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The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) is a not-for-profit research center located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after previous locations in St. Louis (1972–1985) and Boston (1985–2004). Its mission is "to uphold the dignity of the human person in health care and biomedical research, thereby sharing in the ministry of Jesus Christ and his Church." The chairman of the Board of Directors is Gregory M. Aymond, Archbishop of New Orleans. The Center publishes Ethics & Medics monthly and The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, as well as books including the Handbook on Critical Life Issues.

History
In 1972 the Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center was chartered in St. Louis, Missouri, as a not-for-profit corporation with the assistance of The Catholic Health Association (then known as the Catholic Hospital Association) and His Eminence John Cardinal Carberry.

Father Albert Moraczewski, OP, a theologian and scientist in the field of pharmacology, was chosen as the first President of the Center.

In 1976 the Center began publication of Ethics & Medics, a monthly commentary on medical-moral issues, to keep health care professionals and other concerned individuals abreast of current trends in bioethics from a Catholic perspective. Ethics & Medics is distributed to over 16,000 individuals monthly.

Thanks to the remarkable talents and the commitment of Fr. Moraczewski and the Reverend William M. Gallagher, a priest of the Diocese of Providence and second president, the Center has always enjoyed the strong support of a large number of bishops. Today, a majority of U.S. dioceses, and numerous foreign dioceses, receive the benefits of their affiliation with the NCBC.

In 1980, with the support of the Knights of Columbus and the encouragement of Bernard Cardinal Law (then Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau), the Pope John Center began an annual medical-moral workshop in Dallas, Texas, for bishops, to which now all the bishops of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and several from the Philippines, are invited. These workshops continue with bishops gathering every two years in Dallas to review, address, and reflect upon pressing issues and developments in the area of medical morality.

In 1985 the Center relocated its national office from St. Louis, Missouri to Boston, with the encouragement of the Ordinary, Cardinal Law.

In 1996, Dr. John M. Haas, former John Cardinal Krol Professor of Moral Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, became the fifth President of the Center.

In October 1997, the Center relocated its offices to the campus of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Boston, a teaching hospital of the Tufts University School of Medicine and headquarters of Caritas Christi, a Catholic Health Care System.

In 2004 the NCBC moved its offices to Philadelphia in order to be closer to the policy centers of New York and Washington, D.C., and the rich religious and academic communities of the mid-Atlantic region.

In 2019, Dr. Joseph Meaney succeeded Dr. John M. Haas, becoming the sixth President of the NCBC.

Mission and Activities
The founding president of the Center was Albert S. Moraczewski, O.P. The sixth president is Joseph Meaney, Ph.D., since 2019. The staff of professional ethicists responds to hundreds of requests each year for advice on moral issues of concern to Catholics and other interested parties, via e-mail, phone, and letter. The Ph.D. ethicists include John M. Haas, Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, and Marie T. Hilliard. The Center also provides moral analysis to the offices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and to the dicasteries of the Holy See (Vatican), although the Center is not itself governed or funded by the Catholic Church.

In a 1999 article of Ethics & Medics, it was argued that "as parents have a moral obligation to secure the life and health of their children", so too do they "have a moral obligation to provide vaccinations to their children." The NCBC later developed an extensive set of online resources specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The activities of the Center include education, publications, research, and public policy. The education department administers "The National Catholic Certification Program in Health Care Ethics", a year-long distance learning program that educates candidates in the fundamentals of Catholic medical-moral teaching. The program gives special emphasis to Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, a USCCB document designed to guide Catholic health care institutions.