Contemporary Bioethics
Contemporary Bioethics: Catholic Wisdom for a Confused Culture, the latest book from The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), provides some key answers and updates in the fascinating and troubling world of bioethics. The book is geared towards people who realize bioethics is increasingly impacting our lives. We all can benefit from knowledge of and good responses to LGBTQ+ demands, genome editing, artificial intelligence, challenges in end-of-life care, etc. The nine short chapters from interdisciplinary authors in the varied fields of medicine, law, theology, and philosophy empower readers to speak to contemporary issues from informed and reasoned positions grounded in the light of truth.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s chapter is an ardent defense of the counter-cultural Catholic doctrine of the dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God. Our bioethics can be summed up succinctly by saying that we support what furthers the dignity of the human person and oppose anything that attacks it. Dr. Marilyn E. Coors, who edited this volume, writes on the ethics of genome editing. She cites Monsignor James Shea who points out that rapid technological development places long-standing assumptions about what it means to be human under siege. Unfortunately, in the face of these developments, most lay faithful feel ill-equipped to witness to the ethical teachings of Christ in the modern world. My chapter on the importance of bioethics insists that we face a “perfect storm” of powerful biomedical discoveries and incredible cultural confusion on basic questions like what a man or a woman is and when does human life begin or end?
Dr. Ted Furton gives a forceful defense of objective truth against relativism and the false view that “all of us have the power to redefine experience, from its simplest aspects to its most complex, and thus create our own version of reality.” He points out that relativism inevitably leads to coercion since disputes about truth must ultimately be settled by force as relativists reject objective standards like correspondence to reality. Truth for the relativist is in the final analysis the power of the stronger. Furton also explores how a rightly understood toleration of an evil is different from relativism and how it supports civil society while eschewing the persecution of those who disagree in conscience.
Perhaps the most contentious bioethical issues of our day revolve around the myriad claims and demands of those affirming the existence of a dizzying number of sexual orientations and gender identities. It is now common to add a “+” after LGBTQ because the letters in the acronym are expanding endlessly. Dr. E. Christian Brugger does an excellent job of explaining the genesis of what recent popes have called the gender ideology and how we can and should respond. He emphasizes that Catholics and the Church have great compassion for those suffering from gender confusion. We also categorically reject the dualistic anthropology of the human person that is the basis of gender theory. Unfortunately, pressure from individuals and employers to use preferred gender pronouns is an increasing phenomenon and Brugger gives multiple convincing reasons why we cannot submit to these demands.
I particularly liked the chapter on “Language and Its Power in Society” by Dr. Elena Kraus. This is a topic of critical importance in bioethics, since liberal ideologues are quite intentional about manipulating language. The key point is that language can be a force for justice or a weapon to dehumanize victims and subvert the truth. The words and concepts we use and accept matter. Terminology translates into actions, Kraus affirms, and influences the way physicians practice medicine. Do you want as your doctor someone who speaks about “products of conception” or a “preborn baby?”
Father Columba Thomas, OP, MD, who previously produced a new annotated translation of The Art of Dying for the NCBC, continues with the end-of-life theme, tackling the topics of vitalism and physician-assisted suicide as well as the intricacies of Catholic teaching on distinguishing ordinary from extraordinary means in care. As anyone who has had a loved one hospitalized with a life-threatening condition knows, patients and decision-makers face a multitude of better or worse medical options today. Navigating those ethical waters well is difficult and the source of the greatest number of requests for ethical guidance that come to the NCBC. Father Thomas served as a hospital chaplain and clinician, adding practical wisdom to his ethical and spiritual insights.
We live in an apostolic age, when the moral beliefs of faithful Christians are opposed to those of the dominant culture. It is essential to be prepared to present a countercultural, Catholic vision in science, health care, politics, and everyday life. Catholic bioethics can and should be the conscience of our technological civilization. Readers with an interest in the pressing issues discussed here can go on to be effective witnesses to the moral and ethical teachings of Christ and the Church in their conversations with colleagues, family, and even strangers. We need to be informed and to speak the truth in love in contemporary bioethics. Take the first decisive step by buying this book.
Joseph Meaney received his PhD in bioethics from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. His doctoral program was founded by the late Elio Cardinal Sgreccia and linked to the medical school and Gemelli teaching hospital. His dissertation topic was Conscience and Health Care: A Bioethical Analysis. Dr. Meaney earned his master’s in Latin American studies, focusing on health care in Guatemala, from the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from the University of Dallas with a BA in history and a concentration in international studies. The Benedict XVI Catholic University in Trujillo, Peru, awarded Dr. Meaney an honorary visiting professorship. The University of Dallas bestowed on him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters in 2022.