Catholic Physicians\u27 Guilds

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 22 | Number 3 Article 78-1-1955Federation Board Session: Minutes of the JuneMeeting - 1955Catholic Physicians' GuildsFollow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqPart of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health SciencesCommonsRecommended CitationCatholic Physicians' Guilds (1955) "Federation Board Session: Minutes of the June Meeting - 1955," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 22 :No. 3 , Article 7.Available at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol22/iss3/7FEDERATION BOARD SESSION ....•Minutes of the June Meeting-1955 The June meeting of the Execu­tive Board of The Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 8, 1955, at Hotel Dennis. The following were present: J. J. Toland, Jr., M.D .. Pres. M. F. Yeip, M.D., 1st Vice-Pres.,also representing the ClevelandGuildWm. J. Egan, M.D., 2nd Vice-Pres., also represent­ing the Boston Guild D. L. Sexton, M.0.,3rd Vice-Pres., also represent-ing �he St. Louis GuildJ. J. Graff, M.D., Sec'y .. also rep­resenting the Wilmington Guild Rt. Rev. Msgr. D. A. McGowan. Moderator A. Reding, M.D.,Sioux Falls, S. Oak. GuildV. J. Mulaire, M.D.,Stamford, Conn. GuildE. J. Murphy, M.D .• Bronx Guild J. T. Geddis, M.D .. Bronx Guild N. MacNeill, M.D ..Philadelphia GuildC. P. Cunningham, M.D ..Rock Island, Ill. GuildH. L. Bastien, M.D.,Northern Virginia GuildF. J. Sullivan, M.D., Fall River, Mass. Guild S. J. Carnazzo, M.D., Omaha, Neb. Guild J. Satory, M.D .• LaCrosse, Wis. Guild J. Masterson, M.D.,Brooklyn, N. Y. Guild104Rev. Henry M. Gallagher, Canton, Ohio Guild Rev. J. J. Flanagan, S.J., Editor, THE LINACRE QUARTERLY Wm. P. Chester, M.D., Detroit Past Pres. of Federation Wm. J. Fordrung, M.D .. Scarsdale, N. Y. M. R. Kneifl. Exec. Sec'y.Jean Read, Asst. Sec'y.* * * The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. President's Report In his report the President com­mended the increase of subscrip­t ions  t o  LINACRE Q UARTERLY which now total 6,655 and the increase in Guild membership to the Federat ion. Since the last Board meeting held in November 1954, ten more groups have been affiliated: Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Stamford, Conn.; Eugene, Ore.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; West­chester, N. Y.; Pittsburgh. Penn.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Utica, N. Y., and St. Cloud, Minn. Puerto Rico Affiliation Affiliation of a Catholic Physi­cians' Guild in Puerto Rico Wai-­discussed. A Guild is being formed there where problems regarding planned parenthood and birth con­trol are a cause of great concern. The moral support of the Federa­tion has been promised. St. Luke's Day-White Mass Guilds reported on their observ­ance of St. Luke's Day and the "White Mass" adopted by the Federation. The Bronx Guild ad-LINACRE QUARTERLY vised that this Mass for the Cath­odic doctors in the Archdiocese of New York has been sanctioned by Cardinal Spellman. In Cleveland the Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral. Catholic doctors, their families and friends were invited. The Mass for the Boston A rchdio­cese was observed at Boston Col­lege last year. It will be repeated this year and Archbishop Cushing will be celebrant. The Detroit Guild advised that the occasion will be observed in three hospitals in that area this year. News releases regarding this year's "White Mass" wilrbe sent out in advance of October 18 for national and local publications. Bulletin "Guilds in Focus" The news bulletin "Guilds in Focus" is sent to the officers and pre's idents of affiliated Guilds. Representatives present were urged to have news of activities and in­formation they would like to have circulated sent in to the Federation office to insure continued publica­tion. The bulletin is circulated in the months that LINACRE QUAR­TERLY is not published. The ven­ture received warm and enthusi­astic approval of all present. Financial Aid to Catholic Medical Schools The committee appointed to in­vestigate and report on the finan­cial status of Catholic medical schools presented resolutions to sponsor definite plans for support. The Chairman, Dr. S. J. Carnazzo of the Omaha Guild, gave a fine report. This report will be pre­pared for presentation at the next Conference of Bishops to be held in Washington, D.C. in Novem­ber. Guilds will be furnished with data to inform their respect ive Bishops of conditions and the need AUGUST, 1955 for assistance. Several plans were sabmitted which will be referred to the Executive Committee of the Federation Board for study to be presented with the resolutions. Election of Officers The Nominating Committee Dr. Wm. Chester of Detroit, Or. N. MacNeill of Philadelphia, andDr. J. Masterson of Brooklyn­presented the following nomineesfor office: Dr. Melvin F. Yeip,Cleveland, President; Dr. W. J.Egan, Boston, 1st Vice-President;Dr. D. L. Sexton, 2nd Vice-Presi­dent; Dr. E. viur phy,  Bronx ,N.  Y . .  3rd Vice-President; Dr.J. J. Graff. Wilmington, Del..Secy .. and Dr. L. D. Cassidy, St.Louis, Mo., Treasurer. On motionduly made and seconded the sec­retary was instructed to cast oneballot and the above were electedfor a term of office 1955-1957.A hearty and prayerful vote of thanks was accorded Dr. Joseph J. Toland, Jr., retiring president,for his interest and conscientiousefforts during his term of office.Dr. M elvin Yeip acknowledgedelection and expressed hope tocontinue the aims of the Federa­tion with special emphasis on thefurther distr ibut io n  of LINACREQuARTERL Y, the official journal ofthe Federation. It is his requestthat Guilds secure, if possible, andfurnish the  centra l  office withnames and addresses of all Cath- ·olic physicians in their respectivedioceses. The names furnishedwould be other than those of Guildmembers.Annual Meeting Discussion ensued with regard to convening one Executive Board meeting yearly i n s t ead of two. Time is brief for the June meeting during the A.M.A. sessions and it 105 was suggested that this meeting might possibly be eliminated in favor of a two-day winter session. The Executive Commi t tee will consider the proposal and report at the winter meeting to be held in St. Louis, Mo., December 10 and 11 tentative dates. Exhibit at A. M. A. Convention It was recommended that the Federation make arrangements for an educational exhibit booth at the next American Medical Associa­tion Convention. Catholic litera­ture related to health care would be distributed and members of the Federation would be on hand for consultation. Details will be con­sidered by the Executive Com­mittee and definite proposals at the winter meeting. News Release Vigorous exception in the form of a release to the press was made, answering the American Society for the Study of Sterility, meeting in Atlantic City with the A.M.A., whose statement that "artificial in­semination is a completely ethical, moral and desirable form of medi­cal therapy" appeared in the June · 4 New York Times. Copy of therelease follows:"Atlantic City, New Jersey, June· 11 - Officers and delegates  at the Federation of Catholic Physi­cians' Guilds annual meeting here took vigorous exception to a recent statement of the American Society for the Study of Sterility, which held that artificial insemination is a 'completely ethical, moral and desirable form of medical therapy.' "Disagreeing with the statement on every count, the Catholic doc­tors said artificial insemination is a direct violation of the rights, privileges and duties of married life and, therefore, an attack on 106 the very stability of society itself, which they as doctors are pledged to support. This fact alone, the Catholic doctors said, would make the practice unethical and immoral, and hence reprehensible rather than a 'desirable form of medical therapy.' "The findings of the American Society for the Study of Sterility were made by a group of 500 medical doctors. "The Catholic physicians con­tended that 'mutual consent' had no decisive bearing on the ethics and morality involved. The Cath­olic doctors said that they won­dered seriously if the promoters and supporters of the 'test tube' baby idea have weighed the long range psychosomatic and legal im­plications of their crusade. "The Catholic physicians noted that an Illinois Superior Court judge in a decision in a 'test tube' baby case said that 'donor insemi­nation, with or without the con­sent of the husband, is contrary to public policy and good morals and constitutes adultery on the part of the mother.' The judge also said: 'A child so conceived is not a child born in wedlock and is there­fore illegitimate.' " World Health Organization M sgr. McGowan des cr ibed World  Health Organizat ior. (WHO) and its activities, advo­cating watchful attenti o n  to its services in foreign lands. Apropos health and those engaged in the practice of medicine Msgr. Mc­Gowan noted that the present Pope has spoken more often and more informatively than preceding Pon­tiffs. The Holy Father's talks on health and other world-wide in­terests are reported in the quar­t e r ly  publication "Th e  PoPE LIN ACRE QUARTERLY Speaks." The subscription address is 3622 12th St. N.E., Washing­ton 17, O.C. and it is highly rec­ommended to Catholic physicians and others allied with health ac­tivities. International Congress of Catholic Doctors Dr. Wm. Chester, representing the Federation at the International Congress of Catholic doctors in Dublin in 1954, gave a resume of the meetings. He advised that the next Congress is scheduled for Holland in 1957 and urged those present to attend if at all possible. The group would be interested in coming to the United States. LI NACRE QUARTERLY Father J. J. Flanagan, S.J., Edi­tor of LIN ACRE QuARTERL Y, com­menting on the journal urged that more articles be written by doctors to make the issues truly represent Guild members. Subscriptions have increased during the last few years from some 2,000 to the current issue's mail ing of 6,655. Some measure of this increase can be attributed to the growth in the Guild movement with the number mounting from sixteen to the pres­ent forty-five in the same period. Medical school subscriptions for students is another appreciable amount of the total, various Guilds generously defraying the expense, at a bulk rate of $1.00 for each subscription when ten or more are sent to one address for distribu­tion. With Guilds furnishing the central off ice with the names and addresses of more doctors, con­tinued effort will be made to in­crease the present total. Reports of Guilds Representatives reported regard­ing the activities of their respective LIN ACRE QUARTERLY Guilds. These will be treated in the bu lletin "Guilds in Focus" from time to time. Luncheon Meeting Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon. Luncheon for Catholic doc­tors, wives and friends attending the A.M.A. followed at 12: 30 p.m. Speaker for the occasion was Dr. Charles Hufnagel, director of ex­perimental surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center, Wash­ington, D.C. "The Responsibility of the Catholic Physician in Re­search" was the title of Dr. Huf­nagel' s address to the gathering; high-lights are reported as follows: "Research is fundamentally the search for new knowledge and/or the deduction or synthesis of new conclusions from known facts. It is upon the interest in research that the future of medicine and the health and welfare of the nation and the world rests. Catholic phy­sicians and educators must assume a posi tion of leadership if the Catholic physicians of tomorrow are to be provided with the educa­tional facilities and stimulus with a Catholic background, understand­ing the problems of patients as individuals and fellow creatures of God. The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake has its merits but it is more laudable when it is di­rected with correlation to a known good. We must strive to inspire the· young physician to desire to par­ticipate in research activities and to point out to him the intellectual satisfaction which can be his re­ward. He must be given the bene­fit of disciplined training and be filled with a zeal to want to work. not be compelled. He must feel there are not enough hours in a day to do everything that must be 107 done. This must be based funda­mentally on an overwhelming de­sire to help his fellowmen and not for any self-centered motive. To aro use interest it should really be done in pre-medical edu­cation. There must be discipline in study and precision in work. In the medical school there is contact with basic research followed by opportunity for clinical research. The opportunity to study problems under guidance is the responsibil­ity of those already in practice. More research in Catholic medi­cal schools is urged. It should be kept independent, free of excess control. More research should be encouraged in Catholic hospitals. The student should be trained to meet the problem of research to determine what is proper and how to carry the results to the clinical level. The institution should be encouraged to lend financial sup­port and provide the facilities to help establish their doctors in a position of leadership in medicine so that they may fulfill their rok in relief of their fellowmen. To recall the period of technical advances it is not necessary to give · detail but worthwhile to recall theantibiotics for infectious diseasescoming into importance in 1940; ·the aseptic era and its relation to Pasteur; amazing advances in sur­gery of the chest and heart whichbegan in 1939. These were theresult of many combined investi­gations in many fields . . . basicsciences - physics, biochemistry,physiology, pharmacology andnow entering the atomic age ofmedicine.With these improvements, medi­cine has made many steps forwardto becoming a more exact science,but it still lies in the twilight zone between art and science for it re-108 mains truly an art to attempt to differentiate and integrate the hu­man biologic and psychological  variable. Men in the fields of "so­called" exact sciences are becom­ing drawn more and more to medi­cine as they see in it a fertile field for application of their basic tech;, nics which they see have not been widely used in medical applica­tions. This is st imulating and healthful. It is interesting, how­ever, to observe how different is the biological equation from the physical. In the latter the indi­vidual components may be quite exactly set up, duplicated, and delimited. In the biological area this is not necessarily true and the manifold inter-relation of one fac­tor to another may be unknown or highly variable. It is worthwhile to note that much depends upon the point of view. For 200 years the Newtonian laws of motion had been accepted as unal terable  and irrefutable. These seemed to be able to explain everything from the nature of heat to the behavior of gases. But as more sensitive instruments were developed and new observations were made, glaring violations of Newton's p r inciples wer e un­covered. The m ethods used tomeasure phenomena in themselves often alter the phenomena so that constantly the search must go on to improve the observations from which conclusions must be drawn. The keystone of these has been is, and will be research, basic and clinical, for it is upon this that ali medical progress is based and front which all future knowledge must accrue. A second important factor is the d issemina t i o n  of knowledg e through education. This must be accomplished by training in medi-LINACRE QUARTERLY cal schools developed by experi­enced instructors, and throuoh graduate education both at the r;s­ident level and beyond. Thirdly is the application of this knowledge to clinical practice at a high level of proficiency. The names of Catholic scientists occupy high places in the history of medicine. Countless others un­known and unsung have devoted themselves and their lives to this purpose and their profession with a burning fervor. AUGUST, 1955 Similarly, Catholic hospitals have long held positions of honor and affection even in communit ies which were predominantly non­Catholic because of their adher­ence to high moral, ethical, and professional standards. It is only by a thorough understanding of the value of research and by pro­viding for it a medium . of· high quality that these high traditions can be maintained in an era of progress." 

Federation Board Session: Minutes of the June Meeting - 1955

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Federation Board Session: Minutes of the June Meeting - 1955

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