ASIAN FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Friday, November 25, 2005

22nd World Congress of FIAMC( 11th to 14th May 2006)

The FIAMC cordially invites you to take part in its 22nd World Congress
Dear colleagues,
The FIAMC cordially invites you to take part in its 22nd World
Congress, this time in the city of Barcelona (Spain). We encourage
you to take an active role in all the activities we have spent these
last months preparing for you. I hope that the lectures and talks
meet a high scientific standard and that the Missionary Medicine
Exhibition is truly representative of the immense work carried out by
the Church in favour of the sick.


Prof. Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli,
President of the FIAMC


Please visit the official website for more info: www.fiamcbarcelona2006.org

The Theme of the congress is: Catholic Physicians Globalization and Poverty

Message from AFCMA President

+ Peace in Christ,

Dear Presidents of the national Catholic medical associations,

I hope that this message finds you all well.

It has been a year since we met in Taipei at the 13th AFCMA Congress.I once again thank Sr.(Dr.) Lou and her staff members for the wonderful scientific programs and warm hospitality.

At the Congress, as you may recall, we created two special Committees, Bioethics Committee and Medical Mission Committee, and asked Dr. Ian Snodgrass of Singapore, and Drs. John Lee of Singapore and Freddie Loh to take care the Committees. As you can find from our Federation website, http://www.afcma.blogspot.com/, these two Committees have already done some work and the immediate response to the Tsunami disaster in Indonesia is one good example of the Medical Mission Committee's work. Using this opportunity, I would like to thank Drs. John Lee and Freddie Loh once again for their hard work, and thank those member organizations that actively participated in Tsunami refief project.

Speaking of the Federation website, I must tell you that we owe so much to Dr. KY Chong, one of our three vice-presidents from Malaysia. I am sure that all of you will join me in thanking Dr. Chong for his personal sacrifice for the Federation website.

I am glad to tell you that I have been able to meet some of you in person during the last year.

In December last year, I visited Singapore to attend a meeting on medical education and had a pleasant meeting with Drs. Lee and Snodgrass, and in June this year I visited Bangkok for a WHO meeting and met with Dr. Akaraskul. In August, I once again visited Taiwan for a meeting of Catholic universities and colleges in Asia and met with Sr. Lou.In September, Dr. Kurniawan, the president of the Indonesian Catholic medical association visited Seoul for an international pediatrics meeting and we had breakfast together.

I will be going to Manila early next month for another WHO regional meeting, and I will certainly try to meet with Dr. Jocelyn, the president of the Catholic doctors association of Philippines.

Now, I have two announcements to make.

The first thing is about the 2006 World Congress of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations scheduled to be held on May 11-14, 2006 in Barcelona, Spain.

I know that it is quite costly for you to travel to Spain, but I do hope to meet you in Barcelona next year. I want you to visit the Congress website, www.fiamcbarcelona2006.org, and plan ahead to attend the Congress.

Secondly, I plan to publish an AFCMA Directory next year. This Directory will contain information on the national organization, and some statistics on population and country, Catholic church and church healthcare facilities and manpower. With regards to this project, I will send you a small survey form early next year.

God bless and best regards,

Kwang-ho Meng

President, AFCMA

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Religious Belief & Health Benefits

NEW YORK, OCT. 29, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Religious belief may not only be good for our spiritual health; it may also bring positive effects for the body. With certain regularity, studies appear on the scene indicating that prayer or regular participation in religious services can assist believers' health.

Not everyone agrees with such studies. Some researchers point to methodological failures in various studies that purport to show a correlation between religion and health benefits. Even the studies themselves warn that it is hard to pinpoint the precise relationship between the two.

Still, the number of reports showing positive effects is substantial. On June 9 the Web site Science and Theology News reported that Canadian and Israeli researchers found that religious practice may slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

"We learned that Alzheimer's patients with higher levels of spirituality or higher levels of religiosity may have a significantly slower progression of cognitive decline," said the author of the study, Dr. Yakir Kaufman, director of neurology at Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital in Jerusalem.

The results were presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. "This work is consistent with recent studies showing that prayer, spirituality or religiosity is correlated with better mental and physical health," commented Dr. Michael Rayel, chief of psychiatry at the Dr. G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital in Clarenville, Newfoundland.

The researchers assessed 68 people between ages 49 and 94. The data revealed that higher levels of religiosity and private religious practices were significantly correlated with slower rates of cognitive decline.

But whether spiritual activity slows Alzheimer's more effectively than other types of mental activity may be the "$64,000 question," cautioned University of Pennsylvania radiology professor Dr. Andrew Newberg. "One of the big questions ultimately becomes whether or not the researchers can differentiate the positive effects of spirituality from other activities."

At the same meeting another group of researchers, from the University of Chicago, reported that African- Americans who strongly believe in God were less likely to be depressed than nonbelievers, the Chicago Sun-Times reported April 14. In the same vein, Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University's Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, said that religion helps provide a sense of hope, peace and well-being, which in turn can reduce health-damaging stress hormones.

The Sun-Times article noted, however, that Dr. Richard Sloan of Columbia University cast doubt on the reports. He said that many studies on religion and health "contain significant methodological flaws that render their conclusions suspect."

Faith and medical schools

But the possibility of a positive effect is receiving greater attention by doctors. Two-thirds of the 125 medical schools in the United States now include courses on spirituality and faith, compared with just three in 1992, according to the Web site of the John Templeton Foundation.

The foundation is funding research into the area of spirituality and health. As well, it awards monetary prizes annually to U.S. medical schools in order to encourage the development, teaching and evaluation of courses that examine the integral role of faith and spirituality in patient care.

Some studies point to a general reduction in mortality risk for those who attend religious services at least weekly, the Wall Street Journal reported May 3. The studies have received little attention due to skepticism among scientists, the Journal noted.

But study of the issue led one skeptical expert, Lynda Powell, to change her mind. Powell, a professor of preventive medicine at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center and a non-churchgoer, was asked in 2001 by the National Institutes of Health to head a panel of three scientists to review the medical literature on the link between religion and health.

The panel did not find evidence that religion would help people once they are ill, concluded the report, published in the January 2003 journal American Psychologist.

But their examination of studies relating church attendance to health was different. The panel, according to the Wall Street Journal, reported that the studies showed a 25% lower mortality rate for those who attend religious services at least weekly. It seems that participation in services promotes a variety of behaviors with health benefits. These behaviors include meditation, participation in a social network, and adherence to a set of values that discourage things such as smoking and infidelity.

Praying for others

The issue of whether praying for the sick leads to improved health has been debated in past years. On July 15 the Washington Post reported that a study of more than 700 heart patients showed that those who had people praying for them from a distance, and without their knowledge, were no less likely to suffer a major complication, end up back in the hospital or die.

Some studies have argued that such prayers can have beneficial effects, but the Post noted that they have been criticized for methodological flaws.

The article reported on the Mantra II study, carried out by a team at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, headed by cardiologist Mitchell Krucoff. It involved 748 patients who underwent treatment for heart problems at nine hospitals around the country between 1999 and 2002.

Researchers asked 12 congregations of various Christian denominations, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists around the world to pray for some of the patients. Other patients were not prayed for (presumably). Neither the patients nor their doctors knew whether someone was praying for them. The patients were followed for six months, but the researchers found no difference between the groups.

Krucoff did say, however, that he did not want people to think the researchers were critical of prayer. "This study gives us a sense of where there might be therapeutic benefit that might be worth pursuing in future trials," he said.

Body and soul

The Catechism of the Catholic Church deals with the question of faith and bodily health, in the section on the anointing of the sick. In No. 1509 it observes that the Church has received the charge "Heal the sick!" (Matthew 10:8) from the Lord.

The Church complies with this injunction by taking care of the sick "as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession." The text notes that the Church "believes in the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health."

But in the preceding number the Catechism notes that "even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses." For this reason St. Paul states that we must learn from the Lord that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness," and that the sufferings to be endured can mean that "in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church" (2 Corinthians 12:9; Colossians 1:24).

In fact, No. 1505 observes that Christ, during his public ministry, did not heal all the sick. And the physical healings he did carry out "announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover." The Catechism then notes: "On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the 'sin of the world,' of which illness is only a consequence."

The Catechism concludes: "By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion."