A Catholic bioethics conference featuring leading experts in the field is set to address some of the most difficult moral challenges facing healthcare providers, including end-of-life care and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
According to organizers, Catholic Healthcare International’s first annual Conference on Unsettled Issues in Catholic Bioethics will take place March 21 in Jackson, Michigan, and will feature several prominent Catholic speakers.
Presenters include Cardinal Raymond Burke, CHI’s episcopal advisor and an expert on pro-life issues and Catholic moral teaching; Bishop Emeritus Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, who has spoken frequently on human dignity; and Sister Deirdre Byrne, a surgeon, former U.S. Army colonel, and pro-life physician. Additional speakers include ethics and Catholic moral teaching experts such as Ezra Sullivan, O.P., John DiCamillo, and Monique Wubbenhorst.
The conference will address topics such as the moral status and dignity of embryos conceived and preserved through IVF, ordinary and extraordinary means of providing end-of-life care, the moral responsibilities of caregivers, and how decisions surrounding medical cases involving complex neurological and consciousness disorders can be approached.
According to its website, the conference’s discussions “will be rooted in Catholic moral theology, fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and a Christ-centered understanding of the human person — affirming both the dignity of the patient and the vocation of the caregiver.” Healthcare providers, bioethicists, theologians, educators, and faithful lay Catholics seeking guidance are among those encouraged to attend.
Jere Palazzolo, CHI founder and president, said in a press release that the purpose of the conference is to gather Catholics together for “mission” as well as for “discussion.”
He added, “This conference is designed to equip the faithful to defend the dignity of every human person, in health care and beyond.”