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Reflections on Healthcare Ministry

Faith

CHRIST the HEALER, PART II: JESUS as the PHYSICIAN of SOULS

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsApril 15, 2018 ago
Faith

CHRIST the HEALER, PART I: JESUS’ SAVING MINISTRY in the GOSPELS

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsApril 8, 2018 ago
Faith

REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING: JESUS’ PASSION and OUR PASSOIN

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsApril 1, 2018 ago
Faith

HEALTH CARE MINISTRY as CHRISTIAN WITNESS

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsMarch 25, 2018 ago
Faith

THE CONSOLING LOVE of CHRIST: a REFLECTION on JOHN 11

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsMarch 18, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE ETHICS of END-OF-LIFE HEALTH CARE, PART V: THREE QUESTIONS

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsMarch 11, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE ETHICS of END-OF-LIFE HEALTH CARE, PART IV: MEDICAL and NON-MEDICAL CARE

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsMarch 4, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE ETHICS of END-OF-LIFE HEALTH CARE, PART III: IDENTIFYING EXTRAORDINARY MEANS

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsFebruary 25, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE ETHICS of END-OF-LIFE HEALTH CARE, PART II: CHOOSING LIFE and ACCEPTING DEATH

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsFebruary 18, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE ETHICS of END-OF-LIFE HEALTH CARE, PART I: ORDINARY MEANS of PRESERVING LIFE

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsFebruary 11, 2018 ago
Faith

SPIRITUAL CARE of the SICK: COMMUNION and CONFESSION

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsFebruary 4, 2018 ago
Faith

THE EUCHARIST as a SACRAMENT of HEALING

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsJanuary 28, 2018 ago
Ethics

LIFE is WORTH LIVING: REJECTING ASSISTED SUICIDE

“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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsJanuary 21, 2018 ago
Ethics

THE HUMANIZATION of HEALTH CARE

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsJanuary 14, 2018 ago
Ethics

FEEDING the SICK: NUTRITION and HYDRATION in HEALTH CARE

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsJanuary 7, 2018 ago
Faith

JESUS FEEDS the MULTITUDE: a REFLECTION for Ministers of Communion

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsDecember 31, 2017 ago
Faith

HOME for CHRISTMAS in the FAMILY of GOD

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsDecember 24, 2017 ago
Healthcare

THE DIGNITY of the HUMAN PERSON in HEALTH CARE: THE PATIENT as CHRIST

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsDecember 17, 2017 ago
Faith

CRIPPLED by ILLNESS; RUNNING to MEET the LORD

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsDecember 3, 2017 ago
Healthcare

THE DIGNITY of the HUMAN PERSON in HEALTH CARE: the PATIENT as AGENT

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…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsNovember 19, 2017 ago
Faith

THE SAINTS of HEALTH CARE

Every year on the first of November, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, the great commemoration of all the holy men and women whom God has raised up throughout the two thousand year history of the Church. On Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsNovember 12, 2017 ago
Faith

SADNESS, HOPE, and REVERSAL of FORTUNE

There are great joys that people in health care get to experience. Patients get well, receive favorable diagnoses, overcome difficult bouts of illness, and emerge from sickness with deepened gratitude and fresh perspective. Those who care for those patients feel Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsNovember 5, 2017 ago
Ethics

The ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE

We are accustomed to evaluating people according to professional standards. “She’s a good doctor.” “He’s a good accountant.” “Their second baseman is terrible!” These kinds of statements are familiar to us. We understand what they mean because we understand that Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsOctober 22, 2017 ago
Faith

VIATICUM: the LAST SACRAMENT of the CHRISTIAN

The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, when administered to the dying, is called by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “sacramentum exeuntium (the sacrament of those departing)” (CCC 1523). Nevertheless, it is not the sacrament of Anointing, but the Eucharist as Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsOctober 12, 2017 ago
Faith

“GOD’S REMEDY”: the STORY of RAPHAEL the ARCHANGEL

I am writing this on September 29, the feast day of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They are the three angels who are named in the Bible, whom God sent to his people for specific purposes. Those purposes are Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsOctober 5, 2017 ago
Faith

ANOINTING of the SICK: a SACRAMENT for the SICK and the DYING

The Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament that is frequently misunderstood. When I receive emergency calls asking me to come to a hospital to minister to a dying patient, the requests are usually for “last rites.” When, during more Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 5 yearsSeptember 28, 2017 ago
Ethics

CONTEMPORARY HEALTH CARE and the CHOICE for LIFE

I have set before you life and death . . . choose life! The choice that Moses set before the Israelites as they prepared to pass into the Promised Land (Deut 30:19) is a choice that is set before us Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsSeptember 25, 2017 ago
Ethics

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES and the RIGHTS of PARENTS and CHILDREN

Our society generally uses the term “reproductive rights” to refer to the options that should be made available to a woman insofar as she is a potential (or sometimes actual) mother. The Catholic Church teaches that mothers and fathers and Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJuly 9, 2017 ago
Ethics

TOWARD a SPIRITUALITY of HEALTH CARE

Christian revelation tells us that seeking what is truly good — and seeking the one who is Truth and Goodness — is not just something we do, but something God does in us. It is only by the power of Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJuly 2, 2017 ago
Faith

The EUCHARIST, the CHURCH, and the HOSPITAL

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.” With these words, Pope Saint John Paul II began his 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia. He continues, In a variety of ways, she [the Church] joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJune 25, 2017 ago
Ethics

The RIGHT to LIFE: the RIGHT of a CHILD; not the RIGHT to a CHILD

That illnesses can now be diagnosed and treated when a child is still in the womb represents a significant advance in modern medicine. Some diagnoses can be achieved by testing the genetic make-up of an unborn child either in utero Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJune 18, 2017 ago
Faith

HEALTH CARE and the HOLY SPIRIT

Every year at Pentecost the Church commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary as they gathered in Jerusalem awaiting the “promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4): the gift of the Holy Spirit that Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJune 4, 2017 ago
Ethics

HUMAN CONSCIENCE and PATIENT AUTONOMY

Conscience, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, is the act of the human intellect by which “we judge that something should be done or not done.”1 This judgment is to be based on our knowledge of what is right and wrong Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsApril 30, 2017 ago
Faith

The ROAD to EMMAUS: ACCOMPANYING the SICK on their JOURNEY

In recounting the events of Easter Sunday, The Gospel of Luke presents us with the beautiful narrative in which Jesus walks with the two disciples travelling on the road to Emmaus. The disciples were speaking to each other about their Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsApril 23, 2017 ago
Faith

O HAPPY FAULT!

On Easter Sunday the Church is full of rejoicing! That rejoicing is expressed in many ways, but never more beautifully than in the Exultet, the Easter Proclamation, which is sung at the solemn beginning of the Easter Vigil. In the Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsApril 16, 2017 ago
Faith

SUFFERING with JESUS who SUFFERED for US

Throughout our lives, and most especially in the season of Lent, the Church invites us to reflect upon and more fully share in the sufferings of Jesus. The practice of praying the Stations of the Cross is a characteristic of Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsApril 9, 2017 ago
Healthcare

ASSISTED SUICIDE: the WRONG ANSWER to REAL PROBLEMS

In a recent Reflection (Feb 19, 2017), I characterized four common attitudes about death as those of “the secular, the scientist, the suicide, and the saint.” I now wish to suggest that the proposals of the suicide are, in large measure, Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsApril 2, 2017 ago
Faith

JESUS’ KIND of HEALING: the MAN BORN BLIND

The ninth chapter of the Gospel of John relates a healing encounter between Jesus and a man born blind. Let us consider some key passages from this chapter and what they tell us about our healing encounters with Jesus. As Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsMarch 26, 2017 ago
Ethics

DEATH with DIGNITY

Proponents of physician-assisted suicide have used the term “death with dignity” to present their cause in a positive way. The Catholic Church uses the word “dignity” to articulate the exact opposite view about assisted suicide. According to the Church’s official Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsMarch 19, 2017 ago
Ethics

GOSPEL ETHICS: COMMANDMENTS FOR US and PROMISES FROM GOD

We have already considered how the ethics of the Christian gospel embrace both rigorous moral standards and extravagant forgiveness of sin. Let us now consider another both/and of gospel ethics: its moral precepts are both commandments and promises. The precepts Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsMarch 12, 2017 ago
Faith

LENTEN PENANCE: SUFFERING in UNION with CHRIST

Throughout the forty days of Lent, the Church invites us to practice penance by praying, fasting, and giving alms. As the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday (see Matt 6:1-6, 16-18) reminds us, that penance is not meant to be a Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsMarch 5, 2017 ago
Ethics

GOSPEL ETHICS: RADICAL DEMANDS and RADICAL MERCY

G. K. Chesterton, the early 20th century Christian apologist, wrote that, while “paganism declared that virtue was in a balance; Christianity declared it was in a conflict: the conflict of two passions apparently opposite. Of course they were not really Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsFebruary 26, 2017 ago
Healthcare

HUMANS and DEATH: the SECULAR, the SCIENTIST, the SUICIDE, and the SAINT

In the eyes of God, death is the negation of the life He created. God permits death as a consequence of sin, but only so He might destroy sin and death in and through Jesus Christ. What is death in Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsFebruary 19, 2017 ago
Faith

GOD and DEATH: the VICTORY of JESUS

“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” These are the first words of the Apostles Creed, articulating the first article of Christian faith: belief in the creator God. And what did God create? “Heaven and Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsFebruary 12, 2017 ago
Faith

EARTHEN VESSELS and the TREASURES THEY HOLD

“We hold these treasures in earthen vessels,” Saint Paul says (2 Cor 4:7). These “earthen vessels” are human bodies, which like earthen vessels or clay pots are subject to decay and destruction. The “treasure” is the human heart that is Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsFebruary 5, 2017 ago
Faith

WHAT it MEANS to HOPE

“Hope” is a word that can mean different things. It can mean looking forward to something good that might happen in the future. One might hope for good weather on the day of an upcoming picnic. It can mean thinking Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJanuary 29, 2017 ago
Healthcare

ADVANCED DIRECTIVES in HEALTH CARE, PART III: MAKING the BEST DECISIONS

Having considered the topic of advanced directives in health care in general, and the kinds of directives that can be made, let us draw some practical conclusions about what is to be done and when. Are there directives you should Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJanuary 22, 2017 ago
Healthcare

ADVANCED DIRECTIVES in HEALTH CARE, PART II: KINDS of DIRECTIVES

We have considered in a general way the topic of advanced directives in health care. Let us now consider some of the particular kinds of directives that can be made, namely, (1) health care proxies, (2) living wills, and (3) Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJanuary 15, 2017 ago
Healthcare

ADVANCED DIRECTIVES in HEALTH CARE, PART I: the LIMITATIONS to ADVANCED DECISION MAKING

Making advanced directives about one’s health care is frequently encouraged in our society and, in many ways, that is a good thing. Advanced communication about the kinds of medical treatment a person wishes to receive can be helpful in guiding Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJanuary 8, 2017 ago
Healthcare

PATIENTS and their FAMILIES

One of the saddest experiences I have as a hospital chaplain is ministering to patients who die alone. Thankfully, that is unusual. In the great majority of cases, the dying person is surrounded by family. Friends are often there too, Read more…

By Fr. Jonah Pollock, 6 yearsJanuary 1, 2017 ago

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