Join CMA for the 94th Annual Educational Conference

By Anthony Oliva, M.D.

In approximately two months we will be meeting in Kansas City, MO for the 94^th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association. This is a historic conference as it will be the first time that members of the Catholic Bar Association will join CMA for a combined White and Red Mass and participate in a joint panel discussion on Catholic Social Teaching. The theme is “Tradition: Ever Ancient, Ever New”.

As the conference chair, I was tasked with selecting the theme, which I chose for several reasons. I have noticed over the 23 years I have been a practicing surgeon that we have strayed farther and farther away from what constitutes the doctor-patient relationship. Many barriers have been erected between physicians and patients. As an example, electronic medical records, government regulations/mandates and third-party payers were instituted with the promise of delivering better care, but I would argue that in many ways the opposite has occurred.

Over the past several years, society has lost sight of the most fundamental view of the human person as we have forgotten what it means to be male and female. We are now treading into the dangerous world of artificial intelligence (AI) that has the potential to further erode the doctor-patient relationship. Finally, society has forgotten how to care for those at the end of life with dignity and compassion. Assisted suicide is now legal in 11 states and Washington, DC with many more states on the verge of legalizing this horrifying practice. We are treating those at the end of life as animals/pets rather than human beings made in the image and likeness of God.

It is my hope that the conference will help us recapture what it means to practice good medicine, focusing on the doctor-patient relationship, medical education, gender dysphoria and end of life care. Several plenary and breakout presentations will be addressing these issues as well as many other important topics.

The Holy Spirit also has been at work. The speakers and panel discussion were selected well in advance of the election of Pope Leo XIV. The early stages of his papacy are complementing the conference in ways I never would have envisioned. His name, Leo XIV, follows Leo XIII. Pope Leo the XIII wrote the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, a foundational text for the Church’s social doctrine. Our panel discussion will be addressing this very topic.

Pope Leo XIV also recently addressed the participants of the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Corporate Governance. We will have one plenary and three breakout talks addressing different aspects of AI.

This year is also the Jubilee Year of Hope. We are blessed to have a panel that will be delivering two breakout presentations titled “Hope for the Practicing Clinician: In the Setting of the Jubilee Tradition”.

CMA has been blessed with a wealth of individuals who are willing to donate their time, talent and treasure to present a variety of breakout lectures that will serve to enrich the personal and professional lives of all those in attendance.

Our conference will conclude with a Tridentine Mass that will be celebrated by our Episcopal Advisor, the Most Reverend James D. Conley, D.D. on Saturday morning. The combined White and Red Mass will be celebrated by the Most Reverend Bishop James V. Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Saturday evening. After Mass we will have our banquet with the keynote address, “How I Found the Love of Jesus and the Power of that Love”, that will be delivered by Sr. Deidre M. Byrne, M.D., POSC.

I promise that the 2025 Annual Educational Conference will enrich both the personal and professional lives of all who attend. Additionally, there is the opportunity to earn 19.25 category 1 credits. Attendees also have the potential to earn more CME credits through the enduring CME that will be available for one-year after the conference.

I look forward to seeing you in Kansas City this September.