Lisa Sowle Cahill on Bioethics, Justice, and the Common Good

Lisa Sowle Cahill on Bioethics, Justice, and the Common Good

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Lisa Sowle Cahill is a longtime professor of theology at Boston College and a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics. One of her main research interests is bioethics, the study of the profound philosophical implications of biological and medical procedures, treatments, and technologies. 

Cahill has advised U.S. bishops on issues surrounding AIDS, and presented at the Vatican about women’s health care. She is noted for her work in the areas of Catholic social ethics, sex and gender ethics, and the history of Christian ethics. 

She will present “Bioethics, Justice, and the Common Good,” the 2012 Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Lecture, on Wednesday, November 14, at Elmhurst College.

The recipient of the 2008 John Courtner Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America for her “outstanding and influential contributions in diverse areas of Christian ethics,” Cahill is the author of eight books and editor of five others, including Love Your Enemies: Discipleship, Pacifism, and Just War Theory, Theological Bioethics: Participation, Justice, and Change, and Genetics, Theology, Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Conversation. Cahill is the J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor at Boston College, and also has been a member of the Catholic Health Association Theology and Ethics Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Board for Ethics in Reproduction, and the March of Dimes National Bioethics Committee. She has given testimony to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on fetal tissue research and on cloning. 

Bioethics, Justice, and the Common Good will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center (190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, www.elmhurst.edu/campusmap). Admission is $10 for the general public and free for Elmhurst College students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Tickets are available at the door or by visiting www.elmhurst.edu/tix. For more information, call 630-617-3390.

Elmhurst College is a leading liberal arts college located eight miles west of Chicago. The College’s mission is to prepare its students for meaningful and ethical work in a multicultural, global society. Approximately 3,400 full- and part-time students are enrolled in its 23 undergraduate academic departments and 11 graduate degree programs.