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Biography of
Dr. John Haas
Speaker on
Friday, Dec. 9, 2011
8 pm ET, 5 pm PT

Biography of Dr. John Haas / Speaker December 9, 2011 @ 8 pm ET

John M. Haas is the President of The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Center was established in 1972 to apply the teachings of the Catholic Church to ethical issues arising from developments in medicine, the life sciences and civil law. It is the largest publisher of books and periodicals on Catholic bioethics in the country. Dr. Haas received his Ph.D. in Moral Theology from The Catholic University of America and his S.T.L. in Moral Theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He also has a Master of Divinity degree and has studied at the University of Munich and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Before assuming the Presidency of The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Dr. Haas was the John Cardinal Krol Professor of Moral Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Adjunct Professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and the Family, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Haas also served as a member of the Medical Moral Commission of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and was a faculty member of the Commission for Inter-professional Education and Practice at Ohio State University. He was also Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio. Dr. Haas has testified before the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on physician-assisted suicide and before the US Senate Committee on Health and Public Safety on the subject of cloning humans. He has also provided testimony to the President’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission. He has written many articles on topics ranging from the role of the laity in the Church, to sexual morality, social justice issues and bio-ethics.

He is the editor of and a contributor to Crisis of Conscience (Herder/ Crossroads), a contributor to Christian Marriage: A Historical Study (Herder/Crossroads), has written Marriage and the Priesthood and Contraception: A Personal Odyssey (Scepter Press), and is a contributing editor to Crisis, the St. Austin Review and Touchstone magazines. His Opinion Pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, including Peru, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, the Philippines and at the Vatican. He is a consultant to the Committee for Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a former board member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and is a board member and faculty member of the International Catholic University. In 2002 Dr. Haas was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Christian Ethics by the Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 2004 he was elected to the board of the International Federation of Bioethics Centers and Institutes of Personalist Inspiration based in Rome under the leadership of Bishop Elio Sgreccia. In November 2004 he became a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John, of Jerusalem and of Malta and has been the Area Chairman since 2007. For a number of years Dr. Haas produced and hosted a national television program known as The St. Charles Forum which was carried on the Catholic network EWTN. In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life as an ordinary member, and in 2010 appointed him to serve as a member of its Governing Council for a period of five years. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Laws, by Immaculata University. In 2008 he received the Cardinal John J. O’Connor Pro-Life Award from Legatus.

Dr. Haas is also Founder and President of the International Institute for Culture based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Institute promotes international understanding through cultural means. It organizes and sponsors international conferences, a two month intensive summer classics institute offering instruction in Greek and Latin which draws people from around the country, a choral group known as Schola Nova which specializes in Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony, a Spanish language program in Mexico for high school students, executives and Catholic seminarians and priests, and a three week international cultural program in Bavaria.

In the early eighties Dr. Haas was a registered foreign agent for the National Bank of Mexico and Executive Director of Banamex Cultural Foundation, a Washington, D.C. based non-profit educational corporation which sought to promote bi-lateral relations and understanding between the United States and Mexico through cultural means. He also served as a consultant to the Department of Justice on Hispanic and Family Issues during the first Reagan Administration.

Dr. Haas and his wife Martha have nine children and several grandchildren and reside in Philadelphia.

Office: The National Catholic Bioethics Center
6399 Drexel Road Philadelphia, PA 19151
Phone: 215-877-2660Fax: 215-877-2682, www.ncbcenter.org, drjohnhaas@aol.com

Office: The International Institute for Culture, Ivy Hall,
6331 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19151, www.iiculture.org