I’m settling into Bismarck and enjoying being back at the University of Mary for this week’s bioethics seminar. I’m a little disappointed that it’s not forecast to snow while I’m here, though there is a bit on the ground. It’s sunny and pleasant; a dry cold that’s more tolerable than a wet Northeastern frigidness. An overview on two of our speakers this week:
University of Mary program invites the public to its annual lecture series as it welcomes two of the leading authorities in the field — Father Robert McTeigue, S.J., Ph.D., and Dr. Ashley Fernandes.
McTeigue will present “Moral Decision Making,” Friday, December 7, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. followed by his second presentation, “Bioethics Case Studies,” from 1 to 5 p.m.
Fernandes highlights day two of the series Saturday, December 8, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. with “How Personalism can Inform the ‘Business of Medicine.’” followed by his second presentation, “Ethics in Action: Clinical Cases,” from 1 to 5 p.m. …
McTeigue is a member of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. A professor of philosophy and theology, he has taught and lectured in North and Central America, Europe and Asia and is known for his classes in both rhetoric and medical ethics. He has long experience in spiritual direction, retreat ministry and religious formation. He is a spiritual director and retreat master at the Campion Renewal Center, in Weston, MA. He is a member of the prestigious National Ethics Committee of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA). His new book on preaching, “I Have Someone to Tell You: A Jesuit Heralds the Gospel” is available on Amazon.
“As medicine is often practiced today, people armed with tremendous technical power accompanied by an impoverished capacity for moral reflection can cause great harm. Catholic bioethics can be the antidote,” stated McTeigue, a year ago.
Fernandes is an award-winning academic physician and philosopher, and one of the country’s most sought-after speakers and authorities on Catholic bioethics. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, and a member of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society, receiving the prestigious Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award in 2010. Fernandes is the author of more than two dozen peer-reviewed publications, a member of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) and a CMA advisor to students.
“Medicine is much more complicated than ‘science,’ and the human aspect of human medicine needed the help and guidance of moral truth if it was to survive at all as a healing profession,” said Fernandes in an interview last year. He is now a pediatrician and associate professor of pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and associate director of the Center for Bioethics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
University of Mary’s MS in Bioethics program is at the forefront of bioethics education and addressing modern-day issues. Because the program is in partnership with the NCBC, it’s one that McTeigue, Fernandes and other bioethics experts around the world hold in high esteem as the university holds true to its Christian, Catholic and Benedictine beliefs.