Life and Churchlife During Pandemic: Bioethical Issues and Church Response in the Time of COVID-19

Eugene Elivera

Life and Churchlife During Pandemic

Bioethical Issues and Church Response in the Time of COVID-19

Authors

Eugene Elivera Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa

Keywords:

COVID-19, Bioethics, Death, Dying, Informed Consent, Moral Discernment, Clinical-Pastoral Care, Vaccine and Cure, Pastoral Leadership, Social Action Apostolate

Abstract

The first part of this paper attempts to expose hospital-care situations vis-à-vis ethical principles and pastoral care. In other words, actual scenarios are subjected to the three ethico-pastoral angles of the current pandemic, namely: (a) the crucial process of consultation and decision-making on account of the scarcity of treatment and facility; (b) the role (or non-role) of a religious minister to persons in periculo mortis, albeit when the seeming cause of death is highly contagious as COVID-19; and (c) the search to discover for the formula to prevent and cure this treacherous disease. The second part is a narrative of the ways that the institutional Church of Palawan (Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa) has responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author Biography

Eugene Elivera, Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa

Rev. Fr. Eugene S. Elivera, MA, SThD. is a priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa (Palawan). He earned licentiate and doctoral degrees in Moral Theology from Universidad de Navarra in Spain. His two books, “Morality of the Heart” (Contextualized Moral Theology in the Philippine Setting) and “Heart of the Story” (Moral Becoming in Ordinary Living), won in the Catholic Mass Media Award in Theology (2013) and Inspirational (2018) categories, respectively.

Life and Churchlife During Pandemic: Bioethical Issues and Church Response in the Time of COVID-19