Mayo Clinic is recognized as a worldwide leader in innovative, high-quality health care. However, the Catholic mission and ideals from which this organization was formed are not widely recognized or known. From partnership with the Sisters of St. Francis in 1883, through restructuring of the Sponsorship Agreement in 1986 and current advancements, this Catholic mission remains vital today at Saint Marys Hospital. This manuscript explores the evolution and growth of sponsorship at Mayo Clinic, defined as “a collaboration between the Sisters (...) of St. Francis and Mayo Clinic to preserve and promote key values that the founding Franciscan sisters and Mayo physicians embrace as basic to their mission, and to assure the Catholic identity of Saint Marys Hospital.” Historical context will be used to frame the evolution and preservation of Catholic identity at Saint Marys Hospital; and the shift from a “sponsorship-by-governance” to a “sponsorship-by-influence” model will be highlighted. Lastly, using the externally-developed Catholic Identity Matrix (developed by Ascension Health and the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota), specific examples of Catholic identity will be explored in this joint venture of Catholic health care institution and a secular, nonprofit corporation (Mayo Clinic). (shrink)

America is clamoring for health reform, but the current debate feels a bit like recitations of the tax code, with candidates from both parties arguing about mandates, tax credits, tax subsidies, market deregulation, and vouchers. Such a debate is more likely to make the American public's eyes glaze over than move it toward universal coverage. In this issue of the Report, David DeGrazia takes an important step toward a better debate. DeGrazia tries to defend a health care reform plan on (...) specifically moral grounds, thereby making the debate turn on values. Unfortunately, he also gives up on the value most likely to win that debate. (shrink)

This summer, I met Stephan Van Dam, a mapmaker and publisher so well known for his innovative work that twenty‐six of his maps are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. We talked about our work, and he connected bioethics to mapping. “After all, ethics is action,” he said. I've thought about that since because I found it a great description for bioethics and my role in it. Being concerned with how things ought to (...) be requires a map of how they are and where we want to go. As director of public affairs and communications at The Hastings Center, my job is to help put the normative and empirical research of our scholars into action via policy‐makers, journalists, and the public—to place it on the map. (shrink)