Ethics education is an essential obligation of a robust health care ethics service. Although there is no one-size-fits all approach, all ethics education should be proactive and therefore should avoid portraying ethics as mere compliance with moral norms or as an esoteric activity that applies only in cases of moral conflict. Such a negative approach can lead to an ethics of minimums and to the disempowerment of moral agency. In addition, ethics education should promote ethics competency and virtue for the sake of human flourishing through instruction and habituation. To serve the individuals from diverse backgrounds who work in Catholic health care, ethics education should reflect the Catholic teaching that faith and reason are compatible, and that ethics need not be bound to an exclusively theological approach. This will foster a flourishing moral community where medical staff and associates are united by a common mission and ethical commitments.
