UNESCO Chair Fellow Offers Bioethics Course in Hong Kong

UNESCO Chair Fellow, Fr. Joseph Tham, LC directed an intensive bioethics course in the Holy Spirit Seminary during his visit to Hong Kong from January to February 2014.

Thirty students participated in an introduction to bioethical thought that involved twenty hours of lectures.  The group consisted of various priests, seminarians, and lay people interested in the field.  The course was offered in Cantonese dialect of Chinese commonly spoken on the island.

During Tham’s most recent trip to his homeland, he also took time to offer lectures for those pursuing a diploma in bioethics with the Caritas Bianchi Institute of Higher Studies.

Tham also spoke at the Bioethics Resource Centre about the ethical, social, and medical implication of the SARS epidemic that inflicted the nation 10 years ago.  The presentation was addressed specifically to a group of medical students.

HS_Seminary_Course_Feb_2014

UNESCO Chair Fellow Speaks to Harvard Club of Hong Kong

UNESCO Chair Fellow Fr. Joseph Tham spoke on the ethical issues of providing healthcare in an April 15 talk to the Harvard Club of Hong Kong.

Tham noted that while new technology offers men a longer lifespan than ever, many nations are struggling cover the costs of such advances as they limit their budgets in times of economic crisis.  In his talk entitled “Is the Cost of Healthcare Sustainable? The dilemma of technology in extending lifespan.” Tham addressed the group of Harvard University alumni.

Tham, a trained medical doctor and professor of bioethics in Rome, encouraged the audience to address the fundamental issues involved in various public debates about sustainable healthcare.  He insisted that we must understand well the goals of medicine and the role of technology in our life in order to overcome the tensions that can arise in shaping policy.

He noted that medicine is sometimes presumed to defeat disease completely so as to provide an impossible earthly immortality.  To understand healthcare properly, we must reflect well upon the significance of the unavoidable realities of aging, suffering, and death that touch each of our lives.

Tham concluded with reflection upon the meaning of human nature and man’s openness to trust in the transcendent realities that can offer new purpose to our earthly existence.

Harvard_Club2