To the
leaders of the Catholic Health Association in
THE CHURCH'S TEACHING IN THE BIOMEDICAL FIELD
DEFENDS THE DIGNITY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
OF THE HUMAN PERSON
In the
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
Leaders in Catholic Health Care,
1.
In the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ I greet you and thank you for
your warm welcome. This meeting gives us
the opportunity to honour and give thanks to God for one of the most extensive
and fundamental works of the Catholic Church in the
This
is the high dignity to which you and your colleagues are called. This is your vocation, your commitment, and
the path of your specific witness to the presence of God's Kingdom in the
world. Your health care ministry,
pioneered and developed by congregations of brothers, is one of the most vital apostolates of the ecclesial community and one of the most
significant services which the Catholic Church offers to society in the name of
Jesus Christ. I have been told that
membership in the Catholic Health Association extends to 620 hospitals and 300
long-term facilities: that Catholic
hospital beds number 11 per cent of the total number in the country: that Catholic institutions administer
approximately 17 per cent of the health care throughout the nation, and that
they cared for nearly 46 million people last year. I am grateful to Sister Mary Eileen Wilhelm
and to your President, Mr. Curley, for illustrating to us this immense network
of Christian service.
Prophetic signs
2.
Because of your dedication to caring for the sick and the poor, the aged and
the dying, you knew from your own daily experience how much illness and
suffering are basic problems of human existence. When the sick flocked to Jesus during his
earthly life, they recognized in him a friend whose deeply compassionate and
living heart responded to their needs.
He restored physical and mental health to many. These cures, however, involved more than just
healing sickness. They were also prophetic
signs of his own identity and of the coming of the
The
power that went out from Jesus and cured people of his own time (cf. Lk
With
all Catholic health care the immediate aim is to provide for the well-being of
the body and mind of the human person, especially in sickness or old age. By his example, Christ teaches the Christian
“to do good by his or her suffering and to do good to
those who suffer” (Salvifici Doloris,
30). This latter aspect naturally
absorbs the greater part of the energy and attention of health care
ministry. Today in the
3.
All concern for the sick and suffering is part of the Church's life and
mission. The Church has always
understood herself to be charged by Christ: with the care of the poor, the
weak, the defenceless, the suffering and those who mourn. This means that, as you alleviate suffering
and seek to heal, you also bear witness to the Christian view of suffering and
to the meaning of life and death as taught by your Christian faith.
In
the complex world of modern health care in industrialized society, this witness
must be given in a variety of ways.
First, it requires continual efforts to ensure that everyone has access
to health care. I know that you have already examined this question in the
report of your Task Force on Health Care of the Poor. In seeking to treat
patients equally, regardless of social and economic status, you proclaim to
your fellow citizens and to the world Christ's special love for the neglected
and powerless. This particular challenge
is a consequence of your Christian dedication and conviction, and it calls for
great courage on the part of Catholic bodies and Institutions operating in the
field of health care. It is a great
credit to your zeal and efficiency when, despite formidable costs, you still
succeed in preventing the economic factor from being the determinant factor in
human and Christian service.
Similarly, the love with which Catholic health care is performed and its
professional excellence have the value of a sign testifying to the Christian
view of the human person, The inalienable dignity of every human being is, of
course, fundamental to all Catholic health care. All who come to you for help are worthy of
respect and love, for all have been created in the image and likeness of
God. All have been redeemed by Christ
and, in their suffering, bear his Cross.
It is fitting that our meeting is taking place on the Feast of the
Triumph of the Cross. Christ took upon himself the whole of human suffering and
radically transformed it through the Paschal Mystery of his Passion, Death and
Resurrection. The Triumph of the Cross
gives human suffering a new dimension, a redemptive value (cf. Salvifici Doloris, 24).
It is your privilege to bear constant witness to this profound truth in so many
ways.
The
structural changes which have been taking place within Catholic health care in
recent years have increased the challenge of preserving and ever strengthening
the Catholic identity of the
institutions and the spiritual quality of the services
given. The presence of dedicated women
and men religious in hospitals and nursing homes has ensured in the past and
continues to ensure in the present, that spiritual dimension so characteristic
of Catholic health care centres. The reduced number of religious and new forms
of ownership and management should not lead to a loss of a spiritual
atmosphere, or to a loss of a sense of vocation in caring for the sick. This is an area in which the Catholic laity,
at all levels of health care, have an opportunity to manifest the depth of
their faith and to play their own specific part in the Church's mission of
evangelization and service.
Serve the cause of
human life and human dignity
4.
As I have said, Catholic health care must always be carried out within the
framework of the Church's saving mission.
This mission she has received from her divine Founder, and she has
accomplished it down through the ages with the help of the Holy Spirit who guides
her into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn
5.
The human person is a unique composite - a unity of spirit and matter, soul and
body, fashioned in the image of God and destined to live forever. Every human life is sacred, because every
human person is sacred. It is in the
light of this fundamental truth that the Church constantly proclaims and
defends the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to the moment
of natural death. It is also in the
light of this fundamental truth that we see the great evil of abortion and
euthanasia.
Not
long ago, in its “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on
the Dignity of Procreation”, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
once more dealt with certain vital questions concerning the human person. Once more it defended the sanctity of
innocent human life from the moment of conception onward. Once again it affirmed the sacred and invaluable
character of the transmission of human life by the procreative act within
marriage. It explained that new
technologies may afford new means of procreation, but “what is technically
possible is not for that very reason morally admissible” (
Introduction, 4). To place new
human knowledge at the service of the integral well-being of human persons does
not inhibit true scientific progress but liberates it. The Church encourages all genuine advances in
knowledge, but she also insists on the sacredness of human life at every stage
and in every condition. The cause she
serves is that cause of human life and human dignity.
6.
In the exercise of your professional activities you have a magnificent
opportunity, by your constant witness to moral truth, to contribute to the
formation of society's moral vision. As
you give the best of yourselves in fulfilling your Christian responsibilities,
you will also be aware of the important contribution you must make to building a society based on truth and justice. Your service to the sick enables you with
great credibility to proclaim to the world the demands and values of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, and to foster hope and renewal of heart. In this respect, your concern with the
Catholic identity of your work and of your institutions is not only timely and
commendable, it is essential for the success of your ecclesial mission.
You must always see yourselves and your work
as part of the Church's life and mission.
You are indeed a very special part of the People of God. You and your institutions have precise
responsibilities towards the ecclesial community, just as that community has
responsibilities toward you. It is
important at every level - national, state and local - that there be close and
harmonious links between you and the bishops, who “preside in place of God over
the flock whose shepherds they are, as teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred
worship and officers of good order” (Lumen
Gentium, 20).
They for their part wish to support you in your witness and
service.
I
have come here today to encourage you in your splendid work and to confirm you
in your vital apostolate. Dear brothers
and sisters: for your dedication to
meeting the health care needs of all people, especially the poor, I heartily
congratulate you. You embody the legacy
of those pioneering women and men religious who selflessly responded to the
health care needs of a young and rapidly expanding country by developing an
extensive network of clinics, hospitals and nursing homes.
Today you are faced with new challenges, new needs. One of these is the present crisis of immense
proportions which is that of AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex
(ARC). Besides your professional
contribution and your human sensitivities towards all affected by this disease,
you are called to show the love and compassion of Christ and his Church. As you courageously affirm and implement your
moral obligation and social responsibility to help those who suffer, you are,
individually and collectively, living out the parable of the Good Samaritan
(cf. Lk
The
Good Samaritan of the parable showed compassion to the injured man. By taking him to the inn and giving of his
own material means, he truly gave of himself.
This action, a universal symbol of human concern, has become one of the
essential elements of moral culture and civilization. How beautifully the Lord speaks of the
Samaritan! He “was neighbour to the man
who fell in with the robbers” (Lk
Through prayer and with God's help, may you persevere in your
commitment, providing professional assistance and selfless personal care to
those who need your services. I pray that your activities and your whole
lives will inspire and help all the people of America, working together, to
make this society a place of full and absolute respect for the dignity of every
person, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. And may God, in whom “we live and move and
have our being” (Act