from within. And Christ through his own salvific suffering is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the powers of his Spirit of truth, his consoling Spirit.....

  • .... people react to suffering in different ways. But in general it can be said that almost always the individual enters suffering with a typically human protest and with the question "why". He asks the meaning of his suffering and seeks an answer to this question on the human level. Certainly he often puts this question to God, and to Christ. Furthermore, he cannot help noticing that the one to whom he puts the question is himself suffering and wishes to answer him from the Cross, from the heart of his own suffering. Nevertheless, it often takes time, even a long time, for this answer to begin to be interiorly perceived. For Christ does not answer directly and he does not answer in the abstract this human questioning about the meaning of suffering. Man hears Christ's saving answer as he himself gradually becomes a sharer in the sufferings of Christ.

  • .... Christ does not explain in the abstract the reasons for suffering, but before all else he says: "Follow me!". Come! Take part through your suffering in this work of saving the world, a salvation achieved through my suffering! Through my Cross. Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him. He does not discover this meaning at his own human level, but at the level of the suffering of Christ. At the same time, however, from this level of Christ the salvific meaning of suffering descends to man's level and becomes, in a sense, the individual's personal response. It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy.

  • Saint Paul speaks of such joy in the Letter to the Colossians: "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake"(88). A source of joy is found in the overcoming of the sense of the uselessness of suffering, a feeling that is sometimes very strongly rooted in human suffering. This feeling not only consumes the person interiorly, but seems to make him a burden to others. The person feels condemned to receive help and assistance from others, and at the same time seems useless to himself. The discovery of the salvific meaning of suffering in union with Christ transforms this depressing feeling. Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person "completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters. Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ's sacrifice that is the irreplaceable mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the world's salvation. It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else, makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption. In that "cosmic" struggle between the spiritual powers of good and evil, spoken of in the Letter to the Ephesians(89), human sufferings, united to the redemptive suffering of Christ, constitute a special support for the powers of good, and open the way to the victory of these salvific powers.
    And so the Church sees in all Christ's suffering brothers and sisters as it were a multiple subject of his supernatural power. How often is it precisely to them that the pastors of the Church appeal, and precisely from them that they seek help and support! The Gospel of suffering is being written unceasingly, and it speaks unceasingly with the words of this strange paradox: the springs of divine power gush forth precisely in the midst of human weakness. Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption, and can share this treasure with others. The more a person is threatened by sin, the heavier the structures of sin which today's world brings with it, the greater is the eloquence which human suffering possesses in itself. And the more the Church feels the need to have recourse to the value of human sufferings for the salvation of the world.


Drawn in by the Sacred Heart

Walked into a church – and just happened, randomly, to see a stained glass window of Jesus, depicted as the Sacred Heart. Didn’t really understand. Hit powerfully. Had a “mystical experience” and didn’t understand what was happening. Fear and joy. "A sense of peace entered my vocabulary for the first time."


Value – Not the giver’s ability to give, but the receiver’s ability to receive – what do we DO with the gifts we receive?

Time to Give Back

Taking so much from patients – emotionally, spiritually, etc. Gifts are given for a reason. Took a good hard look at the many blessings he’d been given, and decided he needed to give back. Medical care in Jamaica. Worcester Guild of CMA, faith-based approach in his work as a doctor.

Speaking to parents of very sick/dying children – their priorities of their needs – what was most helpful to them

  1. Prayer
  2. Faith
  3. Access to clergy
  4. Belief in the transcendent quality of the parent/child relationship


We need to:

  • Be present in their suffering
  • Share faith with dignity
  • Honor those we can help
  • Offer ourselves freely - our gift to those we hope to heal


Faith makes us not only better people, but better healers


Worcester Guild of the Catholic Medical Association


Working together, Dr. John Howland, Dr. Paul Carpentier and Father Peter R. Beaulieu, director of Mission Integration and Pastoral Care at St. Vincent Hospital, they met with Bishop McManus in the summer of 2007 to discuss forming a guild in Worcester of the Catholic Medical Association, which first began in Boston in 1912. The Worcester Diocese has never had its own guild before. By January 2008, the new guild was officially formed. http://www.worcestercma.org


The guild’s focuses are education, mutual support and outreach, he said. Members need to learn how Church teachings relate to health care and encourage each other to bring what they learn at Sunday Mass to work on Monday. They can witness in the community by speaking out about medical ethics. He cautioned against too quickly telling others how to live ethically, however, and said, “The first priority is knowing Christ and walking with Christ in our own lives.”

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Written at 4:53 AM by Luminaria2112.
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Brian Thatcher, MD – Journey of a Soul in Medicine
Brian Thatcher, MD – Journey of a Soul in Medicine
April 30th 2008 - 4th Annual Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy Conference - Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality - Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA


A person coming in to a treatment provider in need of help often experiences a myriad of emotions that can rapidly change – often from hour to hour. This isn’t necessarily unusual, particularly if they believe or perceive their illness or condition as severe, threatening their on-going wellbeing, or life-threatening. They have a deep need for empathy. We need to cultivate a reverence for Life that will spill over into the lives of each person that God puts into our path.

Fear

  • A common fear is of prolonged pain, disablement, or prolonged painful death
  • Our culture has developed an extremely “pharmaceutical” mentality – many patients now feel that there simply must be a pill or treatment for every single ailment or disorder. Quite often, sad to say, there simply is no quick fix. No “magic pill” that will solve all their problems like in a 1-hour TV episode.
  • They get suspicious when told that there is no immediate solution, “is the doctor telling me everything?” or they wonder if services are being withheld from them. Fear can switch to almost a type of paranoia
  • We must strive to assist them to truly understand the condition we are treating them for, and the ramifications of the treatment we are suggesting – in order to do this we need to develop and maintain a closer relationship not only with the patient – but with God
  • Another common fear is fear of loss of control
  • Patients desire to have input – maintain the right to make decisions, to allow their families to have input, but not completely take over
  • People do better with the known than the unknown – even if the news is unpleasant, frightening, or even dire – more information and honesty – with compassion – will be more helpful than keeping information from them on the assumption that it would make the patient “too anxious”. What makes patients more anxious is the feeling that they are out of control of their own lives.
  • Fear of becoming a financial burden – they don’t want to become a stressor for their spouse, children, or community. They don’t want to lose homes, possessions, etc., that they’ve cherished their whole lives. But illnesses can be devastating, and insurance is sometimes very bad, and things can change very quickly. Need to be aware.
  • Fear of being alone – for many loneliness is the worst affliction. Many sick patients have no visitors. They seem to wither and shrink in on themselves. Depression, despondency. Can affect treatment, ability to recover, sap remaining strength, shorten lives.

The antidote for fear is HOPE – Faith in God is the Pillar which we lean on

The Beginning Phase – Bargaining – hope for a cure, hope for more time, hope for no pain, hope for family to come rally around, hope for a miracle…. Etc….

St. Faustina wrote in her Diary: 1208 “May You be blessed, O God, for everything You send me. Nothing under the sun happens without Your will. I cannot penetrate Your secrets with regard to myself, but I press my lips to the chalice You offer me.”

Regrets – are very normal – patients with very serious, life threatening, or end-of-life illnesses will quite often go through an “examination” period. Keep communication lines open. This is very typical behavior.

Depression is not uncommon – it is often minor – sometimes accompanied by anger. Let the patient vent, encouragement is quite often less effective. Be supportive.

Acceptance – here is where we can help them understand Divine Mercy

Family

We need to appreciate the “gift of time” – so often we take everyday life for granted. St. Faustina said in her Diary: 62 “O life so dull and monotonous, how many treasures you contain! When I look at everything with the eyes of faith, no two hours are alike, and the dullness and monotony disappear. The grace which is given me in this hour will not be repeated in the next. It may be given me again, but it will not be the same grace. Time goes on, never to return again. Whatever is enclosed in it will never change; it seals with a seal for eternity.”

  • School, work, etc., these are important, but they are not the be/all, end/all of life
  • Be kind, be merciful
  • Love is the most important part of life
  • Love everyone – “love thy enemies” – love is different for each person you meet.

Different types of love were defined by the Christian theologian/writer C.S. Lewis as “The Four Loves”

Affection (storge in the Greek) is fondness through familiarity, especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance. It is described as the most natural, emotive, and widely diffused of loves: natural in that it is present without coercion; emotive because it is the result of fondness due to familiarity; and most widely diffused because it pays the least attention to those characteristics deemed "valuable" or worthy of love and, as a result, is able to transcend most discriminating factors. Ironically, its strength, however, is what makes it vulnerable. Affection has the appearance of being "built-in" or "ready made", and as a result people quite often come to expect, even to demand, its presence--irrespective of their behavior and its natural consequences.

Friendship (philia) is a strong bond existing between people who share a common interest or activity. This definition of friendship is narrower than mere companionship: friendship in this sense only exists if there is something for the friendship to be "about". It is the least natural of loves; i.e., it is not biologically necessary to progeny like either affection (e.g., rearing a child or uniting a family or society), eros (e.g., creating a child), or charity (e.g., providing for a child). It has the least association with impulse or emotion. In spite of these characteristics, it was the belief of the ancients (and many modern theologians, too) that it was the most admirable of loves because it looked not at the beloved (like eros), but it looked towards that "about"--that quality that because of which the relationship was formed. This freed the participants in this relationship from self-consciousness. Because the more they were looking towards something beyond or above themselves, the more those who were looking towards that thing with them were welcomed with the same sincerity, which freed the relationship from jealousy. And although this type of love may not be biologically necessary, it has, "civilization value". The quality that is seen, that which is beyond or above themselves may be of monumental importance to society. But without the benefit of friendship to blunt the loneliness of "being the only person who sees this", or the idea that two heads are better than one, many advances in society may never have been embarked upon. The relationship is by its nature selective, and therefore, exclusive. This characteristic is not detrimental per se, but the idea or goal towards which friends strive need not be altruistic. The innocuous ideas may simply be the cause of pseudo-aristocracies that ignore the legitimate cries of those outside their group; the malefic ones may be quite worse.

Eros is love in the sense of 'being in love'. This is distinct from base raw sexuality. Eros is identified as "indifferent". This promotes appreciation of the beloved regardless of any personal, intimate, objective pleasure that can be obtained from them. Therefore the beloved is cherished, not treated as an object to be desired only for the pleasure it can bring. It is the root of romantic love. It is can be the ignition for a relationship that leads to a family. However, Lewis states it cannot sustain itself indefinitely. It burns out, eventually, and requires the more mature forms of love to build a firm foundation upon which to rest. It is the most "immature" form of love, but quite often the most sought after. It can be bad, however, when it is very immature and undeveloped, or when obsessive, because this blind devotion has been at the root of many of history's most abominable tragedies. In keeping with the warning that "love begins to be a demon the moment [it] begins to be a god", Lewis warns against the danger of "idolatry", and elevating eros to the status of a sort of personal "god".

Caritas (agapē), for Lewis, is the unconditional love directed towards the other person which is not dependent on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses. Agape is the love that brings forth caring of one's neighbor, irregardless of circumstance. Lewis recognizes this as the greatest of loves, and sees it as a virtue that is derived directly from our image and likeness with God. God, being the very nature and essence of Love itself, "is so full, in fact that it overflows". We know of Agape because we receive it, freely, from God. God's innate nature, being Love and His guidance act on our innate love that is a reflection of his image within ourselves, as the sun and rain act on a garden, and so we grow in love for each other, as we respond to His will for our lives. “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) Lewis warns that those who exhibit charity must constantly check themselves that they do not flaunt--and thereby warp--this love "But when you give to someone, don't tell your left hand what your right hand is doing." (Matthew 6:3), which is its potential threat.


Give a message of Love to everyone you meet. Let them know that you are there for them, are open to welcoming them, supporting them, and being there for them. Be the face of Christ for all whom you meet. Even the non-Christian will know you are Christian “by your love”.

Written at 4:43 AM by Luminaria2112.
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Fr. Germain Kopaczynski - “A Crash Course in Catholic Medical Ethics”
Fr. Germain Kopaczynski - “A Crash Course in Catholic Medical Ethics”
April 30th 2008 - 4th Annual Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy Conference - Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality - Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA

We say “Catholic Medical Ethics” – however, Truth is the common possession of us all

Every discipline has it’s own “Prime Directive” (a la Star Trek) – the Prime Directive of “non-interference” with “less developed” cultures – ACTUAL behavior – a.k.a. ACTUAL “directive” – interfere whenever you want – just don’t get shot…. We all have our own “prime directives” in our own professional fields. Most of all in the health field we all say “do no harm” – but how do we apply that directive in this day and age?

We aim to support Life – Do Good, avoid Evil. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But so often, it’s not.

Starting point – we have to start with God. We have to. Even atheistic scientists have recognized that the universe has a beginning, a starting point – for lack of a better term – because they hate to admit it – a point where everything was created and came into being, and before that there was only…. They don’t know what…. WE know….
  1. God is the Creator of us all

  2. Humans are made in the image of God – hence their Dignity is inherent because of their very nature – this is the way we were made to BE – in the image and likeness of God – EVERY human person has an inherent individual and unique dignity that is owed respect.

  3. God is the Lord of Life and Death, as the Creator of all

  4. God stated, quite clearly – Thou shalt not kill – It is a specific command intended to protect the dignity and sanctity of human life, and indeed the whole of God's law protects human life.

  5. The Church states that no one has the right to terminate the life of another person at any stage or circumstance of life. "No one is permitted to ask for this act of killing,(referring to Euthanasia) either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action. For it is a question of the violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity."

  6. Life is not ours to take. We cannot create a living soul – we can only cooperate in the birth of a child with God’s grace, as God breathes new life and a soul into existence at the moment of conception. We have no right to take that life – unless the safety of the community is at stake – and in this day and age, that is “rare if not unheard of”.
Christian View of the Human Person
  1. We are created intelligent

  2. We are created free
    a. Humans are intelligent
    b. Humans are free (free will)
    c. Humans are created by God

  3. We are responsible Stewards of this world – not absolute masters
God – creating humans intelligent – with a completely different form of intelligence than that of animals – with the ability to learn, make choices, think, create, etc. – have free will. Knowing and loving God, we can use that free will to be holy people, and live holy lives, in cooperation with God’s will for our lives – or we can choose to live according to the dictates of our own desires.

Technology – can quite often be our “new god” – tempts us to believe that we are “lords and masters of the universe” – that because we can do something, that we have the “right” to do that thing. Prowess then dictates morality, technology then dictates ethics.

Wellsprings

The joining of Faith and Reason – the truth of Faith and the truth of Reason NEVER contradict each other. Great minds have written this throughout history:

Boethius
Aquinas
Pope John Paul II – Fides et Ratio - http://tinyurl.com/46wut Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).

Respect Truth & Freedom – Bioethics & Moral Principles

Secular
  • Respect for Autonomy
  • Non-malfeasance
  • Beneficence
  • Justice

Christian

  • Sanctity of Life
  • Principle of Double Effect
  • Principal of Totality
  • Ordinary & Extraordinary
Principles of Catholic Ethics:
  • Right to Life
  • Double Effect
  • Human Dignity
  • Informed Consent
  • Integrity & Totality
  • Material Cooperation
  • Ordinary Means
  • Common Good & Subsidiarity
Non-malfeasance
Technical way of stating that we have an obligation not to harm others – this duty prohibits others to simply avoid the risk of harm – the traditional method of examining the legitimatization of risk and any harmful effects is the Principle of Double Effect

Double Effect
It is morally allowable to perform an action that will produce both a good and a negative effect PROVIDED:a. The good effect and not the evil effect is directly intendedb. The action itself is good, or at least indifferentc. The good effect is not produced by means of the evil effectd. There is a proportional reason for permitting the foreseen evil effect to occur

Ethical Directives
The Principle of Double Effect “Troubleshooter” – Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services http://www.usccb.org/bishops/directives.shtml

Directive 47 – Indirect abortions - Operations, treatments, and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child.

Directive 53 – Indirect sterilization - Direct sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution. Procedures that induce sterility are permitted when their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available.

Directive 61 – Pain relief – Patients should be kept as free of pain as possible so that they may die comfortably and with dignity, and in the place where they wish to die. Since a person has the right to prepare for his or her death while fully conscious, he or she should not be deprived of consciousness without a compelling reason. Medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain may be given to a dying person, even if this therapy may indirectly shorten the person's life so long as the intent is not to hasten death. Patients experiencing suffering that cannot be alleviated should be helped to appreciate the Christian understanding of redemptive suffering.

Sanctity of Life Principle
The view which affirms that physical life is a basic good, even when one is suffering, because it is the fundamental condition which makes it possible to achieve all other values, including holiness and personal sanctity, and it sets limits within which we must work to promote human wellbeing. In short, the Principle of Sanctity of Life promotes a presumption that even a person who is suffering has the right to exist, even a person who is physically handicapped or challenged has the right to exist – and to attempt to achieve personal holiness as best as they can. No one has the right to claim total mastery over one's own life or another's life. To assume that the person who is suffering, or the person who is diminished due to physical limitation is now a “burden to society” or that they have diminished rights as a person is to diminish their worth as a human being, and a great evil.

Totality
The concept that a part can be sacrificed to save the whole. It is therefore licit to sacrifice a human organ, for instance, or limb or body part, for the good of the individual as a whole, to preserve functional integrity of the living person, or to perform a transplant from a living donor.

Informed Consent
Consent to undergo medical procedures or participate in research is considered normally or legally valid as long as the person has adequate information regarding: Effects, Risks, Benefits, Alternatives, the Nature of the Procedures, and their Rights

Other Ethical and Moral Considerations that must be considered:
Confidentiality Ability of the patient to grow through suffering – if they don’t know about this concept – your discipleship as a Christian demands that you attempt to not only comfort them, but teach them this principle Religious Freedom – the ability to practice their own faith as they choose (or not) Personalized sexuality – respect is not condoning practices Stewardship and Creativity WELL-FORMED Conscience

WE ARE FREE – but….

I have set before you life and deathBlessing and curseTherefore choose lifeAnd your descendents may live.Deut. 30:15-20

Culture of Life
Inclusion of the Dependent
The unborn
The aged
Children
Poor
Mentally ill
Addicts
Infirm
Isolated
Emotionally hurting, Frightened
Sick
Homeless

Culture of Death
Exclusion of the Dependent
invisible
insignificant
dehumanizing
"fetus”
“parasite”
“vegetable”
“freeloader”
“needy”
“opportunist”
“med seeker”
“druggie”, “drunk”, “junkie”
“user”
“looking for a hot and a cot”

The way we talk about those who come to us for help tells a lot about US.

What is man that Thou are mindful of him? ~ (excerpted from a Catechism given by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn 2006)

In the modern age, we seem to have lost our sense of having been created in the image and likeness of God and the innate dignity and respect this entitles each of us to. We have come to believe that the universe is unimaginably huge, and we are a tiny part of it. We are simply human animals, little different than any other creature on the planet. We are driven by unconscious forces that we can barely see in these animals, and that drive us mercilessly, like animals. We are the animals that think. Is it any wonder then, that we, the “thinking animals”, have lost our sense of “divine purpose” and even Divine love? That we look on each other and see “utilization’, not care or compassion for our weakest and most helpless members of society? Do we, as Christians, have a responsibility to think any differently than the world thinks? We DO – because we are not simply “human animals”.

(From Catechesis given by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, 2006) - The earth has lost its central position in the world, it now exists somewhere on the edge of a galaxy of over a hundred billion stars and this galaxy exists on the edge of over one hundred billion galaxies in the universe. We are taught that man comes from the animals… and the supposition has emerged that there is no discontinuity between animal and man, no metaphysical difference between them. Man as a being endowed with spirit is thought to be nothing radically new in the vast world of life. The soul of man has been cast down from its spiritual height, and been debunked as the mask of unconscious drives. Man is determined not by spirit, but by libido. Being thus dethroned in these three ways, the crown of creation is now rolling, as it were, in the dirt. If man remains here in the dirt, then science has definitively dethroned man. Is man a king or a slave? What is man? Psalm 8 prays:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou has ordained: what is man that thou are mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him?

Is man a piece of nature or the crown of creation? Or is he both? Does he come from the animals, or is he a special creation of God, or is he both?

Modern science has pushed him to the edge of the universe, reducing him to a tiny point on a tiny planet. Is he, on the contrary, the most essential goal of the gigantic event of the coming to be of our world? Or is he both? Is he humiliated as a result of realizing that he is lost in the universe, or is he exalted as a result of being the point in the universe, tiny as the point is, where the universe can become aware of itself and reflect on itself? The psalmist continues in his prayer of praise:

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of they hands: thou has put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsover passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
  1. It is true that our earth is a speck in the universe. But we see more and more clearly how inconceivably privileged this planet is, how life on this planet, which is our home, was incredibly improbable. The earth is not the spatial center, but we live on an exceedingly marvelous "privileged planet" (this was the title of the book by Gonzales and Richards, Washington, 2001). What we should never forget is that we are apparently the only beings on this planet who know about this and know about ever more amazing things.

  2. It is true that we are a part of nature, inserted into the great process of world's becoming. And yet we know about this and can examine our place in this process, we can reflect on it, and we can exercise our unique freedom in drawing consequences from it, whether responsible or harmful consequences.

  3. It is true that we are directed by instincts and conditioned by drives, and yet we can investigate these and come to understand them. In addition we are obliged to raise ourselves above our drives and to order them responsibly.

In a word: on closer examination the "crown" of creation is not dethroned. Our immensely expanded knowledge should just make us more humble, grateful, and responsible.Jewish wisdom is often so vivid, and it always has a note of humor that puts us in our place when we take ourselves too seriously.

"Why was man created only on the sixth day? So that, in case he became too arrogant, he could be told, 'The fly was created before you.'" (Quoted in Urbach, The Sages, Jerusalem, 1975, p. 218.)

"Man outweighs the entire work of creation." (Ibid., p.214.)

From both of these follows a third rabbinical saying (Fr. Georg Sporschill, the great friend of the street children, liked to quote it):

"Whoever saves one life, saves the whole world.”

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Written at 3:53 AM by Luminaria2112.
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