Jean deBlois, C.S.J.

MA, Theology, University of San Francisco; Ph.D., Moral Theology and Medical Ethics, Catholic University of America
Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of Master of Arts in Health Care Mission Program, 2000-present

I am a
Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. In my former life I was a registered nurse working in critical care. I worked in the first paramedic base station West of the Mississippi and supervised a critical care unit where we trained firemen to be paramedics and supervised paramedics in the field.

I asked to study theology because of all the ethical issues I encountered as a nurse in the 1970s. I was given permission to study and received an MA in theology from the University of San Francisco (my hometown) in 1979 and found that I was "smitten" with the study bug. So, rather than returning to nursing I continued my studies and received a Ph.D. in moral theology and medical ethics from the Catholic University of America in 1988. I had the great privilege of studying with and being mentored by Charles Curran.

Currently engaged as
Director of the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission program at Aquinas Institute of Theology. This program is designed to provide a firm and useable grounding in the Catholic theological tradition for leaders at all levels in Catholic health ministry to help them insure the future of Catholic health care as a ministry of the Church. We graduated our first cohort of 17 ministry leaders in May of 2004 and have a current cohort of 16 ministry leaders in the program who will graduate in May of 2006. Cohort 3 entered the program in January 2005, and is a great group of people committed to sustaining Catholic health ministry well into the future. At this posting (October 2005) we are currently getting ready to accept applications for cohort 4, scheduled to begin in August of 2006.

I also serve as sponsor liaison to Ascension Health for my congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. This entails serving on the Ascension Health Board of Directors and four board committees and frequent trips to Ascension hospitals in Amsterdam, NY; Augusta, GA; Kansas City, MO; Lewiston, ID; Pasco, WA; and Tucson, AZ. Lots of frequent flyer miles!

Particularly interested in
end of life decision making, the effects of advancing technologies on the delivery of health care, professional ethics and the relevance of Catholic social teaching to Catholic health care today.

Also interested in
Environmental ethics and the future of Mother Earth; lay leadership and sponsorship in Catholic health care and other ministries of the church.

When I am not working on or thinking about ethical issues or teaching a class or spending time in an airport or on a plane, what I really like to do is work in our garden, play an occasional game of golf and tussle with Clancy, our beloved Border Collie.