For the past two years, a Columbus-area physician has been a leading spokesman for Catholic health-care professionals nationwide in their efforts to live and promote the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine.
Dr. Michael Parker served as president of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), which has approximately 2,500 members throughout the United States, in 2020 and 2021. He was succeeded this year by Dr. Craig Treptow of Great Falls, Montana, and remains active in the organization’s efforts to promote respect for life from conception to natural death.
“The CMA worked closely with the previous presidential administration as it supported the pro-life position in issues such as the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health court cases,” said Parker, an obstetrician-gynecologist who for the past three years has been the medical director for OB/GYN hospitalists for Mount Carmel Health System and previously was part of an obstetric practice in Gahanna.
“We were pleased with that administration’s stance on pro-life matters, especially in regards to conscience protection,” preventing individuals and faith-based health-care systems from being compelled to violate their beliefs to receive federal aid, he said.
“That position is being challenged by the current administration, but we and other pro-life organizations have been successful in having our views upheld by the courts and are looking forward to the possibility of more favorable decisions in the coming year.”
In the Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania case, the sisters opposed Pennsylvania health officials’ attempt to force them to either provide abortion-inducing pills as part of their health-care plans or pay millions of dollars in fines. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the sisters in 2020, marking the third time in nine years the court had supported the sisters’ position.
The Dobbs case, which the Supreme Court is reviewing, seeks to overturn Mississippi’s ban on nearly all abortions starting at 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is being blocked by lower courts. Upholding the ban would have the effect of overturning the court’s Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide, and would return authority to ban or restrict abortions to each state.
The CMA and other pro-life organizations rallied on Dec. 1 in front of the Supreme Court building, as the court was hearing the Dobbs case, to support overturning the ban. “It is our hope and intention to send the message that not only is abortion deeply flawed morally, it is not consistent with good medical care,” Parker said at the time.
The CMA and attorneys representing the American College of Pediatricians also have filed a federal court brief opposing a recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring doctors to perform gender transition procedures on any patient, including a child, even if the procedure violates a doctor’s medical judgment or religious beliefs.
“We believe biological identity must remain the basis for treating patients,” Parker said. “This mandate not only puts the health and safety of our patients in jeopardy, but it, in effect, also mandates that health-care providers give up their fundamental right to conscience. This sets a dangerous precedent with incalculable implications for the ethical practice of medicine.”
The CMA dates to 1912, when a physicians guild was founded in Boston. Twenty years later, seven similar guilds from across the nation united to form the National Association of Catholic Physicians Guilds. That organization’s membership peaked at about 10,000 in 1968 and then declined following issuance of Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and the Roe v. Wade decision, falling at its lowest point to fewer than 300 members in eight guilds.
The association of guilds was reorganized and renamed as the CMA in 1997 and began re-emphasizing its adherence to Catholic teaching, with membership growing slowly at first, then more rapidly in the past decade. It sponsors a national educational conference each September and a “boot camp” for medical students and residents in June.
It is affiliated with the Catholic Bar Association, the Catholic Benefits Association, the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Christ Medicus Foundation, an advocacy group dealing with government health-care policy.
The CMA also has aligned with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, the American College of Pediatrics and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists to form the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.
Parker was involved in the formation of the CMA guild for the Diocese of Columbus in 2009. Originally known as the John Paul II Guild, it has been renamed the Catholic Medical Association of Central Ohio (CMACO). It has about 40 members. The current president is Dr. Anthony Casey of Columbus. Father Bob Penhallurick of Hilliard St. Brendan the Navigator Church is its chaplain.
The CMACO board meets once a month and sponsors an annual White Mass at St. Brendan for medical professionals on the Feast of St. Luke, the evangelist and physician, in October.
It also hosts a program in the spring at which physicians renew their Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm,” as well as other events. Guild members volunteer every Thursday at the Order of Malta’s Center of Care at Columbus Holy Rosary-St. John Church, which provides medical service to the needy.
Parker became involved at the national level shortly after the local guild was formed. “I was invited to a number of national CMA events and asked by members of its national board if I wanted to join them and make a difference where I could,” he said. Since that time, he served in every position on the association’s board before becoming its president.
“Most of the work of the organization used to be done by the national board. A reorganization promoted a greater grass-roots participation, with individual guilds becoming more active at the local level and having a greater say in national decisions,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to see dramatic changes in the CMA’s growth and in the structure of the organization since joining the board.”
Today, the CMA has 113 guilds in 39 states and the District of Columbia, with Ohio guilds in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo. Dr. Amber Day of Cincinnati is the CMA state director for Ohio. The Ohio Guilds were active in persuading the state legislature to approve conscience protection measures at the state level last year.
“The guilds in Ohio are very grateful that Gov. DeWine and state lawmakers have consistently supported pro-life legislation,” Parker said. “We have joined with Ohio Right to Life, Greater Columbus Right to Life and other pro-life organizations in the state to work on behalf of legislation which would make abortion illegal in Ohio should the Supreme Court rule favorably in the Dobbs case.
“We will continue to work closely with those groups and the legislature to promote the pro-life agenda.
“No matter what happens with the courts and legislatures, the pro-life movement will continue to exist and will gain greater momentum, even if it receives more pushback from the secular medical and media worlds. Supporting pro-life causes will always be a fight and will be a worthy cause for all those willing to become involved.”
Parker said his faith was strengthened by the people he served in his practice. “I was evangelized by my patients,” he said. “I’m a lifelong Catholic but was indifferent to the Church until I was married. My wife brought me back to the faith.
“In my early practice, I never performed an abortion but did provide contraceptives and sterilization procedures. As time went on, I began thinking more about what it would be like to be a truly pro-life physician.
“In 1999, I went to a Natural Family Planning conference at the (Saint) Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska and had an encounter with the Holy Spirit which gave me the courage to convert my practice to one which fully incorporated Catholic teaching,” Parker said.
“Through the years, I’ve developed enough ‘street credibility’ that doctors who may not agree with my position respect me for standing up for my moral principles. My patients know where I stand. Those who want the medicines and procedures I chose not to provide can seek care from other physicians.
“In time, I think an alternative health-care delivery system will evolve, with pro-life hospitals and health-care organizations providing dignified health care for all, in line with their faith beliefs.
“My great concern is that greater government incursions into health care will determine what medical specialties physicians go into and how they practice the medical profession.”
Parker, 58, is a Columbus native and a 1985 graduate of Kenyon College. He and his wife, Teresa, were married 32 years ago on the day after he graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine. They have six children.
