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Professional Support especially in matters of conscience affecting your career. |
| Informed Opinion about the implications of developments in medicine and social policy. |
| An Effective Voice that can when necessary make itself heard at the highest level. |
| An Effective Therapy for the sense of isolation sometimes experienced by Medical Practitioners of our Faith |
On this website you will find details of some of the Associations activities, and membership information.
The more members we have, the more influence we are able to exert.
Even if you feel that your time is fully committed we ask you to play your part in supporting our objectives by becoming a member of the Guild.
We believe that you will find membership of real benefit, and also highly enjoyable.
We believe that about a quarter of all Catholics on the Medical Register are members, including general practitioners, consultant surgeons, physicians, paediatricians, geriatricians, psychiatrists, anaesthetists and obstetricians & gynaecologists. We now invite membership from other health professionals.
Our present President is Dr Steven Brennan, MB ChB, MRCGP, DGM, DRCOG
There are some fifteen local branches throughout the United Kingdom. Each arranges its own programme of meetings, such as lectures, discussions, debates, films, spiritual and social events that provide good opportunities for keeping in touch with medical developments and for contact with professional colleagues sharing the same values.
Every spring a full weekend meeting is held at a convenient centre. In 1995 at Sutton, Surrey, we considered 'Adolescence: Problems and Opportunities'. In 1996 the Symposium at Bath was entitled 'Healers, Wheelers or Dealers (- What is our mission in the World)?' In 1997 our subject, at Watford, was 'Trends in Reproductive Health: A challenge for the new millennium'. 1998 - Sheffield we looked at 'Ethical Considerations in Organ Replacement'. 1999 - Merseyside, 'The changing face of morals at the dawn of the new millennium'. 2000 - The Scottish Medical Association, several topical ethical issues. 2001 - Manchester, 'Medicine, morals & the 3rd millennium: The way forward'. 2002 - Bath, 'Medicine, Mystery & Magic'. 2003 - Arundel, 'The Hippocratic Oath revisited'. 2005 - No Symposium. 2005 - Peterborough, 'Prayer, moving mountains or molecules?'.
Our journal, mailed direct to members, carries accounts of the discussions and decisions of the Association's Council on which all branches are represented, and publishes papers, including those that have been delivered locally or centrally on matters that merit a wider audience, submissions made to other bodies, and reports on the annual symposium and other matters of interest.
It is possible to subscribe to the Catholic Medical Quarterly, without being a member of the Association at a cost of £20 per annum.
Our Standing Parliamentary Committee, first set up in 1966, monitors proposed legislation with a view to making our views known, and is able to supply background briefings to MPs and members of the House of Lords. It has recently looked at advance directives, the European Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions, and sex education in schools.
The Ethical Committee (open to all members) has discussed such matters as ectopic pregnancy, male circumcision, surrogacy and the proposed core curriculum for the teaching of ethics and law to medical students. CMA members and members of the lay organisation The Catholic Union, working together as the Joint Ethico-Medical Committee, have made major submissions to the Law Commission on 'Mental Incapacity', to the Lord Chancellor's Office on the green paper 'Who Decides? Making decisions on behalf of mentally incapacitated adults', to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics concerning 'Mental Disorders and Genetics: the ethical context' and to the Medical Research Council on 'Genes and the mind'. The full text of these submissions is available on this web site. Just click here to go to the submission pages.
The CMA has recently published a booklet 'Advance Directives or Living Wills' (St Paul's Multimedia, £2.50)
The Guild of Catholic Doctors Research Trust, a charity set up to support research projects along the lines indicated by Catholic moral principles, has contributed to research into alternatives for In Vitro fertilisation and supports the clinic for Down's children (Lejeune) Clinic, set up by members of the Guild, for the management of Down's Syndrome. Third World Hospitals and missionary projects are assisted by our Catholic Medical Missionary Society which currently provides grants exceeding £3000 per year.
The CMA has contact with the hierarchy through our ecclesiastical advisor, Fr Stephen Wang PhL, STL, PhD, and chaplain Fr Peter Scott STB, Mth. We are in touch with the Association of Catholic Nurses, and the Linacre Centre. We send a representative to the European Federation of Catholic Physicians Associations. One of our members, Dr T.P.Linehan, is Past President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.
There are two steps you might like to take. The first is to send for a complimentary copy of a recent issue of THE CATHOLIC MEDICAL QUARTERLY so that you can form your own opinion of its usefulness.
The second is to go along to a meeting of your nearest branch. Our head office can give you details of the nearest branch and secretary.
You will be glad to know that the annual subscription is only £50 and £60 for joint, 2-doctor couple, membership and only £10 for students. The CMA is a registered charity (No 1002374) so that your subscription may be covenanted. This is a great help to us but also, if you pay higher rate taxes, beneficial to you. Your subscription includes all the costs of the Catholic Medical Quarterly, which will be sent to you direct, starting with the current issue.
The Catholic Medical Association, 39 Eccleston Square, London, NW8 9NH. Telephone: 020 7901 4895; Fax: 020 7901 4819. (The Office is not manned full time, but you may always leave a message on the answering machine. When writing please use our full name). You can of course use e-mail at enquiries@catholicdoctors.org.uk