The Catholic Standard & Times - Philadelphia’s Haas named to Pontifical Academy for Life

Philadelphia’s Haas named to Pontifical Academy for Life

by Susan Brinkmann
CS&T Correspondent

Pope Benedict XVI has named John Haas, president of the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) and a former John Cardinal Krol Professor of Moral Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Haas, a Philadelphia resident and the father of nine, was contaced by the office of the Most Reverend Elio Sgreccia, president of the pontifical academy, about three weeks ago. The academy asked him to send in his curricula vitae “within the hour,” Dr. Haas said.

However, he did not know about the official appointment until the morning of Dec. 6, when Mark Bradford, the development director for the bioethics center, sent him an e-mail marked: “You’re in the news.”

“I clicked on, and that’s how I learned of it,” Haas said. “I was stunned.”

An official notice, signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, S.D.B., arrived later that day, he said.

Haas has worked with the pontifical academy for a number of years in various capacities, including as president of the NCBC and as a board member of the International Federation of Bioethics Centers and Institutes of Personalist Inspiration, which was founded by Bishop Sgreccia.

“The National Catholic Bioethics Center had already been receiving consultations from the Holy See, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Academy for Life, and from the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care for Health Care Workers,” Haas said. “We’ve worked with them all, but now it’s more of an official relationship.”

Haas earned his doctorate in moral theology from The Catholic University of America and his licentiate in moral theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He also has a master of divinity degree from Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary, and has studied at the University of Munich and the University of Chicago Divinity School.

At the time he took over as president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Haas was the John Cardinal Krol professor at St. Charles and an adjunct professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C.

Haas produced and hosted a national television program, “The St. Charles Forum,” on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He has testified before the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on physician-assisted suicide, and before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health and Public Safety on the subject of cloning humans. He has also provided testimony to the President’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission.

Haas has written numerous published articles on topics ranging from the role of the laity in the Church to sexual morality, social justice issues and bioethics. He is the editor of and a contributor to Crisis of Conscience (Herder/ Crossroads), a contributor to Christian Marriage: A Historical Study (Herder/Crossroads), and the author of “Marriage and the Priesthood and Contraception: A Personal Odyssey” (Scepter Press).

He is also a contributing editor of Crisis, the St. Austin Review, and Touchstone magazines. His opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer.

He has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad — including Peru, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and at the Vatican. He is a consultant to the Committee for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He is the founder and president of the International Institute for Culture in Philadelphia.

The Pontificate Academy for life was established in 1994 by Pope John Paul II to study questions and issues connected with the promotion and defense of human life, and to foster a culture of life. It is also charged with informing the authorities of the Church, the various institutions of the biomedical sciences, social health-care organizations, the mass media, and the civic community in general about the results of its studies and research activities.

Born in Pittsburgh, Haas moved with his wife, Martha, and children to Philadelphia in 1989.

Haas said he expects to be busy with his new appointment.

“I expect that we’ll continue to grapple with issues such as frozen embryos and embryo adoption [and] John Paul II’s statement on hydration and nutrition, which clarified some issues but left others unresolved,” he said. “There are certain means of overcoming fertility that constitute assaults on human life. Especially in the First World, fertility is a major problem. That’s going to have to be addressed. Embryonic stem cell research is also going to be huge.”

He is pleased with the appointment, and said it will also be important for the NCBC, which is considered the premier bioethics center in the English-speaking world.

“This is a big thing for the NCBC which has worked so hard and is so faithful to the Catholic moral tradition,” Haas said. “It should help us do our work more effectively.”

Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615.