Mueller, Joseph M.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 6 | Number 4 Article 8October 1938The Catholic Physicians' Guild*Joseph M. MuellerFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationMueller, Joseph M. (1938) "The Catholic Physicians' Guild*," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 6 : No. 4 , Article 8.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol6/iss4/8THE LINAORE QUARTERLY THE CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS' GUILD* By REV. JOSEPH M. MUELLER Belleville, Illinois The subject is intriguing. The mere mention of the name is suffi-cient to start an argument. Ob-jectives and motives are attributed to the Catholic Physicians' Guild, which make membership in the Guild a real challenge to every Catholic physician. An analysis of what the Guild is not, will permit the medical pro-fession to accept the Guild with-out misgiving. A consideration of its true character and of its ne-cessity should make every Catho-lic physician desirous of member-ship. The Catholic Physicians' Guild. is not another medical society, an-other organization to advance the cause of medical science, to dis-seminate .knowledge, to promote study, to encourage research. The American Medical Association and the various state and county groups serve that purpose. The Guild has no intention of encroach-ing upon that field. Medical sci-ence should be common property irrespective of any group, no mat-ter what the nature of the group-ing--religious, social or economic. The Catholic Physicians' Guild is not an association to advance the monetary gain of its members by soliciting the patronage of a Catholic clientele on the basis of Guild affiliation. An organization * Address delivered by the Pasto.r of St. Peter's. Cathedral, at the Guild Com-munion breakfast. with such an aim is unworthy of any profession. A physician with adequate ability, conscientious ob-servance of office hours and proper bedside manners needs no Guild to extend his practice. The in-competent might welcome such or-ganization, but the Catholic is in conscience bound to possess aver-age competency before he is mor-ally justified in practicing medi-cme. The large number of Catholic hospitals in this country might suggest the thought that the Guild is a means of securing preferen-tial service in the Catholic insti-tutions. The staff of most Catho-lic hospitals is such as to make preferential treatment on the re-ligious basis impossible or, at least, · extremely dangerous for the continued successful operation of an offending institution. If a doc-tor's work is good and his atten-tion to his patients in keeping with the ·best traditions of the medical profession, any hospital will be anxious to render its best service in behalf of that doctor and his patients. Common sense dictates such service. A capable doc'tor hils no worry about preferential treatment. And the incompetent physician will ultimately write his own doom, no matter what pre£-erence he m'ay at times receive. The Guild is not a goad-fellow-ship affair. · Means of entertain-ment are all too common to neces-[ 99 ' ] THE LINACRE QUARTERLY sitate a good-time club among a group of men who1 on the whole, enjoy the means of seeking rec-reation according to their own tastes. Nor is the Guild an exclusive organization founded upon pro-fessional accomplishments, a merit society of m~dical men. The Catholic Physicians' Guild is solely and practically an ethical society, based upon the teachings of the Catholic Church. It is an ordinary and normal method of intelligent, professional men, hav-ing like problems, ·to safeguard their most cherished possession-their means of eternal salvation. It seeks in the unity of members, added courage and inspiration for the stalwart profession and un-daunted practice of its moral code. lts object is directly and pre-eminently to promote the per-sonal, spiritual welfare of its members according to Catholic doctrine and norm. It affects the medical profession only by reason of the fact that the medical pro-fession is the physician's field of activity and the morality of- its methods and practices has a defi-nite relation to his spiritual life. Its purpose renders it worthy of every Catholic physician's sup-port and affiliation. The need of the Catholic Physi-cians' Guild is evidenced by the stress laid - upon the teaching of Catholic ethics in our Catholic schools of medicine. It is evidenced by the policy of Catholic medical schools to eliminate students who give definite signs or proofs of their determination not to con-form to proper ethical standards in their personal life or in their work. The need of the Guild for Cath-olic physicians is patent from only a cursory examination of the doc-tor's ordinary routine. Male and female, young and old, good and bad, all mankind finds its way into his office seeking but one thing: physical well-being. To preserve or restore health of the body is the purpose of his every effort. The human body is but so many muscles and nerves, so many or-gans and bones, so much flesh and blood. And when death frustrates his efforts, death presents itself to him primarily as the inevitable collapse of physical forces or chemical actions. Only a strong faith can eliminate or control the callousing effects of such constant experiences upon the moral, relig-ious mentality of the practitioner. Only supernatural faith can re-tain for such a man the true con-cept of the human body as the dwelling place of an immortal soul made to God's image, of the hu-man body as an instrument of eternal salvation or woe. The Guild aims to preserve that faith in its members. The nature and order of a doc-tor's work eliminate many protec-tions against temptation and spir-itual harm. Health and disease are properties of the entire body and of both sexes. The fact that the doctor is so thoroughly a_c-q~S:inted with the human body neither lessens his passions nor [ ;}()() 1 THE LINACRE QUARTERLY chills his blood when delicate situ-ations must be confronted. His opportunities of counteracting the temptations of his medical prac-tice are in most cases, of necessity, limited to attendance at Sunday Mass, the reception of the sacra-ments of Penance and Holy Com-mumon. Like the Church he serves humanity, and his hours of service, like those of the Church, must accommodate the greater number of people. Attendance at afternoon and evening devotions, retreats, missions, parish meetings are largely impossible or burden-somely inconvenient for him. The high esteem in which the medical profession is held offers reason for the Guild's need. This high estee~ rests upon the fact of real accomplishments, and real achievements have a way of mak-ing man feel self-sufficient, not to use the word proud. Such a men-tal state d~es not become the fol-lower of Christ, and the Guild tends to preserve the ideals of the Nazarene. By reason of this esteem doc-tors are leaders in their commu-njty. The standards of their pro-fession mark them as specially privileged by God with more than ordinary intelligence. Conse-quently they have obligations to-ward the general public aside from their strict duties as men of medi-cal knowledge, whether they ap-preciate these obligations or not. The Catholic public expects the Catholic physician to be a living exemplar of the Catholic faith. For the Catholic doctor to shy away from the Catholic Physi-cians' Guild because of its pro-nounced religious character brands him as lacking the courage of the convictions of his faith and as sadly in need of the wholesome influence of the Guild. Refusal to join its membership, if possible, demonstrates a lack of interest in his own spiritual welfare and in-dicates an indifference to the con-comitant duties of his profession. A consideration of the Guild's secondary objectives and of the opportunities in which Catholic medical men, properly organized, can exercise a powerful influence for good, would bring forth addi-tional arguments in behalf of the Guild sufficient in themselves to merit support for the Guild and to prompt membership in its body. In all of its aspects the Guild ap-peals to the finest arid most noble in the character of the Catholic physician. New York State Legislates Against Physicians' Advertising A practitioner's license may now be revoked in that State on the following additional grounds: 1. Offering, undertaking or agreeing to "cure or treat disease by secret method, procedure, treatment, or medicine." 2. Advertising for patronage by means ~f "handbills, posters, circulars, letters, stereopticon slides, motion pictures, radios or magazines." - The Newspaper Editors' Asso-ciation has its own code of ethics . [ 101 1 

The Catholic Physicians\u27 Guild*

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The Catholic Physicians\u27 Guild*

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