"In this way, the canon ensures that the confession of sins be included
in the care of the sick—no matter how serious or trivial the ailment. Additionally,
making confession a regular component of medical care was intended to
prevent the sick person from assuming that the off ering of confession meant
immanent death. Physicians were to invite the sick to confess
their sins to a priest before an initial medical examination in order to stem
this worry. "
Basil of Caesarea had applauded the physician Eustathius for “not confi ning the application of your skill to men’s bodies, but by attending also to the cure of the diseases of their souls” (Basil of Caesarea, letter 189).
While contemporary Catholic hospitals have maintained a bioethical moral code following religious norms, the culture of ritual and care that once permeated them has waned and is oft en absent
Roman Catholic health care has been transformed from an institution that once provided care that was “fl agrantly Christian” to an organization in which “there is no longer a commitment to embedding all actions in an all-pervasive and particular Christian self-consciousness”
1. Complementary versus assimilated. Should the medical system cooperate with representatives of spirituality and religion while maintaining a division of labor, or should spirituality be more completely integrated throughout the medical system as a core component and context for health and healing?
2. Functional versus substantive. Should spiritual practices be evaluated and promoted primarily on the grounds that they may have salutary effects on the body and mind, or should spiritual practices be embraced irrespective of their physical and mental effects, based instead on their theological and spiritual merits?
3. Generic versus tradition-constituted. Should spirituality research and spiritual care be grounded primarily in a theory of our basic humanity, autonomous of theological tradition, or is the nature of spirituality and spiritual care intrinsically informed by religious communities, theological methods, and tradition-constituted stories and language?
4. Pluralism versus particular communities. What role should particular religious communities play in a spiritually charged but irreducibly pluralistic context such as Western medicine? Should the medical profession foster and encourage the presence of particular religious communities in caring for the sick? What role should religious communities assume in shaping the vocational calling, moral practices, and spiritual care of clinicians generally and in the lives of those health professionals who are members of religious communities?
Basil of Caesarea had applauded the physician Eustathius for “not confi ning the application of your skill to men’s bodies, but by attending also to the cure of the diseases of their souls” (Basil of Caesarea, letter 189).
While contemporary Catholic hospitals have maintained a bioethical moral code following religious norms, the culture of ritual and care that once permeated them has waned and is oft en absent
Roman Catholic health care has been transformed from an institution that once provided care that was “fl agrantly Christian” to an organization in which “there is no longer a commitment to embedding all actions in an all-pervasive and particular Christian self-consciousness”
1. Complementary versus assimilated. Should the medical system cooperate with representatives of spirituality and religion while maintaining a division of labor, or should spirituality be more completely integrated throughout the medical system as a core component and context for health and healing?
2. Functional versus substantive. Should spiritual practices be evaluated and promoted primarily on the grounds that they may have salutary effects on the body and mind, or should spiritual practices be embraced irrespective of their physical and mental effects, based instead on their theological and spiritual merits?
3. Generic versus tradition-constituted. Should spirituality research and spiritual care be grounded primarily in a theory of our basic humanity, autonomous of theological tradition, or is the nature of spirituality and spiritual care intrinsically informed by religious communities, theological methods, and tradition-constituted stories and language?
4. Pluralism versus particular communities. What role should particular religious communities play in a spiritually charged but irreducibly pluralistic context such as Western medicine? Should the medical profession foster and encourage the presence of particular religious communities in caring for the sick? What role should religious communities assume in shaping the vocational calling, moral practices, and spiritual care of clinicians generally and in the lives of those health professionals who are members of religious communities?
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