On 14 February, a small group representing the Order and the Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters met to begin reflecting on how to address the issue of bioethics in the next six years. As in recent years, the Order and the Hospitaller Sisters have decided to collaborate in this important area. The collaboration of the two institutes is due to the fact that they share the same charism, the same spirituality and the same mission. The purpose of this pilot group is to guide the work to be carried out in the corresponding commissions which will be promoted, all with a consultative orientation, to accompany and promote ethics in our institutions, in collaboration with the Provinces and the contact persons in the Order’s Regions.
The Order was represented on this occasion by Brother Joaquim Erra (1st General Councillor), Prof. Jürgen Wallner (Head of Bioethics of the Austrian Province), and Sister Prof. Margarita Bofarull (Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and President of the Borja Institute of Bioethics, Spain). Dr. Dominik Rahammer (internist in the Order’s hospital in Munich, Germany) was also to be present, but was unable to attend due to other commitments. The Hospitaller Sisters were represented by: Sister Maria Carmen Martín (2nd General Councillor, Spain), Dr Joan Betrán Muñoz (internist doctor in the Sant Rafael hospital in Barcelona, Spain), Dr Ana Cristina (nursing director, Portugal) and Dr Michele Venanzi (psychologist in the Villa San Benedetto Menni centre, Albese, Italy).
All group members have extensive experience in the field of bioethics and enrich the group with different expertise. The first meeting served above all as a kind of ‘think tank’ to define the objectives and scope of the future bioethics’ commission over the next six years.