National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics

Graduate credit available toward a master’s degree

  2025 Mid Academic-Year Enrollment NOW OPEN!
 Classes begin February 3, 2025.

Registration Tuition Information

Testimonials

I am confident that you share my conviction that we must continue to strengthen our Catholic ministry of healing and health care in this country. I believe we are called by Christ to be both a light on the hill and leaven in the bread. Certainly, prayer and discernment, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and using Catholic moral principles and values must guide our strategies.

—Anthony Tersigni, EdD, FACHE
Former President and CEO, Ascension Health
NCBC Board Member

This course is extremely important for physicians as the bioethical principles with which you become familiar make decisions in real-life patient situations much easier to make in a manner consistent with your Catholic faith.

—Kathleen M. Raviele, MD
Atlanta, GA

Current political trends in America and teaching high school students morality and bioethics made me seek higher learning in bioethics. The course work prepared me to deliver timely lectures and answer the many questions I receive in the classes I teach at our Culture of Life Catholic High School. I highly recommend this course to anyone who has a passion for Life.

—Anne Morin
St. Michael the Archangel High School
Fredericksburg, VA

As a parish pro-life coordinator, the health care ethics course provided me an in-depth understanding of the sound theological and scientific bases of Catholic bioethics, enabling me to develop an effective and wide-ranging pro-life program.

—John Murray
St. Mary of Sorrows Parish
Fairfax, VA

This is an exceptional program helping each participant understand how to apply Catholic teaching to challenging ethical issues. The program enriched my faith and deepened my spirituality. It reinforced my understanding that, through baptism, we are all members of Christ’s mystical body and have a stewardship responsibility to use our God-given gifts (including the gift of life in all of its phases and with all of its challenges) to bring glory to God consistent with the Church’s teachings.

—Tom Gryzbek
Senior Vice President
Franciscan St. Margaret Health
Dyer, IN

The National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics has been developed at the request of many bishops and health care administrators to provide systematic formation, based on the Ethical and Religious Directives, so that dioceses, hospitals, and ethics committees will have well-qualified advisors able to apply the Catholic moral tradition to challenging contemporary issues in health care.

Program Description

The National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics is nine-month immersive study in Catholic bioethics designed for busy professionals. It educates students on foundational principles and teachings of the Church’s moral tradition and helps them apply these principles and teachings in health care contexts. The Program is divided into four (4) modules, each focusing on specific bioethics and health care challenges across the lifespan. The curriculum is taught by NCBC staff and is delivered fully online in an asynchronous format. Weekly assignments include video lectures and readings from a variety of sources including the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, NCBC publications and podcasts, and the works of trusted academic partners. Online tests assess student comprehension and bi-weekly essays foster practical application of course content. “Virtual office hours” offer students the opportunity to discuss course material, and interact more fully with their instructor and peers.

All students are required to attend a two-day seminar which are held at various times during the year across the United States. The seminar is an integral part of the program and should be completed before the end of Module 2 for your class.

Objective and Goals

The objective of the Certification Program is to train individuals—particularly those engaged in health care ministry—to effectively convey and apply the Church’s moral teaching as summarized in the Ethical and Religious Directives. Upon completion of the program, students will be able to do the following:

Articulate the Catholic Church’s understanding of the inherent dignity of the human person as the objective basis for its moral tradition in health care.
Apply the Church’s moral teaching as expressed in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services to resolve complex dilemmas encountered in clinical education, practice, and research.
Identify resources (NCBC, etc.) available to health care professionals and others in that provide guidance for the resolution of ethical challenges.

Who Will Benefit from the Program?

The Certification Program is primarily designed for Church leaders, health care professionals and administrators, those in the life sciences, and ethics committee members. However, others interested in understanding and advancing the Church’s moral tradition—including pro-life leaders, teachers and professors, lawyers, specialists from centers for biomedical and biological research, and members of institutions involved in shaping public policy—benefit from it as well. Attendees give high praise for NCBC offerings. Some of those who comment on our programming have said it “provided [them] an in-depth understanding of the sound theological and scientific basis of Catholic bioethics” and “prepared [them] to deliver timely lectures and answer the many questions I receive in the classes I teach.” For more details and detailed evaluation responses, please contact our Department of Education.

Continuing Education Credit Opportunities

Chaplains: The National Association of Catholic Chaplains has approved this program for 144 continuing education hours.

Graduate Credit Opportunities

Participants may enroll for ten (10) graduate credits through the University of Mary, a private Catholic university based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Credits earned may be applied toward the University’s master of science degree in bioethics. Please visit the University of Mary for additional information and requirements.

Participants may enroll for nine (9) graduate credits through Holy Apostles College and Seminary, a fully accredited, coeducational Catholic undergraduate and graduate institution offering affordable educational programs true to the magisterium. The credits earned through dual enrollment may be applied towards a Master of Arts degree in Theology with a concentration in bioethics or a Masters of Divinity in the New Evangelization. Please visit Holy Apostles for additional information and requirements.

Through St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, an accredited graduate school that forms and educates men and women from the heart of the Church, participants can receive a 15-credit Graduate Certificate in Catholic Bioethics after the completion of the NCBC Certification program and two graduate courses at St. Bernard’s. Visit the Graduate Certificate in Catholic Bioethics webpage for more information!

Participants can receive nine (9) graduate credits in bioethics through Divine Mercy University upon completion of the NCBC Certification program. DMU is an accredited graduate school that educates individuals in psychology grounded in a Catholic Christian vision of the person. The nine (9) graduate credits can be used towards the 33-credit Masters in Psychology program or towards an 18-credit Graduate Certificate in Catholic Christian Psychology and Bioethics. Visit the Divine Mercy University website for more information.