Aquinas Institute of Theology
Annual lecture focuses on end-of-life care

Fr. Dave Caron, O.P., D. Min., AIT president (right) presents a framed event poster to Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D., Ph.D., following the 31st annual Aquinas Lecture.

Aquinas Institute of Theology recently wrapped up its 31st Annual Aquinas Lecture, featuring Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D., Ph.D., as speaker for “Hanging On and Letting Go: Ethical Issues in Care at End of Life,” at St. Francis Xavier College Church Ballroom (Saint Louis University). Approximately 175 people attended this free presentation Jan. 26.

The lecture was followed by a seminar, led by Dr. Sulmasy, entitled “Symptoms, Suffering, Intention, Sedation, and Care at the End of Life” held at Aquinas Institute on Jan. 27. Multiple considerations factored into this timely subject matter, including: Given advances in medical therapies, what constitutes appropriate care? Are there limits? How does one “think with the Church” in this challenging moral area?

Dr. Sulmasy is a general internist, philosopher and professor of medicine and ethics in both the Department of Medicine and the Divinity School, at the University of Chicago. Dr. Sulmasy also serves as a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. He continues to study end-of-life decision-making, ethics education, and spirituality in medicine.

AIT invites leading theologians and other experts to speak on current topics in theology and ministry at its annual Aquinas Lecture, held in honor of the school’s patron, St. Thomas Aquinas. Invited scholars bring the thought of Thomas Aquinas and Catholic intellectual tradition to bear on contemporary theological questions and issues.

Aquinas Institute of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate school located in Saint Louis, Missouri, sponsored and administered by the Order of Preachers, Province of Saint Albert the Great, in the Dominican tradition. Offering a number of both residential and online graduate degree and certificate programs, Aquinas Institute’s foundation in the Catholic faith and Dominican mission is to educate men and women to preach, to teach, to minister, and to lead.