His resignation, announced several months ago, takes effect this month.

By moving on, Satcher, who was appointed to the office by President Bill Clinton in 1998, will be opening a key sub-cabinet position in the federal government. Reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the surgeon general wields much influence in shaping the way America deals with its most serious health issues.

One of the most significant moments in Satcher's tenure came last June, when he released his controversial “Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Behavior.” The report speaks volumes about his approach to the promotion of healthy bodies and morals in America.

What to make of the surgeon general and his “Call to Action”? It is enough, almost, to consider what others have made of it.

“We applaud Surgeon General David Satcher for releasing his long-awaited [report],” said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood and one of the nation's most prominent defenders of unlimited abortion on demand. Her statement is by itself just about enough to make the idea of Dr. Satcher's resignation something to look forward to.

Feldt called the report “vital” and praised its author's “courage.” She called on the nation's “politicians, community and religious leaders, educators, and parents” to hear its message and take heed.

In the report, Satcher encouraged Americans to get over their hesitance to discuss sexual issues. (One wonders if he paid any attention at all to the newspaper headlines during the two terms of the president who appointed him.) Satcher called for wide-ranging sexuality programs in schools to simultaneously encourage abstinence and teach the proper methods of birth control.

When asked about his promotion of contraception in school programs, even as his new boss, President Bush, has been publicly promoting programs that clearly favor abstinence, Satcher commented, “I have to be realistic.”

His figures, at any rate, were that. The report offers a litany that is disturbing: 12 million Americans a year infected with sexually transmitted diseases; 800,000 to 900,000 Americans living with HIV, with one-third of them unaware that they are even infected; an estimated 1.36 million abortions in 1996; and an estimated 104,000 children becoming victims of sexual abuse each year.

But is Satcher realistic? The report he published encourages the use of contraceptives, even as it acknowledges that they are sometimes ineffectual. It lectures that Americans need to learn to “respect the diversity of sexual values” in our communities, failing to note that it's that very diversity of values, already “respected” quite well, that produced a culture capable of racking up the frightening statistics just cited.

Being realistic, it seems, is going to have to mean moving beyond the status quo. Despite calling his report a “Call to Action,” Satcher proposes little that is not already being done.

What is in store for the Office of Surgeon General at this dramatic moment of American history? Who will President Bush propose for the position of the nation's top doctor?

Well, it is a new year, and one can hope.

Imagine a surgeon general who is indeed courageous in promoting the sexual health of all Americans, making clear exactly what it takes to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

Imagine a surgeon general who is realistic enough to acknowledge that 1.3 million abortions a year are disastrous to the health of exactly that many young American children, and damaging as well to the physical and emotional well-being of their mothers.

Imagine, too, a surgeon general who recognizes that the crisis in American sexual health began just about the time the promoters of American sexual freedoms began making great headway in our law and culture, and that the way to fix this difficult situation is to acknowledge they were wrong, that we were all wrong for taking them seriously.

All of this is not to say that the surgeon general of the United States must be a defender of Catholic moral values, at least not because they are Catholic. Rather, he ought to be what the surgeon general's official Web site says the surgeon general is: “dedicated to protecting and improving American health.” And the values and choices that do that, those which prevent the disease and death addressed in Satcher's report, are those that just happen to be Catholic.

This is not coincidental, of course. Catholic morality comes from God, the same God who designed and built our bodies and minds. He gives us moral law not only to keep our souls, but also our bodies, clean and healthy.

The Web site, www.surgeongeneral.gov, tells us that Satcher “would most like to be known as the Surgeon General who listens to the American people and who responds with effective programs.”

But of course, he was not sworn in to his position because we needed a good listener. What we need is a good doctor— one who is able to realistically recognize our symptoms, diagnose our problem, and prescribe a treatment that is truly effective. What we need in a surgeon general is a teacher— one who is more concerned about our healthy bodies than our wounded feelings when we're told the dangers of how we're living.

Will we get a surgeon general like that?

Well, it is a new year, and one can hope.

Barry Michaels writes from Blairsville, Pennsylvania.