Would You Donate Your Body to Science?

I turned the corner on my tour of the gross anatomy lab at UB's med school and there he was: a nude cadaver on a slab of steel in the back. He was an older man, a bit chubby, bearded and peaceful. I was less afraid than I thought I would be and after attending the student's human gross anatomy memorial service, I was almost eager to head to the lab to see how someone like me could be of service to the students.

We talk a lot about how death holds no power over us as Catholics. We believe that Jesus indeed defeats death and opens eternal life for all of humanity with his passion, death and resurrection. But I do think that perhaps even our bodies might be able to transcend death, contributing to life even beyond our physical death.

Students talked about how they began touching the bodies almost fearfully, making that first cut anxiously before learning so much about every part of the body. For some it is a frightening experience and I'm sure some call it quits, realizing that they don't have the stomach for medicine.

Others have a different experience: gratitude. The people who offer their body to the school have indeed given a great gift and perhaps it's one that they are not all that comfortable with when they make the decision to do it. After all, their families can no longer touch and feel and experience being touched by them anymore. Why should someone else have that privilege? A daughter of a patient in a letter to the students mentioned her mother being uncomfortable with certain parts of her body and now they were all on display for some stranger to probe.

The students are impressive. Cadavers get named, perhaps not their own names, but the desire to interact with these people is strong and far from disrespectful.

Many of my colleagues and I have talked about where we'd like to be buried, or perhaps we'd prefer cremation. Another expressed a desire to be returned to the earth as soon as possible, so he could start contributing to the growth of the earth once again.

"Let those worms get at me!" he roared as the rest of us squirmed and I nearly lost my pasta.

Another sat quietly, eating his dinner over this unappetizing dinner conversation. We finally had to ask him directly,

"John, what would you like to happen with your body?"

He looked at us blankly and said without blinking an eye:

"I don't give a crap what you do with my body--I'll be dead!"

And that is more of where I fall on the matter of the subject as well. I don't really care.

What I do care about is that someone remembers me as an altruistic person, someone who cared about life and who cared for students and other young adults and who loved his family and his church. Perhaps my letter will be read at one of these memorial services one day and I will be able to cheat death just one final time, living beyond that final breath, giving to another even when my heart ceases beating, healing the anxiousness of a newbie med student who needs to be able to touch me so that he or she may touch another and bring healing, cures and hope to others.

Let us pray for those who have given the gift of death, the gift of what we often think of as a useless dead body to students. May they be remembered for their altruism and for their love of education. I love that idea.

And it sure beats the worms.

Why Priests Should Wear Their Collars...and why lay ministers need something to identify themselves like it

Earlier this week I went to a campus function with Fr. Pat, the pastor of our North Campus. It's rare that I see him without his collar on, as he wears it often, especially when on "official business."

We walked into the gross anatomy lab, as I was getting a tour of the facility from Fr. Pat and a young man was getting ready to leave. As we were about to turn the corner the young man stopped us, out of the blue.

"Excuse me, Father..."

Fr Pat turned towards him and the young man broke down in tears within seconds.

"I just found out that my grandma died about an hour ago and I wondered if you would pray with me?"

I excused myself and let Fr. Pat and the young man sit together to talk and pray for a few minutes, sensing that he wasn't inviting me to prayer but that "the collar" called him towards an identifiable minister.

We just happened to be there that day. But had Fr. Pat not been wearing his collar or had I been by myself, that opportunity would not have presented itself. That symbol of ministry, the symbol of priesthood, the identifiable sign to this young man that said, "I can ask this guy to pray for me...I NEED him" was welcomed and not abhorred.

I could have been the campus minister there all semester, but for those not readily aware of me, or of my position (which I fear is most students, especially in the med school--one because I'm new and two, because many aren't regular churchgoers) would never have dared to ask me the same question.

Jesus asked us to "go out to all the world and tell the good news" and to "not hide our light under a bushel basket" but for the unaware, or the agnostic, or the sporadic attendee, we all need to be welcome signs of Christ's presence. For priests an easy way to accomplish this task is to wear the collar. For nuns, a habit perhaps (although most have "kicked the habit"--however many young nuns are trying to be more intentional about wearing theirs and some like the Felician Sisters here wear a very identifiable pectoral cross) does the trick as well. But for us lay ministers...it's more difficult. I'm pretty vocal about who I am, introducing myself to all I meet as the Campus Minister, but it's not as easily recognized. I'm considering getting a golf shirt with "campus minister" scrawled on the crest, maybe with a cross? Maybe I wear a cross around my neck over my clothes? Deacons have an identifiable lapel pin, but even that "whispers" their presence, especially to the young. Many deacons like to keep their presence as lay people in a parish and have found that "looking like a lay person" outside of the liturgy often makes them "more approachable" to many. However, I would argue that this is true only to those who are already initiated into parish life. What about when you head off to do prison ministry, or head to the hospital? For deacons, I wonder if their diagonal stole might serve more than a liturgical purpose, even over street clothes?

A friend of mine was a volunteer down at ground zero after September 11th and he reported something similar. That symbol of the priesthood invited him to be a presence for many. When workers found two vertebrae in the wreckage, the priest was immediately found and a makeshift prayer service for those remains occurred--at the workers request.

So I'd like to hear your stories, priests and ministers...for those who wear their collars, tell me the good and the bad of wearing it. For women religious, how do you make yourself present to those you minister to? Campus and other lay ministers, how much harder is this for you? For those in the marketing or fashion field, what might you suggest for us lay Catholic ministers?

Maybe our friend Peacebang, whose blog should be on your must-read list might have an idea or two as well?

Don't misunderstand....this is not about recognition in terms of haughtyness...but rather it's about serving the needs of those seeking someone in their time of need. With few priests around and some not wearing collars, I wonder how many opportunities fall by the wayside?

Who will anoint the sick and the dying?

Deacon Greg asks this important question...and gives this example from the Washington Post

"He said 'I'm a dying man, and I want to see a priest,'" Mary Baus remembered. "All they said was that they didn't have one."

Baus survived, but his wife said it was a traumatic event that left both her and her husband shaken.

"There used to be a chaplain available if you needed him," she said. "Or you could get a priest to come to the hospital. Now it's not for sure that you will see anyone."

Finding a priest to be at the bedside of the dying is becoming harder and harder across the country. The shortage of priests has been a problem for years, but its implications become most clear at dire times for the ill.

I agree with Deacon Greg who says that Deacons would be great here to use as ministers of the sacrament. My thought is perhaps even a new clerical position intentionally called "chaplain" that could administer anointing of the sick and the Eucharist only--a bet a lot of Catholic doctors would sign up.

It's an important position. I remember when I worked in Calvary Hospital as a volunteer with pastoral care, all people really wanted was someone to talk to and someone who could pray with them in their dark moments. It would have been great to have some kind of ritual that we could have done together on a regular basis at a moment's notice or to be able to administer the anointing of the sick. I'm sure it's a question that will come up at the med school with me often. It's going to take the laity to really speak up about this.

So what are you waiting for? Start writing your letters to the local bishop or to the USCCB.

Memento Mori

At every cemetery's entrance, Fr Pat Keleher tells me, these words are inscribed: Memento Mori (Remember the Dead). Today I went with the good Father over to the medical school for their Memorial Service for those who donated their bodies to the Human Gross Anatomy Lab.

Indeed it was a moving day filled with an outpouring of gratitude for these people who have allowed these students access to their bodies, so that they might better understand and learn about the intricacies of the human body.

Books and models just don't tell the whole story when it comes to the human body. Being able to see a touch and probe an actual human body allows these students to gain not just hands on experience with the body but to examine and see how disease effects the body as well.

An anonymous letter from one student said it perfectly: "The gift of these bodies makes Human Gross Anatomy truly 'human.'"

I've never really thought about this type of gift before, but it truly is one of the more altruistic things one can do. The overwhelming sentiment of the day was that these people had this type of altruism in mind. The letters read by students from family members expressed that very clearly. Their generosity went well beyond, heck, it even literally transcends the grave, avoiding it altogether. Truly death could not hold their gift of self, a gift that might transmit life to another.

I decided to be a donor of my organs some time ago, but now I think I have been inspired enough to consider the good I can do beyond this life with my old bag o' bones.

Besides, it's not going to be of any use to me once I return home to God.

Next semester I plan to volunteer at the lab as someone who assists the students when they get queasy or uneasy or even come to the realization that they're not cut out for medicine. As a minister to medical students it provides me with an opportunity to help them get in touch with their own existential questions, which undoubtedly will come up when time is spent amongst the dead.

Pray for these students today and pray for those who help them be the best doctors they can be.

For even death cannot hold back our desire to give life. And in gross anatomy labs around the country, we see a place where "death delights in helping the living."