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Ethical Resources

Flourishing of the human person

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Specific Ethical Questions

Find guidance by topic when facing a specific ethical or medical decision.

Artificial Nutrition & Hydration

General guidelines on food and water provisions, prepared by the ethicists at NCBC, February 2013.

article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

discussion on feeding tube placement/withdrawal with regards to advanced dementia.

A closer look at the benefits and burdens regarding end-of-life decision-making. 

Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia & Human Dignity

Talking Americans Down from the Assisted Suicide Ledge
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

To Be or Not To Be: Parsing the Implications of Suicide
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying.

Towards “Passive Euthanasia.”
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

 

Cremation, Remains & Body Donation

 article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying
   

Dementia & Serious Illness

Defending the Dignity of Those with Dementia
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

 Facing Terminal Illness Realistically
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

Dialysis Decisions

Deciding About Dialysis
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

Medical Ethics & Technology

Promethean Medical Temptations
article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

Pain Medication & Sedation

Discusses St. John Paul II’s teachings on the meaning of suffering and the importance of retaining consciousness toward the end of one’s life.

Considerations of pain management. 
    

Perinatal Hospice

The Welcome Outreach of Perinatal Hospice

article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Death and Dying

Church Documents & Deeper Reading

For those who want to explore the Church’s deeper teachings on human dignity, suffering, mercy, and end-of-life care.

Papal Encyclicals and Addresses

St. John Paul II’s letter on the Gospel of Life was written in 1995. The following excerpt is taken from paragraph 88: “When earthly life draws to a close, charity enables the elderly and terminally ill to enjoy genuinely humane assistance, particularly in response to anxiety and loneliness. In particular, hospitals, clinics, and convalescent homes above all should be places where suffering, pain, and death are understood in their human and Christian meaning.”

USCCB Two-Page Synopsis of Evangelium Vitae

A two-page synopsis published by the USCCB in 2020 for the 25th anniversary of Evangelium Vitae.

John Paul II (vatican.va)
   
Letter of Pope John Paul II on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering and its relevance in the plan of Redemption when joined with Christ’s suffering on the cross. “Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished….Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.” (19) February 11, 1984

Letters of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

In 2020, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the letter Samaritanus Bonus, “on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life.” The letter reaffirms the Church’s teaching on care for those who are critically ill or dying and offers additional pastoral guidance for increasingly complex situations at the end of life. Summaries of each section of Samaritanus Bonus are included in this compendium prepared by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve as a resource on an introduction to this letter.
The Roman Catholic Church’s official document on the topic of euthanasia, issued in 1980, declaring that euthanasia is a crime against life.

Saint John Paul II Lecture Series in Bioethics

by Francis Cardinal Arinze, taken from the Saint John Paul II Lecture Series in Bioethics. Cardinal Arinze teaches us about the dignity of human life and exposes some of the errors in how the world values human life. For the Catholic church Human life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death. Cardinal Arinze states that life is precious and presents to us these teachings through Holy scripture and Church tradition. He reviews some of the threats to human life today and examines in more detail abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. He gives us advice on how to protect human life and advance that teaching to the world.

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    “Catholic health care ministry bears witness to the truth that, for those who are in Christ, suffering and death are birth pangs of new creation”

     

    Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska