Healthcare workers have a duty to
share Christ, bishop says
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published March 31, 2006
Detroit – Catholic physicians and healthcare workers have a duty to share the love of Christ with those to whom they minister, Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wis., said in a talk last Sunday at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
That message is among the implications for those in health care to be found in Pope Benedict XVI's recent encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est," ("God is Love") Bishop Morlino said in his talk that followed the annual Rose Mass for healthcare workers.
The bishop is involved in healthcare issues as chairman of the board of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.
Fundamental to the Catholic understanding of health care is, as the phrase in hospital consent forms puts it, "that the practice of medicine is more of an art than a science," Bishop Morlino said.
A second point is that "health is more than the absence of sickness," he continued.
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Wittgens | Citing the pope's call in the encyclical to "renewed energy and commitment in the human response to God's love," Bishop Morlino said the Holy Father does not accept the traditional idea of a mind-body split.
He quoted from the encyclical, "The body is the arena for the exercise of human freedom," and commented, "That's the opposite of what we see in our culture, which says the mind is the arena, but it's not just the mind – it's not just about intentions."
Underscoring the point, he added, "I don't 'have' my body, I am my body."
So, there is a duty "to keep the body healthy, to keep the body energetic, in order to keep the commitment of the soul in response to the love of God," Bishop Morlino said.
Those in health care, especially physicians, are in a special position when it comes to talking to people about God, he said. "When people go to the doctor, they actually pay attention. I wish I could say that was true about the homily at Mass," the bishop told his audience.
He emphasized, however, that sharing the faith must always be in the form of an invitation, and never seem to be forcing something on people.
Nevertheless, Bishop Morlino said those in health care, as they explain to patients how the body works, can share – even with non-believers — the traditional proofs of God's existence and express the belief that the patient would be healthier if he or she believed in God.
The bishop, who was a philosophy professor before becoming a bishop, spoke of the traditional proofs of God from design and from motion.
Another argument in support of God, Bishop Morlino said, is "Pascal's Wager," named for the 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. "Live as if God exists – it's a better wager," he said.
Pascal urged doubters to live as if they believed in God, because if it turns out there is a God, they will go to heaven, whereas if there isn't, they will have lived a good life anyway. Whereas, if they reject God, and it turns out they were wrong, they will wind up in hell.
 FYI
The Detroit Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, sponsors of the Rose Mass, is dedicated to upholding Catholic teaching on medical and moral issues. For information on membership, call (734) 420-2784 or visit www.dgcma.org. | However they go about it, the message should be that "a fully healthy person is one who responds to God's love with body and with mind," Bishop Morlino said. And once someone comes to believe in God through reason, it is a logical next step to ask "Who is this God?" and that inquiry can lead them to Jesus Christ, he added.
But even when it would not be possible to share one's faith with a patient in words, Bishop Morlino said a healthcare worker can "give them the 'glance of love,' which they crave."
"The glance of love, which has its roots in the eyes of Christ, is the most healing thing of all," he said.
Among those patients most in need of help, the bishop continued, are people who are carrying around some kind of guilt, and who fear God's justice.
"Benedict says God experienced within Himself a conflict between His perfect justice and His perfect love. In Christ on the cross, God's perfect love won out, while His perfect justice was satisfied," Bishop Morlino said.
The bishop said his respect for healthcare workers was raised a couple of years ago when he went into hospital to have an aortal valve installed, and wound up having four heart bypass operations.
Jennifer McDowell, a first-year medical student at Wayne State University and a member of SS. Peter and Paul (Jesuit) Parish in downtown Detroit, called the bishop's talk "enlightening," especially his point that it should "be a common-day practice to present God's love."
Fellow medical student Andy Berkowski, a member of St. Anselm Parish, Dearborn Heights, praised Bishop Morlino for addressing the link between good moral behavior and good health.
Dave Wittgens, a member of St. Aloysius Parish, downtown Detroit, and also a WSU med student, said he appreciated the bishop's message that "we're carrying the Word, whether or not we express it in words. We're not just caring for the body."
Dr. Ken Kernan, a cancer surgeon at Beaumont Hospital and chair of the archdiocesan Advisory Committee on Health Care, called the bishop's talk "just awesome."
Seminary professor Janet Smith, Ph.D, praised Bishop Morlino's ability to make "really profound philosophical (concepts) intelligible."
National Catholic Bioethics Center Web site, www.ncbcenter.org.
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