About Converging Roads

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About Converging Roads

Converging Roads: Bioethics, Health Care, and Catholic Teaching is a comprehensive, educational, and pastoral bioethics program specifically designed for health care professionals, catechists, educators, and clergy. The program is being offered by Assumption Seminary and the San Antonio Institute for Catholic Culture.

Converging Roads consists of four seminars beginning in the fall of 2009 and finishing in the spring of 2010. These seminars are structured to build on each other and will provide participants with a foundation in ethical principles which will then be applied 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. This core education will be taught by qualified instructors on the Converging Roads faculty.

In addition to the core curriculum that will be presented throughout the program, 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. Distinguished Speakers will complement the core education by adding depth and variety to the seminars.

The specific program objectives for Converging Roads are the following:

Provide a strong foundation in philosophical ethics, bioethics, and moral theology
Provide a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the biomedical issues that are relevant in today’s society and how technological and medical advances present unique and oftentimes complex ethical challenges
Equip medical professionals to dialogue with the culture and their professional setting from a bioethical standpoint, recognizing the intrinsic dignity of the human person
Equip clergy and other ministers to assist and educate the laity in making moral health care decisions by informing their conscience with sound ethical principles and Magisterial teaching
Provide an opportunity for Archdiocesan catechetical credit

The Importance of this Program

Modern medicine and science have the power to improve the human race and foster a culture of life by keeping people healthy, healing physical and mental diseases, and offering comfort at the end of life. The “activity of those engaged in health care is a valuable service to life…[that] expresses a profoundly human and Christian commitment".1 However, when medical research and health care practices are not faithful to the moral law, they can instead contribute to a culture that dehumanizes the person and destroys life.

Today’s health care 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—for his decisions and for his response to those who do not share his beliefs…This calls for better education than is now available.”2 People have a right to be educated about these issues so they can make informed decisions with a formed conscience when they are faced with complex health care issues. “The education of our clergy and of our people in the general principles of morality must be an ongoing process and must be a priority. For it is only when Catholics understand the moral vision of the Church that they will be able to put it into practice in their own lives, and give persuasive testimony to it in society at large.”3 Greater education in the area of bioethics is essential for ensuring that Church teachings are represented in the ongoing debates.

Some Immediate Benefits to Participants

More clearly respond to the complex ethical questions you encounter in ministry or professional settings
Become aware of resources for yourself and others
Gain insights on designing your medical practice around the teachings of the Catholic Church
Provide greater pastoral care to patients
Participate in building a “culture of life” that respects the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death
Dialogue with other Catholic professionals
Live a more authentically Catholic life

Catechists and Catholic school teachers in the Archdiocese of San Antonio may earn catechist certification credit for participation in this conference. Contact Rita Minkley, Archdiocesan Catechetical Center at 210-734-1638 for requirements.

Citations:

1 Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. Charter for Health Care Workers. May 1995, n.1.

2 Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, Chair of the President’s Council on Bioethics, cited in Urged on By Christ, Ed Furton, ed., published by NCBC, 2008

3 William Cardinal Levada, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cited in Urged on By Christ, Ed Furton, ed., published by NCBC, 2008