In the Words of the Founding Board Members

Martha Curry, RSCJ

"People who are ill need adequate knowledge and the ability to express that knowledge in order to become active in their own care."

John Haughey, SJ

"In [the future], the church's ministry in healthcare will not be in the delivery of healthcare services; it will not be administrational but diaconal... It will do this from a free standing institution... It will be a resource for pastoral care and counseling for patients at ambient institutions, but it will also be a center or central resource for the counseling or informing of professionals who are responsible for making right decisions in matters that concern them and their patients... It will be a center with intellectual and pastoral competence... it will serve the larger community... it will also serve as a catalyst to creating non-professional networks of services within smaller communities, neighborhoods and parishes . . . these would be staffed by volunteers... who would assist the sick in ways that they otherwise could not... [Churches] will seek to be living proof that they are not abandoning the ministry of healthcare..."

Nathaniel Marks,
President, Marketing Marks Corporation

"[The Center's volunteers and employees] have the ability to greatly affect the future of ethics. [The Center has the ability to] address the needs of persons (patients, families, advisors, companies, etc.) that need to interact with the healthcare industry in areas of patients' well-being."

Peggy McDonnell, RSCJ

"At the core of vulnerability is the feeling of loss of dignity. When ill or vulnerable, people are forced to change or let go of cherished assumptions and values. They must recreate their "story" in order to regain their sense of identity. They need to rediscover their new boundaries in order to restore their sense of security. Part of the task of doing ethics and advocacy in the community is to assist people in this effort—to be present to and part of the unfolding of their new life story. In such a process, orchestrated by the ethicist/advocate, the patient comes to a new sense of self and is empowered to reformulate the organizing story of their life.

Nancy Morris, RSCJ
Interim Director of Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lake Forest, Illinois

"The Center is primarily community-based rather than institution-based. The Center draws its power from those it serves rather than from the organizations with whom it may be connected."

Kurt Wohlert, MBA
Business Consultant

"The Center developed and defined programs to meet the emerging need for ethics education and counseling in response to the introduction of managed care organizations and other changes in the healthcare market."