Plenary council of the presidents of the European Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations will come to Lviv

On October 16-18, 2009, the plenary council of the presidents of European Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations (FEAMC) will take place in Lviv. Such councils are conducted one time every six months and their main task is to discuss ethical problems that are encountered in modern medicine and the ways of solving them from the position of the moral doctrine of the Catholic Church. Also the participants of the council will resolve the issues related to the organization of the regular European congress of FEAMC and participation in a similar world congress. Next year the congress of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) will take place in Lourdes, France, and the issues which concern the participation of the European Federation in it will also be discussed at the meeting. Each time these councils are conducted in a different city where a Catholic Medical Association operates so that the presidents can familiarize with, and in turn share information to help the current state of the medical service of that particular city or region, problems that are encountered by the doctors, ethical and moral questions and the methods of their resolutions, especially those that touch difficult ethical questions such as terminating a pregnancy, euthanasia, medical responsibility, medical conscience, and the possibility of adhering to the Christian faith, which also includes the possibility of acting in accordance to the religious persuasions.  This year the council of presidents will visit Lviv for the first time, where there operates the Catholic Medical Association, which is also a member of the FIAMC and which is headed by doctor Ivan Luc'. The participants of the council will visit Krekhiv’s monastery, Zhovkva, and historical places of Lviv. On Friday, October 16, 2009, at St. George’s Cathedral a solemn Divine Liturgy led by the Most Reverend Bishop Ihor (Voznyak), Archbishop of Lviv, will be held. The council will be conducted in the retreat-renewal center of the Lviv Archeparchy in Briukhovychi. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Lubomyr and the Apostolic nuncio in Ukraine the Most Reverend Archbishop Ivan Yurkovych will address the participants of the council with separate messages.

Press-service of Association of the doctors-Catholics