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To: Priests and deacons
From: Monsignor James Schillinger, director, Ongoing Formation of Priests
The Office of Ongoing Formation of Priests will be hosting a clergy study day on Wednesday, March 9, entitled End of Life Decision Making: Ethical Decision Making in Sickness and Compromised States. The presenter will be Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD., director of Education and Staff Ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).
What does it mean to speak of “extraordinary means” when making decisions about end of life treatments? Father Pacholczyk will discuss this important concept and how to apply it to real-world situations. We are called to exercise stewardship over our gift of life, which implies that we have a duty to preserve our life and to use it for the glory of God, even though the duty to preserve life is not absolute, and we may reject life-prolonging procedures that are insufficiently beneficial or excessively burdensome. Related topics such as living wills and artificial nutrition and hydration will also be explained and discussed.
Fr. Pacholczyk directs the NCBC’s certification program in health care ethics. A priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, he has given several hundred presentations and participated in debates and roundtables on contemporary medical ethics and bioethics throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He has taught bioethics at St. John’s Seminary in Boston; Pope St. John XXIII Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts; Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut; Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis; St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia; and The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Fr. Pacholczyk has degrees in philosophy, biochemistry, molecular cell biology and chemistry. He later earned a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University. After working several years as a molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Fr. Pacholczyk studied for five years in Rome at both the Gregorian University and the Lateran University, where he did advanced work in dogmatic theology and bioethics, examining delayed ensoulment of the human embryo.
He writes a syndicated monthly column on bioethics that appears in more than 40 U.S. diocesan newspapers as well as newspapers in England, Poland and Australia. He has appeared in numerous media outlets.
We are fortunate to have such a distinguished presenter. I hope you will mark your calendar and join us for this study day. The study day is open to all priests, deacons and End of Life committee members.
The study will take place at the Chancery from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
RSVP to Amanda Hailey at ahailey@archatl.com or by calling 678-595-9181.