ITEST Webinar
The New Genetic Medicine:
Miraculous Cures, Ethically Challenging Advances, or Both?
This webinar was presented on April 18, 2026
Our presenters
Fr. Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, PhD
The New Genetic Medicine:
Miraculous Cures, Ethically Challenging Advances, or Both?
Kevin T. FitzGerald, S.J., Ph.D., Ph.D., is the John A. Creighton University Professor and chair of the Department of Medical Humanities in the School of Medicine, at Creighton University. He received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, and a Ph.D. in bioethics, from Georgetown University. His research efforts focus on the utilization of the Humanities in medical education, on the investigation of abnormal gene expression in cancer, and on ethical issues in biomedical research and medical genomics. He has published educational, scientific, and ethical articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and in the popular press.
Fr. FitzGerald has given presentations nationally and internationally, and has often been interviewed by the news media, on such topics as human genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, and personalized medicine. He is a founding member of Do No Harm, and a member of the Genetic Alliance IRB. In addition, he has been a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2005.
Abstract
This webinar explores the rapidly evolving field of genetic medicine, examining its promise of life-altering cures alongside the profound ethical questions it raises. Fr. Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, of the Creighton Institute brings theological, medical, and moral insight to discern whether these advances represent unqualified progress, serious concern, or a call to careful ethical stewardship.
Fr. Dennis Billy, CSsR
Navigating the Murky Waters of the New Genetic Medicine
Rev. Dennis J. Billy, C.Ss.R. is Professor Emeritus of the Alphonsian Academy of Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University. From 2019-2025, he served as Professor and holder of The Robert F. Leavitt Distinguished Service Chair in Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. From 2008-2016, he was scholar-in-residence, professor, and holder of the John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Fr. Billy holds advanced degrees from Harvard University, The Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum, Rome), and the Graduate Theological Foundation. Father Billy has authored more than 65 books and published over 400 articles in a variety of scholarly and popular journals. He is also very active in retreat work and in the ministry of spiritual direction.
Abstract
This presentation will look at the various areas of genetic medicine: those compatible and those not with Catholic teaching. It will go on to explore the liabilities of utilitarianism, deontology, and even virtue ethics when applied to genetic medicine, and then explore how Catholic ethical principles such as the dignity of the human person, natural law, totality, social justice, cooperation with evil, double effect, and scandal, can help Catholic institutions and medical personnel to navigate the turbulent ethical waters that genetic medicine presents to them both now and in the future. It will conclude by presenting a theonomous ethics coupled with rigorous case study by Catholic ethicists as a way of finding answers to the tension between autonomy and heteronomy, as well as a reminder that true justice must reach a common, universal understanding of rationality that embraces a sound Christian anthropology, the inherent dignity of all human life, and the common good for all human society.