Bioethics, Health Care, and Catholic Teaching
An Educational Formation Program for Health Care Professionals, Catechists, Educators, and Clergy
Welcome to our site
Today’s medical issues are complex, and so are the ethical decisions that envelop them. “Every educated Catholic must be able to explain the Catholic position on key bioethical issues knowledgeably” (Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, Chair of the President’s Council on Bioethics). Greater education in the area of bioethics is essential for ensuring that the people of God receive ethically sound health care and to ensure that Church teachings are represented in the ongoing debates.
What is Converging Roads?
Converging Roads is an educational formation program that covers the topics of bioethics, health care, and Catholic teaching. The seminars are specifically designed for health care professionals, catechists, educators, and clergy, but are open to anyone who wishes to attend.
The Converging Roads seminar series will consist of four seminars that begin in the fall of 2009 and conclude in the spring of 2010. They will be comprehensive, educational, and pastoral in nature, in order to meet the needs of each participant. The Converging Roads seminars are methodically structured, first providing participants with a foundation in ethical principles and then applying these principles to topics of human sexuality, implications for human procreation, beginning of life issues, medical interventions across the lifespan, end of life issues, and social concerns. The program will also explore Christ’s role as physician and take a thorough look at bioethics in Magisterial documents. Click here to learn more about the seminars.
Who will teach these seminars?
The core education will be taught by qualified instructors on the Converging Roads faculty and each seminar will also feature a Distinguished Speaker. These will be professionals who have exceptional experience and expertise in integrating bioethics, health care, and Catholic teachings in their professional setting. Click here to see the presenters.
What are the benefits of participating in Converging Roads?
Doctors, nurses, medical students, and other health care workers will be better informed for making decisions in the many ethical situations they are faced with. They will be more able to dialogue with the culture and their professional setting from a bioethical standpoint. Health care professionals will also gain insights on developing a medical practice that honors God and the Catholic faith.
Clergy, religious, and lay persons who are active in ministry will more clearly respond to the complex ethical questions encountered in ministerial settings and will be able to respond with pastoral care.
School teachers and other educators who have an influential role in forming the consciences of our youth will be able to provide a solid education and example, based on ethical principles and Magisterial teaching.
All participants will benefit from greater awareness of resources, opportunities to dialogue with other Catholic professionals, and the inspiration to live a more authentically Catholic life. Furthermore, educational credits may be available for you.
Click here for information on registration.
Program Overview
Seminar I: Building an Ethical Foundation
September 25-26, 2009
Seminar II: Human Sexuality and the Beginning of Life
November 6-7, 2009
Seminar III: Life, Death and Social Concerns
February 5-6, 2010
Seminar IV: Bioethics & the Magisterium of the Catholic Church
April 9-10, 2010
Click here for more about these seminars.
Recent News
Register Now!
Seminar I was exellent, but if you missed it don’t worry. We still have a few spots available for the rest of the Converging Roads program. Register now for $150 and you can join us for seminars II, III, and IV. You don’t want to miss this educational opportunity, time for networking with other professionals [...]
Archbishop Gomez’s Address
We are here tonight to talk about health care reform, ethics, and Catholic teaching. Those are big issues. But I think it’s important to remember first, why we’re here as Catholics. We’re here because Jesus Christ chose to come among us “healing every disease and every infirmity among people,” as the Gospel of Matthew says (Matt. 4:23).
“End-of-life and beginning of life issues, as well as vital ethical questions surrounding medical care, are not simply 'Catholic' issues or matters of faith. They concern the most fundamental questions in any human civilization: Who gets to live and who does not—and who gets to decide this question? It is my hope that health care professionals, catechists, educators and clergy attending the Converging Roads seminars will be better prepared to promote with confidence and compassion a culture of life.”
-Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, S.T.D.