The healing community: A Catholic social justice critique of modern health care

Abstract

Catholic social thought calls for persons to be treated as subjects, not only as objects, and for a society in which basic health care is available to all. Treating the body as an object, isolated from other bodies and composed of many parts or systems, has led to great success in treating disease but has also degraded human dignity in patient care. Healthcare costs in the U.S. impede ready access to care, leading to financial collapse for millions each year; this is largely a generational result of rising expectations of long life for the elderly and widespread abortion of the very young (unborn); which practices follow in turn from the presumption that health results from human ingenuity and management. Catholic social thought affirms that love is essential to true health care and acknowledges that God is the source of healing. Such a perspective could point the way to humanizing the hospital experience and redressing the socioeconomic inequalities of modern health care.

Keywords:

• Catholic social thought
• Community
• Health
• Subjectivity
• Abortion
• Longevity

Notes

1 This article is adapted from a lecture given at the 82nd Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association, held October 24–26, 2013 in Santa Barbara, California. The theme of the conference was “Mission, Justice and Medicine: Integrating Catholic Social Teachings into Health Care.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Donald Paul Sullins

The Rev. D. Paul Sullins is Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of America and Director of the Summer Institute of Catholic Social Thought. His email address is [email protected].