St. Xavier’s Pastor offers ethical answers with Biomedical Ethics degree

July 20--As science and medicine is at a height of respect in today's society, ethical questions frequently arise.

In April, St. Xavier's Catholic Church Pastor, Fr. Kyle Berens, obtained a degree in Biomedical Ethics to help provide answers for situations where the right thing to do may not be quite understood.

Berens attended the National Catholic Bioethics Center in his first year for his certificate. That lead into the Masters Degree at program through the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. Both are online programs, but Berens spent three weekends at the University for some classes.

To obtain the degree, he had to take classes in faith and reason, Catholic theology, biomedicine and the health care industry among other classes. Since he would be helping with boards that are part of a greater organization, he studied organizational ethics -- what does ethics look like on an organizational level, and not just individual levels.

He also studied health policies, such as what's going on with ObamaCare.

"We covered it from the governmental aspect all the way down through organizational to individual, and talked about the ethical principles involved in all that," Berens said.

With a degree in Biology under his belt, and a year on medical school from the University of Kansas, he's always had an interest in medicine.

"I've always had an interest in medicine, and I have the biology background which is helpful," he said.

University of Mary specifically offers a Masters of Science in bioethics as such a degree is more respected among medical communities rather than a Master of Arts degree. Former Salina Diocese Bishop, Joseph Weisenburger, asked Berens to study for the degree.

Berens sits on the ethics board at Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan to offer guidance and answers.

"I get a lot of questions from throughout the diocese from people who have circumstances come up," he said.

With his degree, he liked to help educate doctors -- Catholic doctors at first, but certainly other doctors -- on ethical issues. He'd also offer his ethical knowledge to the faithful, especially in regards issues surrounding the end of one's life.

When ethical questions arise surrounding certain situations, the ethics board discusses the situation to offer counsel. The board is composed of doctors, nurses, and community members.

"It's supposed to be a counsel thing, but also an educational thing," he said.

Berens advocates biomedical ethics, and helps maintain Catholic beliefs and teachings at the hospital.

"Because there's a lot of confusion about ventilators and tube feeding, and what all that means," Berens said.

This wouldn't be a mandated task. Rather, he'd like to offer such services when he can.

While pursuing his degree, Berens had to work on a capstone project. His project involved hospice care.

"Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking which is a different form of euthanasia that's taking place," he said.

Berens followed Good Shepherd Hospice and Accord Hospice Services in Manhattan. This helped him get in touch with the hospice community -- the chaplains and board members.

"If a Catholic comes in, and it's not a Catholic organization, it's often helpful for someone to articulate what are the Catholic teachings concerning tube feedings, or ventilators, or whatever it might be," he said. "That's kind of a role I've been able to start to take on."

Since obtaining his degree, he's visited with a number of parishioners, some who reside at Valley View Senior Living, who are getting out of hospice care, and have questions Berens can answer.

"My hope is to help out the local community as much as possible," he said. "It just comes down to human ability and time."

Two other priests in the Diocese perform ethical consulting, but don't have Masters degrees, or advanced degrees.

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