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As an infectious disease doctor who specializes in HIV, I never imagined that my entire medical world would be turned upside down.

Two recent crises have tested the mettle of our nation, revealing much about our citizens and government. The emergence of the coronavirus challenged our public health response. Experts recommended measures to slow transmission and avoid overwhelming our critical care capacity. Government officials deftly responded with restrictions that also disrupted economic and social life, including cherished liberties.

For Legatus magazine readers and chapter members (I’ve had the honor of speaking to chapters throughout the country), I might seem a curious choice to weigh in on bioethics. Legatus folks are accustomed to my cogitations on culture, politics, even historical figures like Pope St. John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. What could I possibly have to say about bioethics?

At the end of Mass, Catholics are sent forth: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” That is the duty of the laity because they “live in the midst of the world and its concerns, to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardor of the spirit of Christ” (Second Vatican Council, Apostolicam Actuositatem, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, 2).

In recent times, our appreciation and dedication for nature and the environment has grown on a global scale. If only we could elevate society’s appreciation for the new life of every human being!

Many who obtain a driver’s license elect to become organ donors. In general, organ donation is perceived as an altruistic act without ethical controversy.

When people bemoan the fact there’s so much fake news in the world today, I’m reminded of a story the late BBC broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge used to tell about what he called “the media world of fantasy.”

The vast majority of calls taken by the ethicists concern end-of-life decision-making. The principal analytical tool used in these cases is the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means of treatment.

Integrity is the most cited word with companies that list their values. But listing these values and living them are two different things. Some companies tout their values but don’t hold leaders accountable for living them. Consider, for example, that Enron had “integrity” on their list of values.

Some believers have been blindsided by the rise of “woke” capitalism. Tempted to see a conspiracy of elites, they look to the resurgent anti-market, big-government “right.” That’s a mistake.

For decades, Catholics have been working to evangelize neighbors and the broader culture. Unfortunately, we have limited what evangelization means to a very narrow skill set, namely, apologetics.

Truth be told, among all the types of Catholic leaders we provide training and formation to, my favorite to work with are seminarians. I’m inspired by their authentic zeal, and despite the seeming narrowness of their perspective, I am grateful for their desire to probe and challenge in order to understand the landscape in which they will, God willing, one day serve. One bright seminarian this year asked me, “Sum it up for us.

Christians should discern with care before agreeing to be a tissue donor, or in donating their bodies for research, as there are unique ethical issues involved in each.

On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God…”

Venerable Fulton Sheen once wrote that “Sex has become one of the most discussed subjects of modern times. The Victorians pretended it did not exist; the moderns pretend that nothing else exists.”

“Oh, it’s okay, he’s grounded in his faith. And besides, he signed up for a religion course!” I heard that reassurance from parents at my parish regarding their son, a solid Catholic kid being shipped off to Secular U. one autumn. I warned them about our universities, pleading that they send him to a serious Catholic college.

Business heroes are all around us. We recognize them in the little things they do that make a big impression. They teach, mentor, and inspire us to become better people. Their example in doing little things well makes them heroes in our lives.

On Monday night of Holy Week, as the world sat transfixed by the images of one of the great symbols of our Catholic Faith, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, going up in flames, I and a small band of missionaries took to the streets of SoHo looking for former Catholics, themselves lost in a world without faith.

Roman Catholics are in the crosshairs – in the West and around the world. The reasons are deeply, and tragically, ironic.

One of the greatest challenges of our age is what Thomistic scholar Servais Pinckaers called “secular Christianity.” In The Sources of Christian Ethics, he defines it as “the temptation to adapt to the world and its spirit in the name of sharing its values and hopes.”