Sources of care. Catholic Healthcare in Modern Culture. An Ethical Study.

Till some decades ago, the existence of Catholic healthcare organizations was self-evident. However, this has changed profoundly. Healthcare itself became more complex, extensive and rationalized. The place of religion changed because of processes of secularization. Many people consider God ‘dead’. This study, first, explains and understands these changes, using the philosophy of Charles Taylor on modern culture and the identity of the modern self. Secondly, it looks for new possible connections between modern healthcare and Catholic tradition. It focuses on healthcare organizations which embrace a Catholic identity. As opposed to ways of thinking which consider Catholic identit1y as the mere application of Catholic ideals and moral norms to the organization, this study reverses the perspective. The meaning of the Catholic identity can only be discovered and created starting from concrete experiences and moral questions in the organization. By articulating the moral goods that are at stake in these experiences and questions, organizations come to discover what goods really matter, and hence, according to Taylor’s concept of the relation between identity and morality, the kind of organization they are and aspire to be, inclusive how they aspire to be as a Catholic organization. This dynamics shapes their organizational moral responsibility. Their moral responsibility asks for clear priority-setting in the goals of the organization. We argue that care ought to have the first priority, and that Catholic identity is created in continuously trying to realize this priority amidst of other institutional counter forces, in particular of economics, of technology and of the cultural tendency to consider all talk about meaning as highly subjective, and, accordingly, irrelevant