by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
From October 5 to 10, 2026, Father Arturo De La Torre, M.G., visited the United States with me.
He is the Chaplain of St Francis University (SFU) and the inaugural director of its Centre for Applied Ethics.
Moreover, the Centre was set up as an intellectual platform for the pursuit of ethics.
We visited Boston College (BC) in Massachusetts. Additionally, Santa Clara University (SCU) in California was visited.
These two institutions are known for their ethics research and teaching, including synodality diocesan assembly themes.
The visits were part of a comparative look at ethics education in the United States, reflecting synodality diocesan assembly practices.
Particularly the Markkula Center at SCU, where ethicists work across disciplines, including space ethics. Yes, space of the universe. BC and SCU are among the many institutions we compared for curricula, research projects, and ethics outreach. This helped illustrate how ethics are integrated across disciplines.
The main areas of ethics Father Arturo was enquiring about initially were bioethics and medical ethics. They also included social ethics, ethics of AI, business ethics, campus ethics, service learning, and ethics integrated into general curriculum. These topics reflect a broad view of how ethics inform university life.
These two universities were gracious and generous to our requests. They arranged meetings for in-depth conversations with ethicists, in groups or individually.
Additionally, we found these meetings fruitful for exploring the Centre’s development at SFU and potential collaboration. Our Centre will provide a distinctive dimension to SFU’s education. We desire that our graduates become professionals or practitioners with ethical consciousness and conviction wherever they are.
Why should ethics be a significant component of our education? Moreover, would not a day-long workshop or a weekend seminar be sufficient to provide the necessary concepts? In addition, ethics education requires time for inquiry and space for integration with different disciplines. Additionally, for example, when inquiring about the ethics of AI, we must also consider social, economic, and environmental factors. Therefore, besides focusing on ‘particular ethics,’ we need to work on ‘general ethics’ that weaves through the entire general curriculum.
Why do we need to treat ethics seriously in our education? It is because we are not merely educating but forming the present and the future through our students. Our young people are not only the future but also the present, for they very much affect our immediate lives, evolving culture and communal consciousness. All these may have considerable impact on us, like it or not. Sadly though, in our competitive world, including the education sector, ethical formation—both intellectual and practical—is not at the top of our priorities, but quite the contrary. Ethics is the philosophy of morality. Therefore, moral education is not the same as ethics education.
We only need to look at the news reports and our environment to assess the situation. Furthermore, how many major construction accidents, failures, and corruption have occurred in 2025 and this year? The questions point to troubling patterns. These questions highlight governance gaps. They prompt scrutiny of how issues are reported and addressed.
Six, and maybe more. Moreover, the fires at Wang Fuk Court claimed 168 lives and 79 injuries. Families destroyed and a community dismantled. There were varying severities among the injuries. Such events underscore the scale of losses and demand clear answers.
All these point to systemic failures in administration and accountability. There are corrupt practices in the construction industry. This suggests a need for wider dialogue about synodality diocesan assembly and accountability. The focus should be on practical reforms and transparent reporting.
While we are waiting for the culprits to bear their share of responsibility, what is more important and urgent is to reform our collective consciousness, the culture of governance, management and practices within the administration and the industry. Yet, let us not point our fingers only at the culprits. We ourselves have our roles to play because we also contribute to the formation and the sustaining of the unethical culture and practices, but in different degrees.
The temptation is to think that once we get rid of the problems that contribute to the ailment, then health will be restored, like locking up all the criminals. That is not the whole truth. Many illnesses are due to our inner system, living habits, and the external environment, including the culture we live in. When we fail to address these, the same or more serious ailments will strike back when we are least prepared. We cannot just push for punitive measures against the culprits only, but not working on societal reflections, leading to the needed conversions with proper ethical consciousness and practices.
AI ethics and synodality diocesan assembly
Additionally, turning to artificial intelligence, Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas highlights concerns about unregulated AI. Leaders in AI technology later echoed these concerns.
Venture capitalists warn against slowing or regulating AI development. Should we do nothing while hoping threats disappear? AI ethics matters urgently in our education and in the technology industry, as highlighted by the synodality diocesan assembly.
I would say ethics in general is imminently important in our basic and tertiary education.
+ Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
