By

  • Dr. John Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Centre, named by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV).
  • Dr. Douglas Farrow, associate professor of Christian Thought at McGill University, where he teaches theology and ethics and works also on religion and public policy issues.
  • Dr. François Pouliot, medical doctor and Roman Catholic priest. He is the chair of the Research Ethics Committee at the Centre Hospitalier Affilé Universitaire de Québec.
  • Dr. Maria Kraw, staff endocrinologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She is the Bioethics coordinator for the Postgraduate Endocrine Training Program and an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

The rights of conscience are under increasing attack in Canada and the world from public authorities acting in the name of a debased conception of human freedom. This volume addresses issues of freedom of conscience from a medical perspective which also has general and universal significance. The four essays included here deal with historical, practical and theological aspects of the present crisis in the defense of rights of conscience. They originated in papers delivered at the first annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies held in Ottawa in May 2009. (From the Justin Press Website)