Curing and Healing: Vital Elements of Catholic Health Care

by Eric Manuel Torres

In this research, the significance of curing and healing will be explored with an emphasis on how both are vital to Catholic health care. This essay aims to show that only by embracing both components can health care professionals truly care for the whole person. Moreover, Christian health care professionals ought to follow Christ’s example in order to serve in His mission of caring holistically for those that are ill. As Luke’s account of the Haemorrhoissa (Lk 8:42-48) not only provides a vignette distinguishing between curing and healing, but also an excellent example of how Christ attended to both elements, this essay will interpret this story in order to gain insight into the indispensability of both to whole person Catholic health care. Further, examples extracted from palliative care, an area of health care where curing and healing can be clearly distinguished, will be used to illustrate these elements in practical terms.

Paperback: $12.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“Crafted with scholarly exegetic style, yet pithy and approachable, this timely publication should be read by any health professional who gazes seriously upon their career and sees a vocation.” – Vanco Hristov BSc (Hons), GradDipPsych, PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne
“In Eric Manuel Torres’ book, Curing and Healing, there is a good discussion of this difference which, on the whole, turns on the difference between curing an ailment and healing the whole person, a difference very ably illustrated at the end of the book. Thus, implicitly, there is a growing possibility that genuine Catholic Healthcare offers a uniquely, ethically sound approach to many of life’s difficult health crises. Furthermore, the encompassing vision of the person which inspires and informs the vocation of Catholic Healthcare, draws as it does on ancient and modern wisdom, whether of Christ or His Church, philosophy and medicine, and so is ever ready to explore and to answer the question of meaning and, if necessary, the need for reconciliation before death. As Torres himself says so well: ‘finding meaning in illness is as core to healing as the skeletal system is to our bodies’ (p. 20).” – Francis Etheredge, Catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven and an author of 17 books on Amazon: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/francisetheredge/.
“This book demonstrates a highly developed understanding of the identity and mission of Catholic Healthcare.” – Dr. Frances Baker, RSM, STD, Senior Lecturer in Moral Theology and Systematic Theology at Catholic Theological College/University of Divinity (Australia)
“Torres has written a readable and cogently argued research essay. His conclusion that “healing…is multidimensional, and may include the physical yet not always” is sound. So is his general understanding of Catholic theology, especially of implications of the Incarnation, as applied to health care delivery.” – Rev. Dr. Bernard Teo, C.Ss.R., STD., Lecturer in Moral Theology at Yarra Theological Union/University of Divinity (Australia) and Te Kupenga – Catholic Theological College (New Zealand)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric Manuel Torres is a Catholic moral theologian and bioethicist with a background in health care. Based in Melbourne, Australia, he has recently completed a doctorate (PhD) from Catholic Theological College/University of Divinity. He holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences and a Master of Orthoptics from La Trobe University, a Master of Nursing Science from the University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma of Theology and a Master of Theological Studies from Catholic Theological College/University of Divinity, and a Graduate Certificate of Specialist Inclusive Education from Deakin University. He also holds a Certificate III in Business Administration. Moreover, Dr. Torres has published a number of articles appearing in several scholarly publications including Homiletic and Pastoral Review and the Journal of Religion and Health.

OTHER CATHOLIC PRACTICAL THEOLOGY BOOKS

Transgenderism: A Question of Identity by Francis Etheredge

Transgenderism: A Question of Identity by Francis Etheredge

Transgenderism: A Question of Identity by Francis Etheredge TBA Paperback: $TBA| Kindle: $9.99 ARTICLES Etheredge, Francis, “We must fight gender ideology to preserve the concept of truth,” LifeSite News (October 25, 2024). Click here to read the review. TESTIMONIALS...

read more
Handbook for Catholic Religious by Fr. Bevil Bramwell, OMI

Handbook for Catholic Religious by Fr. Bevil Bramwell, OMI

Handbook for Catholic Religious by Fr. Bevil Bramwell, OMI Reflecting on the theology of the presence of Christ in the world, particularly from the point of view of the aesthetics of religious life as understood from the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar, John Paul...

read more
Faith and Facebook

Faith and Facebook

Faith and Facebook: Evangelizing a Rural Parish Community in Southeast Missouri through Social Media by Fr. Dominic Ibok, D.Min. In Southeast Missouri, where Catholics are a minority, the challenge of diminishing participation and reduced membership requires an...

read more
Human Sexuality

Human Sexuality

Human Sexuality: Precious Gift and Perilous Challenge with Particular Reference to the Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Church by Fr. Dominic Anaeto We live in an age when our sexuality speaks loudly and clamors for attention, so it is good that celibate men and women, and...

read more
Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down

Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down

Screen Addiction: Why You Can't Put That Phone Down by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM Have you ever had an irresistible urge to check your texts, social media posts or email updates when your cell phone rings, beeps or buzzes? Is the amount of time spent on your cell phone...

read more
Taming the Lion Within: 5 Steps from Anger to Peace

Taming the Lion Within: 5 Steps from Anger to Peace

Taming the Lion Within: 5 Steps from Anger to Peace by Dr. Ronda Chervin Five steps to help people overcome uncontrolled or over-reactive anger. Steps include admitting being angry person: identifying the anger: physical, psychological and spiritual perspectives about...

read more
Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive

Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive

Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive by Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, and Bishop Richard Henning International priests have served the Roman Catholic Church in the United States since its inception. With congregations consisting largely of immigrants...

read more
Bereavement Miracles

Bereavement Miracles

Bereavement Miracles by Michael Frey The Bereavement Miracles program was designed to play a quintessential role in evangelizing the “spirit of  mission” to individuals who are suffering from the death of a loved one by relating eternal realities in a systematic...

read more
How to Flourish in a Fallen World

How to Flourish in a Fallen World

How to Flourish in a Fallen World by Dr. Donald DeMarco How to Flourish in a Fallen World, by Donald DeMarco, engages the reader in an understanding of our common human nature and the problems it faces in a culture that actively pursues, to put it in Saint John Paul...

read more
Feminine, Free, & Faithful

Feminine, Free, & Faithful

Feminine, Free and Faithful by Dr. Ronda Chervin Should women be feminine and forget about liberation? Or should they reject femininity as a euphemism for slavery? Women seeking fulfillment, says Chervin, aren’t faced with this either-or, but with the challenge to be...

read more
Eyewitnesses: Biblical Foundations in Christian Spirituality

Eyewitnesses: Biblical Foundations in Christian Spirituality

Eyewitnesses: Biblical Foundations in Christian Spirituality – Ed. by Fr. John Horn, S.J. St. Paul prays with ardent desire that “the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, that we might know what is the hope of the risen Jesus’ calling, and what are the...

read more
Fun is Not Enough

Fun is Not Enough

Fun is Not Enough by Fr. Francis Canavan, SJ ​Fun Is Not Enough collects all the prophetic insights catholic eye readers loved, so that Canavan may inspire a new generation with his contributions to contemporary debates on religious and political liberty, the dignity...

read more