WORCESTER MEDICAL ETHICS

A Roman Catholic Perspective

Monsignor Peter R. Beaulieu, M.A., S.T.L.

WHY – POURQUOI - POR QUÉ

A Distinctive Ethics of Medicine for Roman Catholics

Moral confusion is not unique to Catholics because there has been an intellectual revolution in thinking about moral matters in the United States and even in the Church ever since the 1960s. The information found within this site is only meant to serve as guidance or as sign posts, even though its author believes the information contained within it to be faithful to the Catholic tradition. Since God has ordained that faith and reason are compatible, every human being must be capable of knowing the truth and goodness in the world and, thus, should desire to do what is right, true and good while rejecting what is evil. Catholic medical morality is not a totally different morality, but its distinctive feature is the demand for a deeper reliance on God, whose original plan was corrupted by sin and restored by the sacrifice of Christ. So, what we are to do and how we are to live has been decisively revealed to us by Jesus Christ. The words and deeds of Jesus, then, help us determine what should be done and how we should do it.