Auer, Edward T.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 32 | Number 4 Article 7November 1965The Challenge to Catholic Medical EducationEdward T. AuerFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationAuer, Edward T. (1965) "The Challenge to Catholic Medical Education," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 32 : No. 4 , Article 7.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol32/iss4/7whose duty as Christian educators certainly incluJcs not only the im­parting of knowledge, but the inter­est in the soul of the student as well as the mind, then he has a good chance to become a true Christian physician and thereby attain his place as an outstanding leader of society and a needed leaven in medi­cal thinking. There is yet another aspect in which Catholic medical education has a duty, in its service to the com­munity in general as well as speci­fically to the Catholic community.There are few other facilities, andnone so well suited, to which theChurch may go for help and leader­ship in medical-moral problems. The Church must have a place to conduct the research and clinical ex­periments which will establish aCatholic moral position to oppose illicit procedures that may be cur­rent or proposed. As for instance, afew years ago when it was thought that a woman who had tuberculosis had best be aborted, lest she die of 302 her tuberculosis; it v olic-compiled medicf clinical cases that p position was not tn the general acceptanc olic position. The proved the safety to children of multiple c to debunk the idea f cesarian sections nee lization. Specifically, search and activities center in our Cat schools. The recent Pc Catholic physicians scientists to discover r, reproductive process. given us an order to and certainly Cat: schools should take tl type of endeavor. only Cath­' ta tis tics . on 'd that this and led to _if the Cath-ne facilities e mother of :-ian sections one or two itated steri· :atholic re· ust have a ic medical s have asked d Catholic . . ·e about the They have ·ork on this · ic medical lead in this I hope that we h c presented some .definite ideas, f what the Catholic university mL 3t do, and I believe has done in the past, to pro· duce graduates who will leaven society and maintain , ,atholic prin· ciples as a prominent ft ce in society. LINACRE QUARTERLY The Challenge To Catholic MedicalEducation EDWARD T. AUER, M.D. When I asked myself why I aminterested in Catholic medical edu­cation and why I am here at St.Louis University, I found myself going back ten years to a time. wh�n I attended a meeting in St. Loms. The occasion was the Annual Meet­ing of the .American Psychiatric As­sociation. Dr. Kenneth Appel, who in the years between 1947 and 1962had been my mentor, was at thattime, President of the American Psychiatric Association. He pre­sented his Presidential Address here in St. Louis. It was . a scholarly ap­praisal of the challenge of psychiatry today. He reflected on the growth of psychiatry through the era of mysticism, the era of deterministic Freudian analysis, to a predkted era ·. of increased awareness of the indi­vidual as a unique being who �'tries to develop his constructive social capacities, believes in education for citizenship, the devotion of one's energies, intelligence and skill, not only to work and labor and the en­joyment of its fruits, but also to constructive and satisfying social relationships in the family, in the community, in the nation, and in the world." He challenged those assembled with these questions: Dr. Auer is Professor and Director, De­Partment of Neurology and Psychiatry, St Louis University, School of Medicine. NOVEMBER, 1965 Does the visualization of the spin of electrons in the diagram, or the tick of t�e geiger counter registering electromagnetic pulses of energy have more val_idity .or reality than the aesthetic expene�ce of listening to Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man 5 De­sire, the delight of a beautiful sunset see� with a friend, the reading of Socra�es search for truth and the courageous facmg of death, the life of St. Francis, or . the mother devoting herself to her sick ch1�d? If, we analyze the brain into chemical constituents and energy transformations, does this mean that thought, feeling, as­piration, loyalty, devotion and love are not real? They are real aspects of experience though they cannot be weighed or measur�d. �ow much does loyalty weigh-or rehab1hty? What is the thermodynamic equivalent of sticking to a necessary job? W�at_ �re the radioactive equivalents of rehabihty, responsibility, devotion to the well-being of society?-Not that physical measurements are not of value. They contribute to the increase of material things and the well­being of people. They also advance the possibilities of death as was shown at Hiroshima. The knowledge of science and technology can be self-defeating and can destroy itself. The uses of knowledge and the potentiali­ties of individuals and groups are the important problems of today. His challenge of ten years ago­at that time a visionary challenge­becomes more a reality each day. Where can efforts best be directed to meet this challenge? I believe that the responsibility falls to a great 303 extent on our anivers1t1es ... and especially upc,n a great Catholic university. Universities are the second oldest institutions in our society. In this respect, they are second only to our cathedrals and religious bodies. They are institutions, not where truth is taught, but where truth is pursued and where truths of today might become the trivial thoughts of tomorrow. need universities arn· to avoid this dang-; content ourselves '" the task of making r den ts to the under, Such an undertaking� long individual pursc succeed, we need fac nize, and by their eir facilities We cannot relegating ) 1 ars of stu­{ ua te years. ,olves a life-To hope to 1 , es to recog -Jrk indicate pursuit. We p service to ·ian to havea conviction to such have for years giver the need for the ph a broader base in ·e arts and humanities and to r- icipate with interest and concern he life of his community. But o our children, do as , as we say. We cam· to develop a broac· students, as do and not expect them :iew of life while peering throu: an electron microscope. In summary, I bf. -ve that the objectives of a Cat: Jlic medical education are to pu,·· .1e excellence in science in an atm1 ;phere where such excellence is SC' --: in its true perspective, through the eyes of scholars who do not !1. , .' sight of the individual or society md who are willing to examine r, · ,{ not ignore a set of values for liv. , , which they are willing to procla .; and to try and understand. But universities and medical schools stand in peril. There is need for them to examine and define their values and to take a stand for thatwhic?, �he� b,<;lieve. "Objectivity" and sc1ent1sm standing alone are not free from values-we must ex­amine them and choose, I believe, between the values of materialism ot the values of our religious tradi­tion. We do not have to be content with either, for one cannot survive without the other nor can one or the other survive without the con­stant stimulation of examination and challenge. There exists, however, the danger that, with the best in­tentions, we shall become bound by o_ur scientific methodology and lose sight of our ultimate objectives and g�als · · · :Whi�h for me, a psychia -tnst, consist m the learning and application of those truths which should ultimately decrease man's in­humanity to his fellow man. The problems today are, indeed, the _us:� of knowledge and the po ten -tialit1es of individuals and groups." Medical education and medical practice _ face the danger of becoming a technical pursuit. Medical schools In this way, we <, ,me closer to that goal in which w· and our stu­dents, develop com1 rnctive socill capacities, develop owselv:s as citi· zens, and devote our energies, in· telligence and skill m,: only to work and labor and the enjoyment of its fruits, but also to constructive and satisfying social relaiiunships in the family, in the community, in the nation, and in the world. 304 LINACRE QUARTERLY Health Services in the Early Church REVEREND ALOYSIUS RocHE Knowing what medicine owes to the enterprise of the ancient Greeks, it is rather surprising to find Chris­tian apologists, even in the fourth century, claiming that the Church was doing. far more for sick people than had been attempted or even thought of in classical times. Yet this claim has never been chal­lenged. At the time it was made it was not challenged even by those who were most disposed to resent it. Writing in the middle of the same century, the Emperor Julian (the Apostate), a pronounced adversary of the new religion and, therefore, a reluctant witness, was forced to cry shame on his fellow-pagans for al­lowing the impious Galileans, with their meagre resources, to throw into the shade those who could draw on the wealth of the Empire. By being the first to get medicine on to a scientific footing, these clever Greeks placed the whole medical fraternity in their debt. Yet, owing perhaps to their preoccupation with the abstract, their researches had tended to remain on an academic level, with less and less attention paid to their exploitation in the in-Reprinted from the Catholic Medical Quarterly, journal of the Guild of St. Luke, SS. Cosmas and Damian, London, England, with permission of the Editors. NOVEMBER, 1965 terest of the community as a whole. Their health services, having got off to a very promising start, failed to keep pace with the march of Graeco-Roman civilisation. We heartell of institutions for the blind, for the dying and for maternity-cases at the Epidaurus, but what evidence is there that there were many, or even any, general hospitals in the modern sense? The Romans were an essentially practical people with harder heads. But they came late into the field andwere more borrowers than anythingelse. At any rate, they never reallygot down to the job of providing fortheir sick people. The rich couldafford to have the best that was go­ing; for example, a medical man wasin full-time attendance on the Em­peror Julian himself, no doubt tokeep him in trim for badgering theChrist ians. Pai d  p rac t i t i oner smarched with the legions and saw tothe health of the gladiators and theslaves. But, in these cases, the mo­tive was purely utilitarian, no differ­ent from the motive that led them toprovide clinics and veterinary sur­geons for the horses wounded inbattle and the cattle falling ill inthe fields. Apart from setting up a free dispensary in one of the streets of Rome and a small hostel on an305 

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