"Being the Minority" or "On Catholic Identity"

Two years into my medical career and the pressure is already intense.  No, not the pressure of being able to make the diagnosis or pass that exam, but rather the pressure to conform.  As a 24 year old, white male in medical school, I am the minority.  How can this be you ask? Well, it is because I desire to be a Catholic who is faithful to the Creed he professes, faithful to the Magisterium to whom he pledges obedience, and faithful to all that the Church stands for.  In short, I desire to identify myself as Catholic in every aspect of my life.  No picking or choosing, no cafeteria Catholicism.  I simply want to be 'Catholic'.  This means that as a husband, I am Catholic; as a father, I am Catholic; as a medical student and later a physician, I am a Catholic. 

Of course, in the field of medicine, this continuously places me into a state of conflict with other individuals.  Simply by claiming and defending the legitimate Catholic position, I have been attacked and called many names.  It has been unfortunate, but this is the state of my existence.  Moreover, some of the greatest opposition I have faced has been from fellow Catholics in my class.

Having an opinion that differs from another individual in my class is not a bad thing, per se.  At times there is opportunity for fruitful dialogue.  Moreover, I have great respect for an individual who has thought through their positions and remain consistent in what they say and how they act.  However, when I encounter an individual who claims to be Catholic and yet is emphatic and extremely vocal about their support for contraception, abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia I am flabbergasted.  I am not going to explore in this post how such a person can be intellectually honest, rather I want to discuss the pragmatics of this situation.

In my class of 180 students, I have been lucky enough to have found about 5 individuals who desire to take their Catholic faith seriously.  This does not mean that there are not others in my class, but I have not encountered them after a year and a half of trying.  I do know that there are at least 30 other Catholics in my class, probably more.  Moreover, I know that there is a reasonably vocal portion of those individuals who use the name Catholic and yet still hold to positions contrary to the Catholic faith.  Some might say "No big deal, so they are bad Catholics."  And yet, it is this attitude that has destroyed Catholic medicine.  As the numbers of people in this category rise, it becomes more and more difficult for faithful Catholics to maintain their freedom to practice medicine as Catholics.  When I am on the floor, doing my OB/GYN rotation and I have to tell my attending that I am unwilling to participate in abortions, sterilization, and artificial contraception, what am I suppose to say when they tell me "So and so is Catholic and he has no problem doing those things..."?  Or worse, what do I do when my attending says "I am Catholic and I don't see any problem with those things..."?  And thus, I am the minority.  The number of individuals who seek to practice faithful medicine is much smaller than the crowd of those people who use the name Catholic and yet support immoral actions.  Due to this, we have situations like Martha Coakley in Massachussets who claimed that if individuals could not prescribe emergency contraception in the emergency room because of their religious beliefs, then they should not work in the ER.  And would you believe it? Martha Coakley calls herself Catholic!

There is but one solution to this problem.  We must reassert our Catholic identity, particularly in medicine.  As Catholic physicians, we need to know our faith inside and out so that we can defend ourselves against the pro-death onslaught.  Catholics have been at the forefront of medicine since the Church was born (thank you St. Luke, Saints Cosmas and Damian, and many others), and this is particularly true in the United States where many of the first and later finest hospitals were established by the Catholic Church.  Today there are over 600 Catholic hospitals in this country, and yet we see our ability to practice medicine as faithful Catholics slipping away because a majority of the Church will not stand up against the culture of death.  We must reclaim our identity and proclaim it in every aspect of our life.  In that way, people will know that we do intend to practice medicine, and yes, as faithful Catholics.  If we continue to do this, the minority may just become the majority.