We are all familiar with the manger scene. Mary and Joseph kneel by the baby Jesus in the manger with the ox and ass in the stable. They are surrounded by shepherds below and angels above with magi approaching and Read more…
The season of Advent, and Gaudete Sunday in particular, invites us to rejoice. In Year C, our readings on Gaudete Sunday include a passage from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in which he exhorts his readers, “Rejoice in the Read more…
May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. This is a prayer we Catholics pray frequently, especially on All Souls Day and throughout the month of November. It is a prayer we Read more…
The Catholic Church opposes euthanasia, understood as the deliberate killing of a person in order to end his or her suffering. We profess that all human life in endowed with dignity and value, whether healthy or sick, productive or disabled. Read more…
The fourth chapter of Saint Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians is awash with paradox. He says in verse 18 that “we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen.” What is the unseen reality to which Read more…
You probably know the story of Joseph and his brothers that is told in chapters 37-50 of the Book of Genesis. Still, allow me to recount it in summary: Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, “the child of his Read more…
Saint Paul is Pro Life. He clearly affirms the goodness of all God’s creation and the goodness of enjoying the good things God has made. He condemns those who “forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to Read more…
“You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). Saint Paul writes this to mostly non-Jewish Ephesian Christians who were not accustomed to being Read more…
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” So says Saint Paul to the Christians of Corinth (1 Cor 1:18). The message of Read more…
Yes! God always answers our prayers. Jesus assures us of this over and over again. “Ask and it will be given to you, he says, Seek and you will find . . . For everyone who asks, receives; and the Read more…
There are many good, true, and important answers that one could give in response to questions about the mystery of suffering in our lives. However, the best, most complete answer to all our questions about human suffering is found in Read more…
The Old Testament Book of Job is about a good man whom God allows to suffer. The first verse introduces the title character, “a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil” (Job 1:1). God Himself Read more…
Why is this happening to me? Why did this happen to my child? What have I done to deserve this? Is God punishing me? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? I hear questions like these frequently. As a priest and Read more…
According to J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, there are two kinds of hope. These two kinds of hope are expressed by two different words in an Elvish language Tolkien invented. The words are Read more…
Saint Dominic is the Holy Founder of the Order of Preachers (the “Dominican” Order) that serves the parish community of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena on New York City’s Upper East Side and offers particular service to Read more…
In one of their “Sunday Review” sections, The New York Times published an article titled “Why Doctors Need Stories.” It was written by Peter D. Kramer, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University, whose focus in the article is on the advantages Read more…
We are once again considering the wrongfulness of direct abortion and, more generally, the deliberate killing of human beings in the early stages of their development. We will recall that the term “abortion” refers to the death of an unborn Read more…
A direct abortion is an abortion that is deliberately chosen and is always morally wrong. It is morally wrong because it is a kind of murder, an instance of deliberately killing an innocent human being. Since it is an instance Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from Godwho made man and woman in His own image and likeness. The human being has the dignity of being a person, not just a something but a someone, by virtue of possessing a Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from God. In its very first chapter, the Bible tells us, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them” (Gen 1:27). Human beings are made in God’s image, Read more…
Spe Salvi (“saved in hope”) is the title of a marvelous encyclical letter written by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. The Pope begins his encyclical with these words, but he puts them in quotation marks, because Spe Salvi, before being a Read more…
In concluding these reflections on organ and tissue transplantation, I hope to be able to provide some guidance to the ethical deliberations of potential organ and tissue donors and recipients as well as policy makers and clinicians: Potential Donors All Read more…
When we think of organ and tissue transplantation, we first might think of the donation of fully developed human body parts like kidneys, hearts, lungs, or skin. There are, however, some forms of transplantation that only involve the donation of Read more…
In order to ethically transplant vital organs from a consenting donor, it is necessary that the donor’s death be confirmed. This is the principle underlying the “dead donor rule,” requiring that donors of vital organs be confirmed dead before transplant. Read more…
Organ and tissue transplantation is a growing area of contemporary medical practice that raises a variety of ethical concerns. This article will consider transplantations from donors after bodily death, including the transplantation of vital organs such as heart, lung, and Read more…
Organ and tissue transplantation is a growing area of contemporary medical practice that raises a variety of ethical concerns. This article will consider the transplantation of organs or tissue from living human donors, examine some of the ethical questions these Read more…
The right of an individual to follow his or her conscience has long been a matter of dispute in our society. In times of war, for example, men subject to military draft have claimed conscientious objection. Should they be permitted Read more…
Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York is an extension of the health care ministry of the Catholic Church. The health care ministry of the Catholic Church is, in turn, an extension of the health care ministry of Jesus Read more…
Jesus Christ, in his earthly lifetime, showed himself to be the divine physician, healing bodies and spirits by his power and goodness, as God shining through his fully human heart. Jesus shared this healing ministry with his disciples both during Read more…
Jesus performed innumerable healing miracles during his brief public ministry. Jesus’ healings demonstrated the power and tender love of God at work within him. They also demonstrated Jesus’ human love and heart-felt compassion for his sisters and brothers in distress. Read more…
The health care ministry of the Church’s ordained and commissioned ministers, as well as that of the Christian faithful who are devoted to work of health care, continues and extends the health care ministry of Jesus Christ. In this series Read more…
The health care ministry of the Catholic Church is – or at least ought to be – an extension of the health care ministry of Jesus Christ. In this reflection and in those to follow, we will look at the Read more…
Every year we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. We hear the account of the Lord’s Passion from one of the four gospels. As we listen to this account of the agony, arrest, torture, crucifixion, death and burial of Read more…
In the gospels, there are dozens of stories in which people personally encounter Jesus and are transformed by the experience. In many of these stories, people are brought to Jesus through the witness and intercession of others. We find this Read more…
According to the Gospel of John, Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Martha and Mary, was ill, and his sisters sent word to inform Jesus. “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,” the gospel tells us. Still, Jesus stayed Read more…
When illness or injury threaten to end our lives or the lives of our loved ones, we may well find ourselves confronted with difficult decisions. Should we try this treatment or not? Should we try to resuscitate Mom? Should we Read more…
In our consideration of end-of-life health care, we seek to understand how we can determine which potentially life-sustaining measures are to be considered ordinary means of preserving life and which should be considered extraordinary means. From our previous posts, we Read more…
When someone is experiencing life-threatening illness or injury, ethical questions about the preservation of life often arise. What kinds of treatments are worth trying? Is it okay to refuse possible life-saving measures? When is enough enough? When considering these kinds Read more…
I have set before you life and death . . . Choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). With these words, Moses exhorts God’s people to follow God’s law and thereby receive His life-giving blessings. We might, however, take the liberty of reapplying these Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from god. In its very first chapter, the Bible tells us, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Human beings are made in God’s image, Read more…
Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York is blessed with a great number of faithful and dedicated people who bring Holy Communion to patients and their families in the hospitals we serve. Their ministry to the sick and their Read more…
The Eucharist, the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium 11). It is at the very heart of our Catholic faith and the depth of its Read more…
“For me, it has always been clear: life is worth it only if you want it.” Thus states Carlos Framb in a short, autobiographical story about assisted suicide as told to Camila Segura. His story was published by The New Read more…
Most, if not all, of the ethical problems in the world of health care come from a failure to grasp that health care as an interaction between human persons. Health care, as the name suggests, is the act of one Read more…
Preservation of bodily life is among the most basic goals of health care. The means that are used to accomplish this goal can include a wide scope of medical acts, depending on the illness or injury that the patient presents. Read more…
Bringing Holy Communion to the sick is an important part of Catholic health care ministry. In this reflection, we will consider the gospel accounts of Jesus feeding the multitude in order to deepen our understanding of what this ministry is Read more…
Everybody wants to be home for Christmas. Everybody wants to spend Christmas with family. But some people can’t be home or don’t have family. Some people are homeless or feel homeless, especially at Christmas time. Some people are sick and Read more…
Like all human beings, patients receiving medical care can be identified with Jesus Christ by virtue of the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming man.. This mystery is expressed by the angel Gabriel’s words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “The Read more…
The patients I encounter in my health care ministry are not, for the most part, runners. Many of them can walk, others have hopes of walking or even running again, and some, sadly, must accept that their ambulatory days are Read more…
We often use the word “patient” when speaking of men and women who are receiving medical care without giving much thought to what that word means. That is not necessarily a problem. The word “patient” is a helpful signifier in Read more…