Officials at Benedict College, a private Catholic institution in Atchison, Kansas, recently announced plans to build a new independent Catholic medical school on campus. Part of the institution’s goal is to train physicians in an environment steeped in Catholic values related to contraception, abortion, and end-of-life issues.
The initiative, expected to cost $120 million, is a partnership with Catholic Healthcare International. Catholic Healthcare International is an organization that aims to “become a model for Christian health care delivery”, based on the work of Padre His Pio, a Catholic priest and saint who opened the historic church. Italian hospital. Catholic Health Care International signed a cooperation agreement with the Benedictine Order in early September to begin planning for the proposed medical school. It is called the St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Sufferings of the School of Osteopathic Medicine. It is independently operated and funded.
The medical school is accredited and is expected to open its doors by 2026. Ultimately, we hope to enroll about 180 students each year who will complete a PhD in Osteopathic Medicine and a Master’s Degree in Catholic Bioethics through coursework.
Benedictine Rector Steven D. Minnis said he believes “this will be one of the most loyal Catholic medical schools in the world.”
“It is imperative that future doctors be trained in places like the University of Benedict that understand the vital role of faith and morality in science,” Minnis said. press release“The campus culture of community, faith and scholarship that we have worked so hard for will be the perfect home for the proposed Padre Pio College of Medicine at the University of Benedict.”
The announcement comes shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision last summer, ending federal protections for abortion rights and prompting student protests across the country.This decision is based on denunciations celebratory To carefully neutraland that colleges and universities unknown legal waters How we serve students who may wish to have an abortion A hodgepodge of new state lawsFor example, the University of Idaho, Advice for faculty and staff Refrain from sharing public opinion on this issue to avoid possible legal problems.
But the people behind the new medical school are clear about where the school’s policies regarding abortion and birth control methods such as the morning after pill, which Catholic doctrine sees as ways to end life, lie.
“If it prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg, even within 24 hours, then under Catholic doctrine it is considered a human being,” said the future founder and CEO of the school. One George Mychaskiw said. “It can be a mass of cells, an embryo, a fetus, a baby, whatever euphemism you use. In the Catholic view, it is unmistakably two things. It’s definitely human, it’s not a kitten, it’s not a chicken egg.”
Mychaskiw, now professor and vice chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the Oschner-Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and director of perioperative services, says that while there are nine Catholic medical schools in the United States, they are “nominally is Catholic” and an essentially secular institution. Under a religiously related college or university.
Saint Padre Pio Institute will be the first medical school in the country to comply with the “Ex corde Ecclesiae” ordinance issued by the late Pope Saint John Paul II, which sets out the expectations of Catholic universities. As a result, the medical school will have a predominantly Catholic faculty, Catholic lay leaders, and a Catholic board of trustees. Instructors are also required to sign a “Pledge of Allegiance to Catholic Principles” that includes “life matters” such as keeping terminally ill patients fed and hydrated as part of palliative care and not performing abortions.
He said that these restrictions do not mean that students cannot be taught about abortion from a scientific point of view, but that they are also taught a Catholic point of view on the subject, allowing them to conceive to term and having options such as: Pointed out that it is taught to counsel patients about considering. Students will also learn the Catholic doctrine of acceptable and unacceptable methods of contraception.
“They will understand what an abortion is, how it is done, and the medical issues related to abortion and complications,” he said. and take a firm moral and Catholic stance on all cases in which it is involved.
Carol Hogue, emeritus professor of epidemiology at Emory University, and Jules and Uldine Terry, emeritus professors of maternal and child health, say that training physicians with a rigorous Catholic approach to medicine can contribute to maternal mortality. He expressed concern that the
“From a public health perspective, maternal mortality is the sixth leading cause of death among women aged 16 to 34, and many of the things that Catholic doctrine forbids in Catholic hospitals are threatening the lives of pregnant women. and use effective contraceptives to avoid pregnancy.They don’t want to get pregnant,” she said. “We want to prevent lives from being lost, but they are not. Abortion is just a small part of it.”
Hogue is Lawsuit Against Catholic Hospital For not providing timely abortions to women with ectopic pregnancies or other fatal complications of pregnancy.
Daniel Sarmathy, director of the Kennedy Institute for Ethics and professor of medicine and philosophy at Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution, sees the new medical school as a positive development. We believe that medical education can foster a “true calling and sense of mission” in future physicians and train them to be more attentive to the spiritual beliefs and needs of their patients.
He also said that the St. Padre Pio Institute’s student body is likely to be different from most Catholic medical schools, which tend to have a higher proportion of non-religious students and different perspectives on issues such as abortion. pointed out. He notes that medical students in these institutions are often trained in Catholic teaching hospitals, where they adhere to Catholic principles and are taught a Catholic perspective on medical issues, but they are also presented with a secular perspective and are taught in the classroom. Lively discussions are frequent.
For example, Sarmathy teaches a medical ethics course that includes bioethicist Peter Singer’s philosophy that abortion is ethical. Sulmassy sees Georgetown as a place where students, both for and against abortion rights, can feel comfortable expressing their views and “having a really refreshing and open dialogue.” Abortion in a secular institution. ”
He argued that even among student groups that are primarily anti-abortion, Catholic medical ethics “can be opposed if the only reason is that if you want people to believe it, they must be able to defend it.” I believe that it must be taught by interacting with perspectives. .
Mychaskiw hopes to train doctors to work in Catholic hospitals around the country who benefit from having doctors who are “culturally comfortable” in a Catholic environment and familiar with the restrictions they follow. He also foresaw that some of his students would go on to work in secular hospitals. We believe that home training is itself a form of religious outreach.
“Our view of evangelization, our physicians and their practice with care and respect for the dignity of every human life and life, is, through their work, how physicians in the Catholic tradition represent human beings. He said, “We are not here to stand on the street corner and preach. We are here to care for the sick and afflicted.” I’m in
“Healthcare is in short supply across the board,” he added. “At the end of the day, whatever hospital I’m in, I think I need a doctor who respects my life and dignity as a human being and as a patient.”
