What the Church calls us to be as Catholic Chiropractors
The Theological Rationale Research for the "association of the faithful" for Catholic Chiropractors
INTRODUCTION
Section One -Theological Approach
I. Our "Call to Holiness"
II. The Church's Provisions for the Lay Faithful
III. Current Ethical Models
Section Two -Vision & Mission
I. The Vision: Our Spirituality
Covenant
Community
Objectives
II. Mission
Campus Ministry
Charity
Chapters
Bibliography
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
I. Need for an 'Association of Catholic Faithful' of Chiropractors
This project established the first 'association of the faithful' for Catholic chiropractors to serve as a resource and a platform to provide and exchange information on the Church's teachings, as it relates to the issues of clinical practice and spiritual development as professionals.
The main communication to all future members will be through a newsletter on the Internet. The association will serve as a contact to other Catholic healthcare organizations and to serve as a chiropractic presence to the Catholic healthcare community. In addition, we will serve as a Catholic presence to the chiropractic profession.
II. The Church
In its leadership the Catholic Church has clearly recognized the need for healthcare and healthcare ministry to aid the suffering and the poor, and the need for pastoral care to Catholic health care workers. Through many of its institutions and associations of lay Catholics, it cooperates in bringing Christ to others.
Today there are associations of Catholic nurses, medical physicians, attorneys, accountants, and social workers, but none that allow active membership to chiropractors. This professional project is now a concrete reality, fully incorporated, 'recognized' by the Church, and ready to address the needs of Catholic chiropractic physicians.
III. The Chiropractic profession
Chiropractic is a healthcare profession that is quickly becoming integrated into the healthcare delivery system, and has been recognized by state and federal governments in the US, and in many other nations. We serve the common good by treating millions of patients who have neuro-musculo-skeletal conditions of the spine.
On the international level the World Federation of Chiropractic is a professional member of the World Health Organization working on several projects in the area of occupational health.
A. Our pastoral needs not being met
In 1998 there were over 62,000 chiropractors in the world with 54,000 of them residing in the United States. If we consider the average Catholic population in the United States at 23%, there could be over 15,000 Catholic chiropractors, including students (appendix A). At this time there is no one in our profession, or outside our profession, speaking directly to us within our unique experiences as Catholic chiropractors.
Previous to this association Catholic chiropractors did not have the advantage as a group, or even at times as individuals, no less have a voice to speak to each other or others, and to partake in many of the resources from the Church, which aid healthcare professionals in practicing ethically and morally, as Catholics. We are challenged, and have been for the most part alone, in developing and integrating our Catholic identity with 'our call to ministry' in our practices as chiropractic physicians.
Moreover we have no international, national, or local Catholic organization representing us to other Catholic organizations with whom we are rapidly coming in contact
Today it is especially important to know our ethics, due to the changes in health care as a result of the managed care system. More importantly there have been no pastoral counseling programs directed toward us, or specifically open to us, such as directed retreats, other than the beautiful local White Masses which we now may attend. There are also no known Catholic programs, within or without our profession, as of 1998 that support or coordinate voluntary or missionary activities that include the necessary chiropractic care needed by so many.
We have no platform such as a newsletter or journal for us to share regarding issues in our profession, to draw from Catholic resources, or a place where we could speak to others concerning the moral and ethical teachings of the Church, as it relates to us. There were also no associations that will bring us together for fellowship such as meetings, pilgrimages or volunteer actions. The majority of chiropractors are a generous and spiritual group of dedicated individuals struggling to maintain their integrity in an excessively aggressive and changing healthcare marketplace.
We have had to individually balance and maintain our integrity in our professional activities as business owners, employers, and chiropractic physicians in the delivery of treatment with our personal spiritual lives. For the last 100 plus years, since its founding, this profession has grown at an accelerated rate. In the 21st Century there will be many more Catholic practitioners who will need guidance.
B. Action taken
What has lead me to develop a ministry for Catholic chiropractors came out of my personal and professional experiences as a Catholic, a clinician, a member of a professional Christian group, a business consultant and educator, and as a student at Fordham University's Graduate School of Religion and Religious Studies.
The above information was enclosed with a letter dated May 13, 1997 to The Most Reverend Edward M. Egan, Bishop of Bridgeport. I requested he endorse this project to established a 'private' 'association of the faithful' for the Chiropractic profession under Title V: Canon Code #298-329 "associations of the Christian faithful" regulations. Bishop Egan was most supportive to the project.
Section One - A Theological Approach
I. Our "Call to Holiness"
A. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium
1. Our call to the common priesthood
In The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium we find our welcome to participate in the mission of the Church. Our common rootedness in baptism constitutes the 'common priesthood' by which we have been called to participate and have been gifted for service in the spirit of Christ.
The Church calls us, as the laity, into the active life of the 'common priesthood of the faithful' by sharing in the spirit of Christ's healing ministry. Our special call derives from our vocation as Christians to participate, not only as competent technicians, but also as compassionate health care providers.
It is by virtue of this 'royal priesthood' that we exercise our call by receiving the sacraments, participating in prayer and thanksgiving, and being a witness of the holy life through our self-denial and active charity (No.10).
2. Our call to be one as Catholics
We find our call to become one as a profession-wide association of Catholic chiropractors implicit within this document. The Church reminds us that though our citizenship is taken from every race and all nations, we are but one 'people of God'. Furthermore, our citizenship is also of a kingdom, a heavenly nature, present here and now. Though we are scattered throughout the world, we are in communion with each other as Catholic Christians, in the Holy Spirit (No.13). Through this Spirit we can rejoice in our common call to Christ's kingdom as we serve in our profession.
3. Our call to mutual understanding
Though we may operate from a different religious horizon than our colleagues, we are called to bring an increase in mutual understandings within the profession. Our purpose is to cooperate, without compromising our faith and doctrines, in order to join in social action with those who have the same values and ethics.
a. Ecumenical
The Church reminds us that "we are linked with the same Spirit with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter" (No.15). Our faith calls us to come together as one 'people of God' in truth and Spirit for fellowship and prayer.
b. Non-Christian faiths
We are also called to work with those who have who have not yet received the Gospel, and also to those "who acknowledge the Creator. For example in the first place among these there are the Mohammedans who profess to hold the faith of Abraham" (No.16).
The Second Vatican Council's document on the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non- Christian Religions recalls the spiritual patrimony which links the people of the New Covenant with Abraham's offspring.
4. Our call as health care professionals
Our call is to live and practice within a Christian dimension. It is by our baptism that we are made one body with Christ, sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ, specifically to be lived out in secular society. It is within our unique call as chiropractors that we live out our 'call to holiness' and make our contribution to the Church and to society.
"The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations" (No.31).
5. Our call as salt of the earth
Christ, who is our model of holiness, calls us to serve. When we answer that call to serve as Christian chiropractors, our work becomes an offering acceptable to God. It is "from divine choice the laity have Christ for their brother, who though He is the Lord of all, came not to be served but to serve (No.31) as the "salt of the earth… according to the measure of Christ's bestowal" (No.33). It is through our works, prayers and apostolic endeavors, carried out in the Spirit of Christ, which are offered as our spiritual sacrifices now acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (No.34).
6. Our call to fulfill justice, charity and peace
The Church encourages us, as the faithful, to assist each other to live holier lives in our daily occupations so as to effectively fulfill God's call for justice, charity and peace.
Our call to holiness is found in competent and compassionate caring in the spirit of Christ.
"[It is] by so doing they will imbue [the] culture and human activity with genuine moral values; they will better prepare the field of the world for the seed of the Word of God; and at the same time they will open wider the doors of the Church by which the message of peace may enter the world" (No.36).
B. The Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity: Apostolicam Actuositatem
What we find confirmed in this decree is that our apostolate is be lived out in our professional lives. Our call to spirituality is stated in the greatest commandment, which is to love God with one's whole heart and one's neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:37-40). Jesus gives us our call to action, "As long as you did it for one of these, the least of My brethren, you did it for Me" (Matt. 25:40) (No.8).
1. Our call to be leaven
" For the Christian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate…[they] are called by God to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardor of the spirit of Christ" (No.2). "The laity derive the right and duty to the apostolate from their union with Christ the head; incorporated into Christ's Mystical Body through Baptism" (No.3).
2.Our call to be the light of the world
Furthermore, it states, "[t]his plan for the spiritual life of the laity should take its particular character from their married or family state or their single or widowed state, from their state of health, and from their professional and social activity"(No.4). It is through one's spirituality we then become the light of the world (No.3). The testimony of our Christian lives should be 'led by the light of the Gospel' and the mind of the Church and motivated by Christian charity. We are to act directly and in a definite way in the temporal sphere (No.7).
3. Our call to participate communion
We are called to participate at the parish, diocese, and international levels. As far as possible we are called to provide helpful collaboration for every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by our local parish and the Church at large (No.9).
"Indeed, the lay apostolate admits a different type of relationship with the hierarchy in accordance with the various forms and objective of their apostolate. For in the Church there are many apostolic undertakings, which are established by the free choice of the laity and regulated by their prudent judgment" (No.24).
4. Our call to apostolic activity within association
We are called to engage in our apostolic activity, either as individuals or together, as members of various groups or associations (No.15). Associations are not to be ends unto themselves; rather they should serve the mission of the Church to the world. An apostolic dynamism of any association depends on its conformity with the goals of the Church, as well as, the Christian witness and evangelical spirit of every member and of the whole association (No.19).
C. Apostolic Letter: Christifideles Laici
1. Our call is to be laborers
The Post-Synodal Apostolic exhortation of John Paul II on the vocation of the lay faithful in the Church and the world, renews for us our calling. The laity are "likened to the laborers in the vineyard." Yet these callings are not without pitfalls. The Church reminds us of a particular common error for the laity, where one may fail to become actively engaged in one's responsibilities in their professional, social, cultural and political world, which is one's place in the Church (No.3).
With secularism and the need for religion particularly in today's climate (No.4), the "lay faithful have an essential and irreplaceable role in this announcement and in this testimony: through them the Church of Christ is made present in the various sectors of the world as a sign and source of hope and of love"(No.7). This is our Christian witness.
We live in the front lines of the Church's life (No.9). We are to become its living stones (No.13). Pope John Paul II reminds us again about the need for the laity to make a gift of ourselves so as to serve, in justice and in charity (No.14). Within this document we can see clearly that it is within our vocation that we come to contribute, like leaven, to the sanctification of the world (No.16).
2. Our call to communion
Our unity of a shared life of holiness needs to be sanctified in our everyday professional and social life (No.17). Our participation in the life of the Church reflects the communion and a participation in the mystery of the Trinity (No.18). We are to live in a communion of faith by a continual interaction with each other. We are never meant to be isolated from one another (No.20).
We are to participate in the life of the Church beyond our parish and diocese into the interparochial, interdiocesan, national and international fields (No.25). The specific expressions for the lay faithful can be found in working together in groups. Associating among ourselves can take on a multiplicity of forms from formal associations, to informal groups, communities, and movements.
" New sodalities have sprouted with a specific feature and purpose, so great is the richness and the versatility of resources that the Holy Spirit nourishes in the ecclesial community, and so great is the capacity of initiative and the generosity of our lay people" (No. 29).
3. Our call as an association
The way we can truly come to influence our profession and society, as a whole, is to work together with groups whose purpose is to serve its members. The document clearly states that a cultural effect of the renewal of society can be can only be accomplished effectively if the work is done by an individual as a social being, that is, within a group or community, or as a member of an association or a movement.
Our world is one void of faith. A group can represent to the world a unique place for those trying to remain faithful to their faith. Associations are to be a 'sign of communion and of unity of the Church of Christ' (No.29).
4. Our call to be Church
All lay groups must be a forum where the faith is proclaimed. It needs to be a witness of a communion with the Pope, a visible center of unity of the universal Church with the local Bishop, and a manifestation of the fruits of grace. Lay groups must help one grow towards the fullness of the one's life as a Christian, in the perfection of charity. All groups need to become an instrument assisting its members toward a more intimate unity of their faith and everyday life. Also it must proclaim "the evangelization and sanctification of humanity, and the Christian formation of people's conscience, so as to enable them to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into the various communities and spheres of life" (No.30 ).
As participants in a common spiritual endeavor, groups will be evaluated by the actual fruits of their organizational life and by the works they perform. The criteria to judge lay associations is by their fruitfulness, which are:
- To foster a deeper appreciation for prayer, contemplation, liturgical and the sacramental life.
- To cooperate and be willing to participate in programs and Church activities at the local, national and international levels.
- To express a desire and commitment to catechesis and a capacity for assisting Christian formation.
- To act as a presence of Christian witness in various settings of social life and the creation and awakening of charitable, cultural and spiritual works.
- To assist in the conversion to the Christian life of its members and help to return to communion those baptized who have fallen away.
5. Our call is to charity
As Catholic chiropractors we are to form together to affect the transformation of our profession and of our society. We are to live in communion with one another as a professional association. The hour has come for a re-evangelization. It is for us to go into the world to promote the dignity of the person though charity, which is the 'soul and sustenance' of all solidarity (No. 41).
II. The Church's Provisions for the Lay Faithful
A. Canon Law
In the spirit of Vatican Council II Canon law was updated in 1983. Those revisions have guidelines for the laity's participation in the ministry of the Church. Within these are the regulations governing the new call to evangelization of common priesthood, given by baptism, to form 'associations of the Christian faithful.' Associations are to be formed to assist one's 'call to holiness' in order to act in the world to further the kingdom of God.
1. Distinctiveness of lay associations
As stated in Canon law No.298 and No.299 there are common norms for lay associations. Associations are separate and distinct from institutes of consecrated life and societies of the apostolic life. Their purpose is to strive by common effort to promote a spiritual life, to foster worship, teaching of doctrine, or perform apostolic works, especially in the area of evangelization or works of charity. They are to have as their main function to animate the temporal order with the spirit of Christ.
2. Classifications
There are two classes of associations listed that are 'recognized': the first is by the 'establishment' by the hierarchy of the Church, which is called 'public'; and the second is classified as 'recommended' or 'recognized' by an ecclesial authority. The latter is given a simple endorsement bringing it into recognition, which is called 'private.'
3. Church recognition
The Christian faithful are exhorted to give their allegiance to associations already recommended or established by the Church, and are free by means of agreement among themselves to establish associations. To become recognized by the Church and to use the name 'Catholic', a competent ecclesial authority must review all private association statutes (cc. 300).
The statutes of all associations must define the purpose or end goals of the association or its social objectives, its headquarters, it government, conditions of membership, and by whom its policies are to be determined, and must choose a title that is appropriate for its time and place (cc. 304).
4. Ecclesial guidance
In reviewing the supportive guidelines in Canon law we find that the Church supports self-direction with ecclesiastical guidance and supervision (cc. 323). Though there is autonomy in regard to directing their own affairs, within the limits of their founding statutes, each association is subjected to the supervision and accountability by those whose "duty it is to take care that integrity of faith and morals is preserved" (cc.305). For example it would be the local ordinary or the national Conferences of Bishops. In addition, the Holy See range of supervision is to all-public and private associations, universal or locally.
5. Subject to authority
Within such guidance private associations are free to select their own moderators or spiritual advisors who then become confirmed as a candidate (cc.324). Also they are free to administer the goods its possess, but are subject to the authority of the local ordinary concerning dispositions of funds donated for pious causes (cc.325). Dissolution of these private associations can either come from its own accord with the norms of its statutes, or by intervention from the Church if it sees serious harm to doctrine or scandal to the faithful (cc. 326).
6.Cooperation with other associations of Catholic faithful
There are specific norms for the associations of the laity, which call for the lay members of associations to 'esteem' associations established for spiritual purposes and to cooperate with other associations of the Catholic faithful. Associations are to have their moderators encourage the members to be properly formed in their apostolate, which is proper to the laity (cc.327-329).
B. Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers
1. The Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers
In his pastoral letter Dolentium Hominum Pope John Paul II established the Pontifical Commission for the Apostolate to health care workers. The Church has always encouraged Christian works of mercy, which we can see in particular in religious institutions, which have as their specific aim to help the sick. Also many missionaries, in carrying out the work of evangelization, have combined the preaching of the Good News with the help and care of the sick. Today we must consider pastoral care to those health care providers who come from the laity (No.2).
Within the sector of health service there are concerns for the good of the human person and of society, which poses questions involving ethical and religious matters, such as suffering, illness and death. Therefore there needs to be guidance concerning the role of medical intervention and other therapies, and especially the mission of the physician with regards to the sick person (No.3).
" The complex problems which the health care worker must face in the context of a greater commitment to collaboration among groups and corresponding activities. Today there are many organizations, which directly engage Christians in the health care sector: over and above the religious congregations and institutions….In order to do this, individual action is not sufficient. Collective, intelligent, well-planned, constant and generous work is required, and not only within the individual countries, but also on an international scale. Coordination on a world-wide level would, in fact, allow a better proclamation and a more effective defense of your faith, of your culture, of your Christian commitment in scientific research and in your profession" (No.4).
With this type of coordinated effort one needs to consider the promotion of ethical-religious formation of Christian health care workers in the world, within the different contexts and issues that face the health professional (No.5). One of the main duties of the commission is to stimulate and foster the work of formation, study, and action carried out by the various international Catholic organizations (ICO's), as well as by other groups, associations and organizations which, on various levels and in various ways, operate in the health care sector. The members and consultors for this commission came from the departments of the Roman Curia, Episcopal Commissions for the health care world, religious orders engaged in hospital work, and from the laity in the various ICO's and associations which operate in the health care field (No.6).
2. The Charter for Health Care Workers
The Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers initiated a careful study and released the directives or guidelines for health care workers. The extraordinary advances in the sciences have produced an independent scholarly discipline called bioethics. The synthesis of the Church's position in this field is from their publication. In the Introduction, The Minister of Life we find our call to a 'new evangelization.'
This Charter gives health care workers a deontological code that contains the explicit directives to be followed by all those who promote and defend life. The activities of all health care workers are a 'form of Christian witness', which is part of the 'new evangelization' to service life and those who suffer.
a. Our call to be the presence of Christ
As part of the patient's health care team, chiropractors become an integral part of the extension of health care ministry of the Church in the community, as a Christian witness to our patients. We are called to be 'a vigilant and caring presence' of Christ.
"The activity of those engaged in health care is a very valuable 'service to life.' It expresses a profoundly human and Christian commitment, undertaken and carried out not only as a technical activity, but also as one of dedication to and love for one's neighbor. It is 'a form of Christian witness.' Their profession calls for them to be guardians and servants of human life. Life is a primary and fundamental good of the human person. Caring for life, then, expresses, first and foremost, a truly human activity in defense of physical life. It is to this that professional or voluntary health care workers devote their activity. These are doctors, nurses, hospital chaplains, men and women religious, administrators, voluntary care givers for those who suffer, those involved in the diagnosis, treatment and recovery of human health" (No.1).
As we care for our patients we have the opportunity to express our Christian values through the moral, ethical, and practical caring for the patient. What we proclaim by our actions, through our diagnosis and treatment of the patient in the primary focus of neuro-muscular-skeletal-systems, nutritional and other life-style counseling is that at every state of development of human life there is sanctity and dignity of life, in health and in illness.
b. Chiropractors as "Ministers of Life" -The Good Samaritan
1) Our call to Christ's compassion
What is required of us, as Catholic chiropractic health care workers, and which is so often explicit in our offices, is an attitude of compassion that is modeled after Christ. We come into this public physician-patient relationship we represent not only our profession, but also Christ.
2) Interpersonal relationship built on trust and conscience
The Catholic physician-patient relationship is one that is bonded in trust because of the respect we have for life. We do not provide a mere product of pain relief as a transaction, but a service to one who is suffering, a person made in the image of God. It requires that we have a higher moral and ethical foundation based upon principles that reflect the ministry to which we are called.
" Health care activity is based on an interpersonal relationship of a special kind. It is 'a meeting between trust and conscience.' The 'trust' of one who is ill and suffering and hence in need, who entrust themselves to the 'conscience' of another who can help them in their need and who comes to their assistance to care for them and cure them. These are the health care workers"(No.2).
c. Our call to personal empathy
The Charter reminds us that the sick person is never just a 'clinical case' as an anonymous individual to whom we apply our technological skill, but is one to whom we are to show a sincere attitude of 'sympathy' (No.2).
What is required of us is love, the love of Christ. It requires our presence in being available giving attention and understanding. We are to share and offer benevolence and patience in our dialogue. Our technological and professional expertise is of course not enough. What is truly required is a 'personal empathy' within each concrete situation with the patient (No.2).
d. Our call to an holistic view of the patient
In Chiropractic we proudly proclaim that we offer holistic treatment. This is true as we seek the clinical reasons for their conditions, but we need to go beyond the physical needs without compromising our clinical goals, the patient's goals, and our professional ethics. We are to have a committed purpose to provide a totality of service that is animated by the spirit of Christ, which includes the spiritual dimension.
"To safeguard, recover and better the state of health means serving life in its totality. In fact, "sickness and suffering are phenomena which, when examined in depth, ask questions which go beyond medicine to the essence of the human condition in this world. It is easy to see, therefore, how important in socio-medical-medical service is the presence...of workers who are guided by an holistic human vision of illness and hence can adopt a wholly human approach to the suffering patient"[Motu Proprio- Dolentium Hominum 2-11-85]. In this way, the health care worker, if animated by a truly Christian spirit, will more easily become aware of the demanding missionary dimension of their profession: 'their entire humanity comes into play' here 'and nothing less than complete commitment is required of him'" (No.3).
It is not hard to find committed and dedicated chiropractors. Yet, there has not been the opportunity until now to meet as Catholic chiropractors, and to proclaim an understanding of 'our call to holiness,' within this ministry of the Church. Chiropractic is a profession, but to a Catholic it is a vocation which reflects the gospel.
e. Our call to commitment
The response to a transcendent call takes its shape in caring for the suffering of the patient in our care. To "care lovingly for a sick person is to fulfill a divine mission" (No.3). The health care worker is the Good Samaritan of the parable "who stops beside the wounded person, becoming his neighbor in charity (cf. Lk 10:29-37)" (No.3).
f. Our call to ongoing formation
It is the responsibility of each health care worker to be prepared to answer his or her call through personal studies and through ongoing formation in ethico-religious professional training. It is necessary that all health care workers be taught morality and bioethics (No.7).
III.Current Ethical Models
A. Health Education
1. Catholic Medical Schools
Catholic health care educational institutions, which are few in numbers, do not offer a doctor of chiropractic degree in their programs. Therefore Catholic chiropractic students have had no place to turn for pastoral guidance. Today in the United States there is a variety of primary health care providers which operate under the term physician: chiropractors, dentists, medical, naturopathic, osteopaths, and podiatrists. Each of these provider groups has specific educational requirements, and has different state and federal legal requirements. These primary specialties have their training within professional or graduate level educational facilities.
Some professional schools are independent colleges and some are within a university setting. A small percent are within the Catholic University system. The students who attend Catholic institutions have opportunities to be educated with principles rooted and grounded in the Catholic tradition.
Walter Barr writes on the necessity of Catholic medical schools. He states that there needs to be a unifying presence and a vision to provide a safe haven to encourage physicians and scientists of all faiths, to take both religion and science seriously. He sees that there is nothing is more lethal to the Christian message than failure to respond to the Gospel values of love and compassion. Barr sees that the Catholic identity at an institution is an issue of the presence of committed Catholics, who will take their faith to respond to the serious issues facing the professional today.
2. Chiropractic Colleges
Currently there are no chiropractic programs within Catholic colleges or universities. Therefore, Catholic students who elect chiropractic do have not the opportunity to select an institution that could provide such a resource. Moreover, there were no Newman Centers or other type of campus ministries provided by the Church at any chiropractic college. Subsequently these students were left alone to integrate their faith as health care workers, and to find answers to those questions which they face daily.
3. Religio-psyco-socio-biological model of treatment
We can see today the beginnings of a new trend to address the challenges physicians face with patients. Catholic World News reported that the John Templeton Foundation has given a grant to six medical schools in the United States to be used to teach medical students how to incorporate the considerations of the patient's faith within the clinical relationship and case management.
Though we can applaud this as a step forward, this does not address the physician's faith and how it relates to patient care. For the individual chiropractic student and practitioner, there are no formal educational programs, seminars or retreats that are directed towards our professional needs in terms of the spiritual formation of health care workers.
We as providers face patients who suffer with serious needs. The purpose in developing this association is to facilitate a dialogue which will lead to action between the Church, other Catholic healthcare organizations, and our profession to promote the chiropractic physician's 'call to holiness.'
B. The Role of Catholic Health Care Workers
1. A shared vision
Catholic health care providers and organizations must respond to the changing health care environment in light of the Gospel. We must come together to express our core values and understand the operating principles that should be at the heart of the ministry of health care delivery which derive from the social and moral teachings of the Church. The core values and shared vision in Catholic health ministry listed here is taken from a report by the Catholic Health Association. These core values are also reflected within the larger society.
a. Human dignity
At the core of our practice is the belief in the fact that each and every person is made in the image of God and posses an inalienable dignity that must be respected. Because health care is essential to human dignity, all persons have a right to basic, high quality, comprehensive healthcare.
b. Fundamental option for the poor
Those who are marginalized have a special need. It is up to the community of social services to work with providers to ensure that the systems are supporting care to those in need.
c. The common good
Since we live our life with others in community, we need to promote the good of the individual, within the needs of the community.
d. Health care as a service
Health care is a service to persons in need, and should never be considered a mere commodity, nor as a primary means to provide returns to investors.
e. Responsible stewardship
Health care resources are limited and must be managed prudently. All expenditures must be tempered by the realization that adequate resources must be devoted to supporting other equally important human and social goods.
f. Subsidiarity
The persons most affected by the decisions should have adequate input into the decision making process, also ensuring appropriate physician control in clinical decision making.
2. Developing a Catholic identity
In his book The Dynamics of Catholic Identity in Healthcare Laurence J. O'Connell describes the issues related to developing a Catholic identity. As members of the ecclesial community we, as Catholic Chiropractors, desire to participate in the healing ministry, which is part of the mission of the Catholic Church. Our programs will be directed at providing resources from the Church, and sharing information among ourselves that will support our personal and communal transformation as Catholic healthcare providers.
a. Our Tradition
The forces, which affect the delivery of healthcare as a ministry, are one of economics, which view healthcare as a commodity having higher levels of competition. How can we effectively understand and convey our identity? How can we maintain our integrity in the current challenging system of the 20th century? Our Catholic identity can be found in the resources from our Catholic Tradition.
b. Our sacramental call
To be Catholic is to be called to experience God's mercy and to mediate that presence to others. We are to be a sacrament, as we become an instrument of God's presence, and effective sign of God's care. This then becomes sacramental aid in the transformation of an individual.
Our identity's essence and expression is found in our call to live in a particular way. We are meant to be witness, to live as Jesus did by demonstration Gods' goodness and healing power. The well-known prayer of St. Francis of Assisi reveals how we can become God's instruments, which is the prayer of the association.
Being an instrument is a symbol of sacramental action. We are to provide in our day to day encounters an atmosphere where one will feel and recognized God's presence.
c. Our call to solidarity
One of the practical outcomes of sharing a common vision is one of cooperation. We seek to have a fruitful collaboration with other Catholic healthcare workers, who are members of the sacramental community. We seek to create a sense of solidarity, a oneness in a common identity, when we are providing a continuum of care to patients. As we develop a common healthcare community it will be possible to overcome the historical tragic rivalries and competition that has existed between medical and chiropractic physicians.
3. The three characteristics of a health care worker's spirituality
In Food for the Journey, Juliana Casey, IHM describes the three characteristics of the spirituality of a healthcare worker - wonder, humility, and perseverance.
a. Wonder
Wonder is what we experience as we stand before God and His creation when we strive to heal. We carry God's image in our hands when we are standing in the sacred place, the holy ground found in care taking. This wonder is a radical amazement. We sense this wonder when by easing one's pain we come to touch the very essence of life. This touching is also a reverence by the way one listens to someone in pain. What we do has infinite significance.
b. Humility
Wonder humbles us. Yet, we are not to deny our gifts and talents. Humility calls for a truthfulness, a recognition of what we are, and what we have been given. Confidence is not arrogance. This calls for a celebration. We exist to serve, to join with Jesus to wash the guest's feet. Genuine service seeks the other's good, by placing them first and by enhancing the other's life. We reach out because we recognize our obligation as we work for the sake of others.
c. Perseverance
God is a preserving companion. He is the one who accompanies us. We are not alone in our journey because Jesus said he would always be with us. Because of this, we should not be murmuring against the changes, but rather strain towards the future. Perseverance is not filled with a grim endurance, but it is filled with hope and confidence. It is a faith-filled activity. Perseverance gives us the ability to be realistic and not pessimistic, hard working yet not frantic. With this we will be able to keep walking in the midst of uncertainty and anguish.
Wonder sees the divine presence in life; humility sustains us in perseverance. The reason for our journey is the needs of others. The impetus of the journey as providers is the call and grace of God.
C.The Role of Catholic Health Care Workers' Associations
Richard Lai Pong Chong, a member of the International Committee of Catholic Nurses and Medical-social Assistants, reflects on the purpose of a Catholic association for professionals. He states that Catholic workers must be trained for the apostolate. Without Catholic professional schools, it is then the associations who must provide its members a nucleus where professional ethics can be discussed according to the Gospel. Associations need to offer a milieu in which people can come together linked in prayer and reflection on who is our source of grace.
The role of an association is:
- Educators
To be a focus for education to provide the resources and discussions
- Mediators
To be a mediator where members come to discover what is and is not compatible with there faith
- Ethical
To be a forum for ethics where one can come to reconcile his/her faith and practice with his/her privileged place as evangelizers
- Defenders
To be an organic presence of the Church and Christ to the world to help defend the sacredness of human life.
Section Two - Vision & Mission
I. The Vision: Our Spirituality
A. Covenant
We desire to join together as a networked community to declare a mission and vision, which is encapsulated and lived out in a spirituality of a Catholic health care worker.
1. Our common vision is to have as its horizon Christ.
2. Our common mission is to lead a sacramental life in a covenant relationship.
3. Our common call is to be:
a. Disciples of Christ
b. Servants to Christ, to the Church, and to society
c. Healers for our patients
d. Evangelizers and Witnesses to the Word.
4. Our common values are to be based upon a loving principled centered life united in Christ.
5. Our common journey is to be a continual conversion in our personal and professional lives.
B. Community
As we gather as a community in a networked association of professionals, we proclaim our intentions within the Constitution and Bylaws (appendix C).
Preamble:
"We, as Catholic Chiropractors, in order to develop a Christ centered professional and personal life, and to bring to the art and science of the chiropractic profession the Spirit of Christ, desire to serve the People of God, our Christian communities, and to assist our bishops and our Pope - the Vicar of Christ, with our leadership, especially in the area of expert knowledge, skill and experience as Catholic Chiropractors; do hereby convene and agree to form an organization to be known as the Association for Catholic Chiropractors and to be governed by the following Constitution and Bylaws."
C. Objectives
Within the Constitution there are listed five areas of actions to fulfill our mission.
1. Principled life
To uphold the principles of our Catholic faith, as taught through the Magisterium of the Church in our personal life and in our profession life, especially as it relates to the art, science, and practice of the chiropractic profession.
a. Plans
This objective is assist doctors in developing their knowledge by providing information in order to uphold the principles of our faith. Resources will be taken from the Church's document, encyclicals, Catechism, and publications of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, the materials found in the national Conferences of Bishops, publications from other Catholic health organizations, and scholarly materials from theological and spiritual writers.
b. Projects
To develop a newsletter and web site to distribute the information.
2. Collaboration
To cooperate with the leaders of the Church, other health care providers, scientists, and other professionals in leading the Christian community in applying the principles of faith hope, charity, and morality, as it relates to the delivery of health care.
a.Plans
To develop a forum to dialogue with other associations of the faithful involved in healthcare and research related to patient care.
b. Projects
See Section Three for projects such as the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Medical Associations.
3.Ethics
To lead, cooperate, and support the Chiropractic community-at-large in establishing ethical healthcare practice principles that will reflect the Church's teachings.
a. Plans
To promote a collaborative spirit among our colleagues who have the same ethics and values. Though we work from a different religious horizon we will cooperate with all without compromising our faith, into order to promote the benefits of chiropractic.
b.Projects
To develop an ethical code in light of the teachings of the Church.
4.Charity
To lead and support the Christian community in bringing chiropractic care to all, especially to those in need.
a. Plans
To offer corporate and individual works of charity within existing sponsored public health voluntary or missionary programs, and other Catholic private or public health care facilities.
b. Projects
See below Project: "Hands of Care" and Section Three
5.Spirituality
To offer support through information on spiritual formation to Catholic chiropractors to help them follow the 'universal call to holiness' for a Christ centered professional and personal life.
a. Plans
To offer articles and summaries in the newsletter, retreats, and pilgrimages.
b.Projects
Support the development of local and college chapters.
II.The Mission: Our Projects
A. Project: Campus Ministry
1. Plans
AFCC plans to initiate Students Chapters in chiropractic colleges by communicating with the local dioceses and the colleges' administrators to offer Campus Ministry services to the Catholic students.
2. Goals
The goals of the AFCC is ensure that every chiropractic student, who are baptized Catholics and any who desire it, have the same opportunity as all other Catholic healthcare students. It is to have access to the pastoral care information and teachings of the Church, as it relates to health care.
As a practitioner, educator and consultant I, along with our board members and advisors, feel there is a void in our profession for Catholics regarding integration of our philosophical, business and spiritual roles.
3. Changing Roles of Providers
Today health care educational institutions need to respond to the positive effect of spirituality, as it relates to patient care and recovery. Harvard Medical School Continuing Education offers courses to physicians on the role of spirituality and health using the religio-socio-pysco-biological model of patient care.
Chiropractic colleges are unique places of higher learning, which have an important role in serving the common good of society. It is, therefore, in the best interest of society to help students prepare to take on the important roles as healthcare providers. One facet that can not be overlooked, but does not come under the functions of a chiropractic educational institution is the integration of one's faith.
4. Education
There are well known Catholic Universities that have healthcare programs such as nursing, physical therapy, medicine and dentistry, but no chiropractic programs. Since there are no Catholic chiropractic colleges that have clubs or Campus Ministries programs that support their Catholic student population, it is the purpose of the AFCC to offers such assistance.
The majority of large universities have campus ministries or Newman Centers. Chiropractic colleges do not. We do not suggest that every chiropractic college do the same, but are requesting they provide the opportunities for their students. What we seek is a cooperative effort from the presidents and deans of students at each college.
5. Action policies
a. What each college needs to do:
1) Appoint a liaison-in-charge to post in a permanent conspicuous place the newsletters and information from the AFCC so students may partake of the information and resources on a timely and regular bases
2) Assist us in obtaining a Catholic faculty advisor to coordinate the pastoral care information that we will offer, and make available facilities
3) Provide similar opportunities for students to form local chapters as they do for other clubs
b. What the AFCC will do for Student Chapters
It is the responsibility of the AFCC to assist the Church in offering the pastoral care necessary to chiropractic students so they may succeed in their call to service humankind. We will:
1) Offer student memberships with general memberships benefits
2) Assist in forming student chapters and locate a chiropractor/professor advisor
3) Offer models for ministry and help initiate contacts with charities on their behalf
4) Assist students to obtain from their local bishop a spiritual director, either from the local parish, bishops' office, or nearby religious institution
B.Project: Hands of Care
1.Current needs
In the profession there are a variety of programs, though often sporadic and limited in scope, which offer opportunities to volunteer on a short-term basis to the underserved poor.
2. Existing opportunities
Individual chiropractors and technique clubs occasionally go on trips to third world countries. The problem is with follow-up care because they have little or no coordination with other facilities in the countries they served.
3. The Project
The solution is to offer to coordinate already existing programs and develop new ones. The goal is to develop a resource-clearing house for doctors and interns to work within Catholic hospitals or clinics, which are distributed throughout the world. There are over 100,000 Catholic social service facilities.
4. Goals
To work with other establish existing secular volunteer programs, religious missionary boards, and local Catholic Charities facilities on the local, national and international levels to bring chiropractic care to those in need. For example: Doctors without Borders, Catholic Charities, Catholic missionary boards of religious institutions, such as the Jesuits, or other Catholic associations of the faithful who already have existing sites for which they volunteer.
The plan is to offer a flexible program, which will:
a. allow any and all licensed chiropractic physicians of any faith to serve
b. select from a variety of programs that offer various times frames and places
c. sponsor short-term projects that would become on-going sites or to coordinate with the national chiropractors' associations, who now live and work in the third world countries for follow-up
d. collaborate on programs that would allow chiropractic interns to work in third world Catholic facilities.
5. Purpose: Charity
The final year of the preparation for the jubilee is being consecrated to charity. In a speech given on April 18, 1997 to the members of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum the Pope stressed that charity should be offered in the 'spirit of service', without regard to the secondary effects.
" [I]t is important always to revivify among the faithful the desire to show their love for the Lord, which does not make distinctions among persons…. Charity is a higher value than justice, and it is necessary to go beyond the order of simple equity to the order of love and of the gift of oneself."
C.Project: Chapters & Representatives
1. Diocesan Chapters
The goal is to stimulate chiropractic physicians within a diocese into action for mutual support and acts of charity. Diocesan chapter representatives would provide leadership to coordinate information between the AFCC, their members and their local bishop, other Catholic institutions and charity programs. In addition, they may work with other Catholic professionals in their region, attend the White Masses of their local dioceses, assist in bringing new members from their diocese, and sponsor local retreats.
The AFCC will provide the support, information, and protocols to the Diocesan Chapter Representative to help establish local contacts.
2. Representatives
The goal is to establish a network of members who belong to the chiropractic associations and networks. Within chiropractic there are several activities and types of gatherings that bring doctors together such as: continuing educational programs, political associations on the local district, state, national or international levels, or seminars given by practice management consultants. The overall responsibility of a representative would be to gather members to attend Mass and to ensure the group with whom they are associated will hold to a standard that is not in conflict with the Church's teachings.
Unfortunately most of these are held on weekends, which begin very early and end very late. This leaves the Catholic chiropractor usually away from their home church for more than just a few weeks a year with limited time for Mass.
a. National Representatives
The responsibilities would include meeting with the Church's representatives who are responsible for pastoral care to health care workers in that country.
b. State, Regional, and Association Representatives
The responsibilities would be to act as a liaison and to notify Catholic members for a liturgical celebration during meetings, and to help develop collaborative projects with their particular groups.
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