“Making Sense of Bioethics” CMS — The National Catholic Bioethics Center

“Making Sense of Bioethics” CMS

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #224 : Is There Any Reason I Shouldn’t Do Yoga?

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #224 : Is There Any Reason I Shouldn’t Do Yoga?

It is precisely those metaphysical and spiritual beliefs surrounding yoga that raise concerns for faithful Christians.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationApril 15, 2025Alternative Medicine, Science and Religion

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #223 : The Trump Executive Order on IVF

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #223 : The Trump Executive Order on IVF

Given the moral objectionability of IVF, the administration should seek instead to forbid the practice through statutory mechanisms, or, if that is not yet politically possible, limit and circumscribe the practice by bringing it under tight regulation and oversight.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationFebruary 28, 2025Embryos, Frozen Embryos, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #222 : Getting “Death with Dignity” Right

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #222 : Getting “Death with Dignity” Right

We are being cajoled as a society into believing the contradiction that ‘death with dignity’ means killing ourselves, or letting someone else kill us.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationDecember 30, 2024Caring for the Elderly and Infirm, Death and Dying, Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Pain Management-Palliative Care and Hospice, Universal Morality

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column # 221 : Catholic Hospitals and “Gender Reassignment” for Minors?

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column # 221 : Catholic Hospitals and “Gender Reassignment” for Minors?

Catholic hospitals may never condone or participate in... the range of practices coming under the heading of “gender transition.” This is especially important when these involve offering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, "top surgeries" and "bottom surgeries” to children and young people.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationOctober 30, 2024Bodily Enhancement-Mutilation, Cooperation in Evil, Human Sexuality, Imposing Our Beliefs, Medical Profession — Ethics and Pastoral-Spiritual, Gender Identity and Being Transgender

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #220 : Evaluating Medical Use of Marijuana During Pregnancy

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #220 : Evaluating Medical Use of Marijuana During Pregnancy

Cannabis use during pregnancy and lactation raises the prospect of adversely affecting not only neurodevelopment, but also subsequent neuropsychiatric, behavioral and executive functioning of the child.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationAugust 30, 2024Pregnancy Complications, Parenting, Disabilities and the Disabled, Alternative Medicine

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #219 : Contextualizing Near-Death Experiences

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #219 : Contextualizing Near-Death Experiences

... we should generally prefer a natural explanation for a phenomenon, unless and until the evidence for a supernatural explanation becomes truly compelling or overwhelming.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJune 28, 2024Death and Dying, Science and Religion

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #218 : The Most Serious Miscalculation of All?

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #218 : The Most Serious Miscalculation of All?

In considering our own death, we may entertain a strong wish that there be no more sufferings on the other side, especially when it comes to justifying our decision to engage in physician-assisted suicide. Simply having such a wish, however, does not actually make it so.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMay 23, 2024Death and Dying, End-of-Life Issues, Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Imposing Our Beliefs, Suffering, Universal Morality

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #217 : Poking the Hornet’s Nest of IVF

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #217 : Poking the Hornet’s Nest of IVF

IVF involves at least two major moral problems —the ‘collateral damage problem’ and the ‘intrinsic problem.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMarch 29, 2024Artificial Insemination, Embryos, Frozen Embryos, Imposing Our Beliefs, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Law and Ethics

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #216 : Surrogacy and Child Trafficking

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #216 : Surrogacy and Child Trafficking

Surrogacy involves a form of “trafficking” of children, implying that children are being bought and sold, treated as property and often transported across international borders, which, all in all, sums up many contemporary aspects of surrogacy.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationFebruary 29, 2024In Vitro Fertilization, Parenting, Surrogacy, Infertility

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #215 : The Ethics of Neuroimplants and Brain-Computer Interfaces

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #215 : The Ethics of Neuroimplants and Brain-Computer Interfaces

Brain-Computer Interfaces could offer important medical and therapeutic uses in the future, they also are poised for dubious or clearly immoral uses.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationOctober 24, 2023Bodily Enhancement-Mutilation, Disabilities and the Disabled, Research

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #213 : Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria and the Tragic Seduction of Our Daughters

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #213 : Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria and the Tragic Seduction of Our Daughters

Sex touches us at a deeper level than other activities, binding us to another. It speaks a language not of autonomy, but of communion and enduring self-gift.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJune 30, 2023Human Sexuality, Sex Education, Gender Identity and Being Transgender, Bodily Enhancement-Mutilation

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 212: What About Synthetic Embryos?

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 212: What About Synthetic Embryos?

A great deal is at stake in these kinds of synthetic embryo experiments that threaten to manipulate and destroy human life.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMay 31, 2023Embryos, Stem Cell Research, Research

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 211 : Setting a Moral Vision as Parents

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 211 : Setting a Moral Vision as Parents

Setting a moral vision for one's children can be a Herculean task requiring enormous dedication.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationApril 28, 2023Imposing Our Beliefs, Parenting, Universal Morality

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 210 : Suicidal Fears and Authentic Accompaniment

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 210 : Suicidal Fears and Authentic Accompaniment

We need to care for them in a more truthful way — accompanying, supporting, and helping them to address underlying issues — so they can begin to find real healing.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMarch 31, 2023Gender Identity and Being Transgender, Parenting, Suffering

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 209 : Holding the Line on Brain Death

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 209 : Holding the Line on Brain Death

Even to be “slightly alive” is still to be alive. If the language of the UDDA ends up being changed to allow for a declaration of brain death even with continued hypothalamic functioning, individuals who are not-quite-dead will be treated as if they were already dead.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationFebruary 28, 2023Brain Death, Death and Dying, End-of-Life Issues, Organ Donation

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 208 : Young Women Giving Themselves Away For Nothing

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 208 : Young Women Giving Themselves Away For Nothing

When young women immodestly display their feminine attributes and participate in pornography, they end up objectifying themselves, trivializing their sexuality, and harming their interpersonal relationships.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJanuary 31, 2023Human Sexuality, Premarital Sex, Sex Education, Pornography, Universal Morality

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 207 : Dissolving the Dead

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 207 : Dissolving the Dead

We can ask whether alkaline hydrolysis or liquification of the human body meets the standard of reverent treatment of our earthly remains.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationDecember 30, 2022Respect for the Remains of the Dead

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 206 : Did I Make the Right Choices as Dad was Dying?

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 206 : Did I Make the Right Choices as Dad was Dying?

We need to “lovingly support our family members through the dying process and to make careful and morally correct decisions on their behalf as they decline in health.”

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationNovember 30, 2022Death and Dying, End-of-Life Issues

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 205 : Seeking the Spiritual Side of Dementia

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 205 : Seeking the Spiritual Side of Dementia

As the symptoms and complications of dementia unfold, the challenges we face from the disease can unexpectedly become an invitation from God.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationOctober 28, 2022Caring for the Elderly and Infirm, Dementia, Suffering