Philly: Ethics

I went to Philly with the understanding that I would have two solid days of Catholic moral theology and healthcare ethics. Healthcare ethics addresses how you run hospitals so they are consistent with Catholic teaching. Just in case you were curious! I drove through a very questionable part of town to reach the conference locale, forcing me to run through my litany of favorite saints for protection! Perhaps that was the calisthenics portion of the seminar? :)

While I knew the ethics portion would be heavy, I couldn't wait to attend the conference. With seminars entitled "When 'Dead' Really Means Dead," "Babies are Begotten, not Made," "The Whole Story of Stem Cell Research," and "The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Organ Transplantation," I knew I was in for a treat! The "less controversial" topics, such as Advanced Directives and End-of-Life Care, also created rich discussion among the interesting divide of participants in the conference. As usual, I was the youngest in the room by 20+ years, half the room was represented by Religious and physicians, and the others consisted of heady, intellectual administrators who liked to discuss the discourses of Catholic theology in their spare time. Seriously, how often do you walk into a room and hear arguments about the veracity of the Council of Nicea and medieval theology's incorrect interpretation of Christ's divinity and how it led to the schism of the Church?

This was intellectually-aggressive fodder, considering the fact that the days' seminars gave the option to start with hour-long masses. Perusing the agenda beforehand, I couldn't understand why they budgeted an hour for mass when it was on the weekday...then I found out it the mass was solemn, sung Latin.
Rats, I'm totally lapsed on my pre-Vatican II Latin! I need the Rosetta Stone software to learn Latin!

Regardless, the ethics portion of the weekend was wonderful. I actually grasped the Church's reasoning behind its ethical stances and understood how they evolved from natural law. It wasn't just a bunch of upper-middle class white men in their 70's, sitting around in robes, trying to think of ways to make Catholics' lives less entertaining (as is the case with popular thought). The ethics actually stems from Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas' understanding of human morality and interpretation of natural law. Interesting stuff.

How many people get to study one of their passions as part of their job?! I will keep telling myself this as I trudge through the two seven-pound ethics textbooks they sent home with each participant...(even as she slaps her forehead with her right hand in the shape of an "L")!!