A conversation about faith, bioethics and human rights
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
By Melanie Baker
Benedict’s Corner is a weekly summary of our Holy Father’s latest words on topics related to HLI America’s mission.
Continuing his reflections for the Easter Season and for his weekly catechesis on prayer, Pope Benedict dealt considerably with the question of faith in his recent addresses. Faith was the key for the apostles to recognize the Risen Lord, and it was the impetus for their prayer, which in turn shaped their involvement in the world.
The Holy Father’s Sunday Angelus recalled the experience of the disciples who, in their astonishment, encountered the Lord after His resurrection:
[I]n the Gospel according to Luke we meet the Risen Jesus who presents himself to the disciples (cf. Lk 24:36) who, startled and incredulous, think they are seeing a ghost (cf. Lk 24:37). Romano Guardini wrote: “the Lord has changed. He does not live as he lived previously. His existence cannot be understood. And yet it is corporeal, it encompasses … the whole of the life he lived, the destiny he passed through, his Passion and his death. Everything is reality. It may have changed but it is still tangible reality” (Il Signore. Meditazioni sulla persona e la vita di N.S. Gesù Cristo, Milan 1949, 433). As the Resurrection did not erase the signs of the Crucifixion, Jesus showed the Apostles his hands and his feet. And to convince them, he even asked for something to eat, thus the disciples “gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them” (Lk 24:42-43).
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Tags: Easter, Pope Benedict XVI
Posted in Benedict's Corner, Feature Post, Melanie Baker, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Monday, April 30th, 2012
By Denise J. Hunnell, M.D.
In 1994, Dr. Charles Cleeland authored a study that found that 42% of cancer patients with pain were receiving inadequate therapy for their pain. This led to the Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines for more aggressive pain management and the ubiquitous question about your level of pain “on a scale of 1 to 10” every time you visit the doctor for any reason.
The interest in pain management was actually a response to the push for legalized assisted suicide. Advocates of assisted suicide claimed that uncontrolled pain justified aiding cancer patients to end their lives. At the time, there were proclamations by medical experts that 90% of pain could be easily treated and there was no risk of addiction for those who were actually in pain.
So where are we nearly two decades later? A new study just published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology finds that while pain management has improved, a significant number of cancer patients are still suffering. Dr. Michael Fisch and his colleagues looked at over three thousand patients with breast, lung, prostate, or colorectal cancer. Of the two thousand patients who complained of pain, roughly one-third were receiving inadequate therapy for their pain. The reasons for this failure to adequately alleviate pain are varied and complex. Physicians cited concerns about raising red flags for excessive use of pain relievers monitored by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as a reason for using suboptimal doses of opiod analgesics. Patients resisted the use of pain medicine, fearing these powerful drugs would adversely affect their level of functioning. Some patients had a cultural stoicism that made it difficult for them to admit they had pain and needed medication. Many patients did not speak English well and had a difficult time communicating their need for pain relief to their physicians. In 50% of all patients with inadequate pain relief, oncologists treating the patient did not deem the pain to be related to cancer and therefore, did not aggressively pursue therapy to alleviate the pain. (more…)
Tags: bioethics
Posted in Bioethics, Denise Hunnell MD, End of Life, Euthanasia, Feature Post, PAS, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
By Pamela Muller Swartzberg
The following was taken from remarks by Pamela Muller Swartzberg given at the New Jersey chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association following the death of her father. Pamela contacted HLI America following the publication of Dr. Denise Hunnell’s article “Authentic Compassion” on the Truth and Charity Forum.
I have been a pro-life advocate for as long as I can remember. In recent years, my passion for life has grown to include a deeper understanding that pro-life advocacy is about much more than abortion. “Pro-life” encompasses all life, a fact which became abundantly clear to me as I walked with my father in the culmination of his life’s journey – walked with him through the years of Alzheimer’s disease.
Let me tell you a bit about my father, Jim, who passed away 3 years ago. Dad was and remains a hero. He was a helicopter pilot in the Korean War where he flew rescue missions that saved the lives of countless soldiers. He was a brilliant student and later a leader in his industry. He was a husband, father and grandfather beyond description. All who encountered him, whether in their personal lives or in business, knew immediately that they had met a master – a truly honorable, kind, generous man of great depth and humility.
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Tags: Alzheimer's disease
Posted in Dignity of the Disabled, End of Life, Feature Post, HLI Staff, Testimonies: Finding Hope through the Struggle, Truth and Charity Forum | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
By Donald DeMarco, Ph.D.
The subtitle of Archbishop Charles Chaput’s fine book, Render Unto Caesar, is worth reiterating: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life. It is quite clear, for the author, that Catholics have a legitimate place in the domain of political action. Catholics, though they are hardly alone as a group in this regard, believe in the power of love, the efficacy of reason, the value of science, the relevance of the natural law and the importance of virtue. No democracy could continue to function without these values.
“The motive power of democracy is love,” said Henri Bergson, the distinguished Jewish philosopher and scientist. He had great respect for the Catholic Church and arranged for a priest to pray at his gravesite. As a teacher, Bergson was instrumental in convincing Jacques and Raissa Maritain that the human mind could find intelligibility in the world. He helped set the Maritains on a career that would bristle with clear and remarkable thinking on democracy and social justice.
Jacques Maritain, in writing The Things That Are Not Caesar’s, provides a study that serves as a valuable precursor and companion for Archbishop Chaput’s book. It begins with an expression of gratitude to Christianity for distinguishing between the “Spiritual Power and the Temporal Power,” a distinction which, when put into practice, frees people from the slavery of being entrapped in the realm of the temporal:
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Tags: Archbishop Charles Chaput, First Amendment, HHS, President Obama, religious freedom
Posted in Abortifacients, Contraception and Sterilization, Donald DeMarco, Ph.D., Feature Post, Politics, Politics and Faith, Truth and Charity Forum | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
By Melanie Baker
Benedict’s Corner is a weekly summary of our Holy Father’s latest words on topics related to HLI America’s mission.
Pope Benedict XVI’s reflections are like power bars – compact, simple, but packed with nutrition. Who would have thought that in a brief Wednesday Audience there would be an easy formula to fortify us here in the United States as we face the looming reality of religious persecution?
Resuming the theme of prayer that he had been developing leading up to Holy Week and the Easter Octave, the Holy Father chose to highlight the scene from the Acts of the Apostles known as “little Pentecost” (cf. Acts 4: 24-31): the early Church’s experience of the Holy Spirit after its first persecution.
The Pontiff’s first item of note was the attitude of the early Church:
In the face of danger, difficulty, threats, the first Christian community does not try to conduct an analysis about how to react or seek strategies about how to defend itself, about what measures to adopt, but in the face of trial, they pray, they get in touch with God.
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Tags: Pope Benedict XVI, religious liberty
Posted in Benedict's Corner, Feature Post, Melanie Baker, Politics and Faith, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Friday, April 20th, 2012
By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.
Georgia state Rep. Yasmin Neal recently achieved a measure of notoriety by introducing House Bill 1116, which proposed that men should be prevented from obtaining vasectomies. By her own admission, the bill contains a “hint of sarcasm.” In an interview with NPR host Michel Martin, Neal explained that her aim was to broaden the discussion on abortion restrictions for women by “simply drawing a comparison between one medical procedure versus another — one dealing with men versus one dealing with women.”
This legislative gesture came in response to another recent Georgia bill that would decrease the time window for elective abortions in the state from 26 to 20 weeks.
Neal admits that the comparison between vasectomy and abortion is not a perfect one — as, in her own words, “men can’t reproduce.” Presumably, by “reproduce,” she is referring to the gestation of a child, rather than the acts preceding conception. Nevertheless, the more obvious distinction between abortion and vasectomy is that abortion involves the destruction of an existing unborn person, whereas vasectomy does not. By equating the two, Neal is attempting to draw a moral equivalency between them, for the purpose of saying both should be fully legal.
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Tags: abortion, Georgia, marriage, vasectomies
Posted in Contraception and Sterilization, Feature Post, Marriage, Family & Sexuality, Rebecca Oas, Ph.D., Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
What They Don’t Know Might Hurt Them
By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.
(Zenit.org) – In 2010, an article appeared in the UK newspaper The Telegraph reacting to a proposal to cut government funding for a certain beverage in schools. The author made the argument that the drink might be “doing more harm than good” and cited “negative side effects,” while noting that his viewpoint was heard relatively rarely in comparison to the large industry which vigorously promoted its product through advertising and with the support of government subsidies[1]. The substance in question was milk, which would seem on the surface to be more innocuous than those fearsome beverages that have also come under fire for being available in schools in recent years, soft drinks[2].
While the role of government in regulating access to these beverages in schools has varied, a key factor influencing school policies is the input of parents. A 2005 survey found that parents of adolescents had strong opinions regarding nutrition in schools, and encouraged health professionals in school settings to engage with parents in promoting good nutrition within the school environment[3]. While it may not be practical or even possible for a parent to monitor everything a child consumes while at school, this fact reflects only that substances like milk or soft drinks are widely available, and not subject to additional restrictions under the law. Furthermore, parents are not expressly prohibited from knowing their children’s dietary habits by mandate of either the school or the government.
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Tags: contraceptive implants, parental rights
Posted in Contraception and Sterilization, Feature Post, Marriage, Family & Sexuality, Politics and Faith, Rebecca Oas, Ph.D., Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
By Denise J. Hunnell, M.D.
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
The closing prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet was on my mind when I read about Charles D. Snelling and his wife Adrienne. The Snellings were deeply devoted to each other for over sixty years of marriage. They were blessed with five children and eleven grandchildren. They were both well educated and came from socially prominent families. Yet on March 29, 2012, Charles Snelling killed his wife and then took his own life. According to the Washington Post, Adrienne Snelling had Alzheimer’s disease and did not want to live after all hope of a “good life” was over.
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Tags: euthanasia, Salvifici Doloris, Spe Salvi
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Denise Hunnell MD, End of Life, Euthanasia, Feature Post, Truth and Charity Forum | 4 Comments »
Monday, April 16th, 2012
By Melanie Baker
Benedict’s Corner is a weekly summary of our Holy Father’s latest words on topics related to HLI America’s mission.
HLI America wishes all of its readers a very joyous Easter Season! The Easter Octave was replete with beautiful meditations from Pope Benedict XVI.
In his Easter Vigil Homily, the Holy Father spoke of Christ’s Resurrection as the re-creation of light itself – true light – and he contrasted this true light with the false lights by which we are taught to regard “progress.”
The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other “lights”, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk. Today we can illuminate our cities so brightly that the stars of the sky are no longer visible. Is this not an image of the problems caused by our version of enlightenment? With regard to material things, our knowledge and our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the question of good, we can no longer identify. Faith, then, which reveals God’s light to us, is the true enlightenment, enabling God’s light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true light.
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Tags: Easter, Pope Benedict XVI, religious liberty
Posted in Benedict's Corner, Feature Post, Melanie Baker, Politics and Faith, The Holy Father, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
Friday, April 13th, 2012
By Father Shenan J. Boquet
Society is engaged in a battle over its very existence. As nations across the globe move toward greater economic and social unrest, many seem confused about, or want to obscure, the root cause of this cultural meltdown.
In setting aside ethical principles that have sustained us for thousands of years, and which have produced strong and vibrant societies, humanity is navigating down a path not only of moral decay, but of economic unsustainability.
History bears witness to the result of such attempts to reset a society’s moral compass. A society that continually rejects a strong moral foundation rooted in Natural Law undermines its very existence and ultimately causes its own demise.
In his recent statement to the bishops of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, Pope Benedict XVI points to the heart of the cultural and political problem facing society.
It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.
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Tags: Blessed Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, George Washington, Pope Benedict XVI
Posted in Culture of Life, Feature Post, Politics and Faith, Rev. Shenan J. Boquet, Truth and Charity Forum | No Comments »
