{"id":113054,"date":"2019-08-21T00:15:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T07:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=113054"},"modified":"2019-07-30T20:23:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T03:23:40","slug":"an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html","title":{"rendered":"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

He writes:<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s comforting to know there are bloggers with such mass appeal who are able to provide such important clarification about what the Church actually teaches. \u00a0This principle is so important in today\u2019s world of social media where if someone disagrees with you on one thing you experience intense pressure to cut off all ties with that person or group and then demonize them. \u00a0As you point out, this puritanical rigorism would make it impossible to do anything unless you lived on an island and refused to purchase anything from anyone. \u00a0I fear our tendency to hyperfocus on keeping our hands entirely clean from working with those we disagree with is causing us to neglect other goods we could and should achieve.<\/p>\n

Take it one step further than your reader did. \u00a0It\u2019s not just about the organization you support, what about the individual employees? \u00a0Everything you buy goes to pay someone\u2019s salary, so even if the organization is fine, the employee may do something immoral with that money. \u00a0The waiter could take your tip and pay for an abortion, buy condoms, get drunk and then drive, and the panhandler you give money to can do the same thing. \u00a0You\u2019re not responsible for their use of that money any more than you are responsible for how Subway, Costco, or Netflix use it. \u00a0You bought a product or received a service and then paid for it. \u00a0That is the action you performed, not the thing they do later with that money that you disagree with.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I spent two hours this week talking to our executives about cooperation and how it applies to healthcare in clinical practice, marketing and business transactions. \u00a0I recommend they read this article<\/a> to help understand the theory and application.<\/p>\n

The authors also discuss the idea of reverse scandal on p 51, which is what I mentioned above about the other goods we\u2019re neglecting out of a false sense of purity.<\/p>\n

Great job and keep up the good work! \u00a0We\u2019re praying for you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you so much for this.\u00a0 As a total non-expert in such matters, it\u2019s nice to get a boost from somebody who knows what they are talking about.\u00a0 I always feel weird when people ask me such questions, precisely because I am a rank amateur.\u00a0 But sometimes I feel like I\u2019m in the position of the guy on the beach who hears somebody scream they are drowning 30 yards offshore.\u00a0 You can\u2019t shout back, \u201cYOU NEED A PROFESSIONAL LIFEGUARD, NOT ME!\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes you just need to give the best you have, wade in, and hope you aren\u2019t a complete idiot.\u00a0 Thanks for confirming I\u2019m not, for once, a complete idiot.<\/p>\n

Above all, thanks so much for your prayers!\u00a0 Of late, I feel like I\u2019m the one who is drowning, so they are deeply appreciated.\u00a0 God bless your vital work in the Vineyard!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s comforting to know there are bloggers with such mass appeal who are able to provide such important clarification about what the Church actually teaches. \u00a0This principle is so important in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-113054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-21T07:15:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T03:23:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html\",\"name\":\"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-21T07:15:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T03:23:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me","description":"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me","og_description":"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2019-08-21T07:15:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-31T03:23:40+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html","name":"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-08-21T07:15:23+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-31T03:23:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"He writes: Thank you so much for your recent post about the moral principle of cooperation. As a practicing bioethicist in Catholic Health Care it\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/08\/an-actual-real-professional-catholic-ethicist-write-to-reassure-me.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Actual Real Professional Catholic Ethicist Writes to Reassure Me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}