James McTavish, F.M.V.D.

James McTavish, F.M.V.D. is a Verbum Dei missionary priest from Scotland. He is currently assigned as a General Counselor in Rome. He spent 18 years in the Philippines in various posts such as Novice Master and later Provincial. He was a Professor of Moral Theology and Bioethics at Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, as well as teaching at other theological and medical schools of the Jesuits and the Dominicans. He completed his undergraduate studies in medicine at Cambridge University, England and graduated as a medical doctor in 1992, pursuing a career in surgery and eventually gaining his fellowship in general surgery with the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. He met the Verbum Dei missionaries in Sydney, Australia, joined them in 1999, and had his formation years in the Philippines. He studied and obtained his License in Moral Theology from the Accademia Alfonsiana (the Redemptorist Higher Institute of Moral Theology) and an M.A. in bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He has published over 80 articles in international journals and has written several books. He completed the Diploma in Safeguarding at the IADC Institute of the Gregorian University, Rome, and has been part of his community's international Safeguarding team.