The purpose of the conference is to bring together Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish perspectives on caring for patients who can no longer speak for themselves. As America ages, the challenges of caregiving—both ethical and social—will only become more serious and more difficult. The questions before us are both very practical and very theoretical: we must think about what gives human life its worth and dignity; about the meaning of death in the age of modern medicine; about the relationship between the generations in a world where the incidence of dementia and long-term dependence are much-increased, while the ties of family and community have often weakened. We face difficult life-and-death decisions for the persons entrusted in our care, difficult legal and policy decisions about how such decisions should be made, and difficult theological and philosophical questions about the nature of human dignity and human equality.