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The Center for Religion & Spirituality welcomes you to this afternoon public conference. This day is designed to support those people who want to increase their effectiveness in the accompaniment and care of the sick and their families as well as for those who seek their own personal growth in this area. Participar en español.

1-2p | Welcome and Keynote Session
"Losing Others Without Losing Oneself: Self-Care in End-of-Life Ministry
William Roozeboom. Ph.D.

Facing death is a particularly challenging endeavor given our culture’s propensity to deny its existence. Many of us are left unprepared when death approaches—for us and/or in caring for others as they die. This keynote will explore the calling of those who minister during the end-of-life to offering Christ-like love and compassion to those who face death, while not losing oneself in the process. We will examine the meanings of empathy, compassion, and vulnerability within this context, and consider the implications of Christ’s call to love our neighbors as ourselves. In the process of exploring these concepts, we will identify practices that contribute to our resiliency and well-being and that work preventively to increase our capacity to provide effective care for/with others.

2-3p | Session II
"Pastoral Theological Reflections on Ministering to the Dying"
William Roozeboom, Ph.D.

Offer a course on living well and you will likely receive lots of interest, offer a course on dying well and you may meet alone. While our Western culture typically avoids and denies the realities of death, death is a normal and natural part of life. To truly live life in abundance as Christ offers (John 10:10), death and dis-ease must be part of the picture. While advancements in science and medicine have exponentially increased our ability to prolong life, such approaches have not necessarily improved it during the later stages of one’s time on this earth. Therefore, this workshop will rethink what “dying well” entails and then discuss the practical and pastoral implications of providing pastoral care at the end of life—both to individuals and their loved ones.

3-4p | Session III
"End of Life: Ethical Considerations"
Matthew Petrusek, Ph.D.

What is physician assisted suicide, and what does the Catholic Church teach about it? This session will examine California’s new suicide law and, in particular, its reliance on “compassion” and “autonomy” for its justification. We will then analyze why the Church unequivocally rejects assisted suicide and its false understanding of human freedom, before considering how to apply the Church’s teaching in complex end-of-of life situations.

To Attend
Online registration is open (click Buy Tickets button). In the event the conference is canceled, participants will be notified by Wednesday, the week of the conference. Registration fees are refunded only if the conference is canceled; no refund for partial attendance or no-show.

Questions?
Please call the Center for Religion & Spirituality at 310-338-2799 or email crs@lmu.edu

About the Speakers
William D. Roozeboom, Ph.D. is a pastoral theologian, pastoral counselor, pastor, and assistant professor at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry . He has served the church in pastoral roles and worked with clergy, congregations, and higher ecclesial judicatories on: conflict management, staff relations, crisis intervention, restoration and renewal processes, and ongoing health and wellness. Dr. Roozeboom’s own research is in the area of clergy wellness and neuroplasticity. In his recent book, Neuroplasticity, Performativity, and Clergy Wellness: Neighbor Love As Self-Care (Lexington Books, 2017), he provides a model of intra/inter-relational wellness and explores the performative capacity of one’s practices to induce life-giving changes to the structure and function of the brain. 

Matthew Petrusek, Ph.D. is assistant professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. His interests and specializations include meta ethics, the intersection of philosophical and theological ethics, Christian ethics, ethics and political theory, natural law, virtue theory, distributive justice, and human dignity. He has published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Moral Philosophy, Philosophy and Theology, and Studies in Christian Ethics, and has served as an on-air analyst for Noticias MundoFox, CNN Español, and KCal–CBS Los Angeles.

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