Thomas Bushlack is joining the Center for Theology & Ethics in Catholic Health as senior director.
Bushlack comes to the center from suburban St. Louis-based Mercy, where he was vice president of mission and formation. Before that, Bushlack was regional director of mission integration at SSM Health, where he coordinated and chaired ethics committees.
During this time, he served on CHA’S Theology and Ethics Committee.
Bushlack's career began in academia as a professor of ethics at the Aquinas Institute of Theology and at the University of St. Thomas. He earned a doctorate in moral theology from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote his dissertation under the
direction of renowned Thomist theologian Jean Porter.
Bushlack has an extensive publishing record, including his 2015 monograph, "Politics for a Pilgrim Church: A Thomistic Theory of Civic Virtue." His writings have been published in journals such as Theological Studies, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality,
and Health Progress.
Bushlack will begin his work with the center in November. He is the center’s first senior director. CHA launched the center last year with ethicist Daniel Daly as executive director. Its goal is to help Catholic health care systems and facilities address complex issues that arise
as they pursue their mission.