induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) research

In a noble quest to find alternatives to Embryonic Stem Cell Research, many seem to be disregarding the Vatican's caution in Section 30 of Dignitas Personae: "The ethical objections raised in many quarters to therapeutic cloning and to the use of human embryos formed in vitro have led some researchers to propose new techniques which are presented as capable of producing stem cells of an embryonic type without implying the destruction of true human embryos. These proposals have been met with questions of both a scientific and an ethical nature regarding above all the ontological status of the 'product' obtained in this way. Until these doubts have been clarified, the statement of the Encyclical Evangelium vitae needs to be kept in mind: 'what is at stake is so important that, from the standpoint of moral obligation, the mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition of any intervention aimed at killing a human embryo.'"

While "these doubts have [NOT YET] been clarified", some in the pro-life community seem to be throwing caution to the wind. Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D. has long been a voice of reason, saying: Not so fast! Just 10 days ago, Dr. Irving asked: "Are these iPS cells just 'embryo-like', or are they - at least sometimes - really single- or multiple-cell early human 'embryos', or even human totipotent cells that have the natural capacity to revert back to new whole human embryos?" <www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_138ips_notadultstemcell.html>.

In four short months since Dignitas Personae, Ms. Vadas acknowledged (in our phone conversation) that there has been no Church teaching to abrogate Dignitas Personae's caution. I believe it is the responsibility of (arch)diocesan Respect Life offices to MUCH better disseminate Dignitas Personae, including its caution.

Is Your Bulletin Sabotaging Your ProLife Message?

Please check the pharmacy on the back of your weekly bulletin!

Are you certain that the pharmacy which advertises on the back of your weekly bulletin (the same advertiser whom you may innocently encourage your parishioners to patronize) is absolutely committed to NOT sell medications which may act as abortifacients?....

Pharmacists for Life International <www.pfli.org> is a wonderful, "100% pro-life" group which is deeply involved with the struggle to protect pre-born human life. Tragically, it appears to be the rare pharmacist who makes such this "100% pro-life" commitment. As the rights of conscience of these heroic pharmacists are under attack, they absolutely deserve our allegiance. As per Pope Benedict XVI's October 2007 address to the International Congress of Catholic pharmacists

• "it is not possible to anaesthetize consciences, ...concerning the effects of particles whose purpose is to prevent an embryo's implantation or to shorten a person's life....
• "your Federation is invited to address the issue of conscientious objection, which is a right your profession must recognize....
• It is also your duty to help young people who enter the different pharmaceutical professions to reflect on the increasingly delicate ethical implications of their activities and decisions. To this end, it is important that all Catholic health-care professionals and people of good will join forces to deepen their formation, not only at a technical level but also with regard to bioethical issues, as well as to propose this formation to the profession as a whole" <www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20071029_catholic-pharmacists_en.html>.

Pennsylvania's "Catholic" colleges/universities & the 3/25/09 "Dear Abby"

Philadelphia can be so proud that you are a native son!

In your well-honed, forthright, clear manner, you and Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty require the "four Catholic institutions of higher learning in the Diocese of Scranton to provide information on their student health services to have assurance that no practice is occurring which would be in violation of Catholic teaching" <www.dioceseofscranton.org/News/BishopsSeekInfoOnStudentHealthServicesApril3,2009.asp>. While tragically sad, experience has taught us that the presidents of "Catholic" colleges and universities need these forceful reminders. Thank you for embodying the great love which dares to speak the truth!

Your Excellency, a heart-wrenching 3/25/09 letter to Dear Abby was signed by "Reluctant Witness in Pennsylvania", who identified herself as "a freshman at a Catholic university" <www.uexpress.com/dearabby/?uc_full_date=20090325> (That narrows the letter writer down to being a student at Alvernia, DeSales, Duquesne, Gannon, Holy Family, Immaculata, LaSalle, Marylhurst, Marywood, Scranton, St. Joseph's, or Vilanova.). The young woman complained of being awakened by her roommate engaging in fornication. Your Excellency, that was certainly an assault upon this young bystanding woman! Please encourage your fellow ordinaries to open an investigation into this matter.

A very Happy & Blessed Easter to you & all the good people in the Northeast parts of our commonwealth!

Jesuit Universities Continue to Shame Their Alumni

SJU's invitation to pro-abortion commentator Chris Matthews is despicable & inexcusable. Tragically, alumni of Jesuit Universities have grown accustommed to such cowardly betrayals. Calling yourselves a "Catholic" university appears to be little more than a marketing ploy.

Last September, I wrote to the president of my own alma mater, to protest the invitation to Justice Stephen Beyer. Though Father McShane failed to show the basic courtesy of a response, I continue to receive numerous alumni appeals!

Re: Cabrini College and Cokie Roberts' Ivy Young Willis Award

As per Pope John Paul II, "The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church & in the World, 1988). Though you speak of "social justice," your letter reveals that you lack an understanding of what that means in Catholic Social Teaching. As the president of a Catholic college, that is scandalous.

Dr. George, you have the absolute duty to thoroughly familiarize yourself with Catholic Social Teaching; there is no better source than the Compendium of Social Doctrine <www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html>. You may also find this study guide to be helpful: <http://authenticcatholicsocialteaching.blogspot.com/>.

While I'm unsure of what you mean by "Cabrinian heritage", I assure you that Saint Frances Cabrini would be appalled by your presenting a pro-abortion, "Catholic" journalist to impressionable students.

Cherish Children with Disabilities (Times of Trenton, Easter Sunday 2009)

Original Submission....
On Wednesday, April 1st, the Times of Trenton carried two pieces concerned with sensitivity about language, when discussing people with disabilities – particularly people with cognitive disabilities.

As per the Times’ version of an AP piece by Gillian Gaynair, Special Olympics has launched an educational campaign against the use of the word “retard”, as well as “mental retardation.” Kudos to the Special Olympics. Elsewhere in that day’s paper, the executive director of Mercer Arc absolved President Obama for a recent pejorative joke about Special Olympics, as Obama supposedly “has an admirable record of supporting people with developmental disabilities.” Not so fast – rabid support for abortion is NOT commensurate with “an admirable record of supporting people with developmental disabilities.” The hijacking of respectful language can be a thin veneer over absolutely disrespectful attitudes toward human beings.

Many groups like the Special Olympics were begun by parents, in an effort to enhance the lives of their children (minors and adults) with cognitive disabilities. In the past, many of those children were people with Down Syndrome. Recent decades have seen a profound reduction in the population of people with Down Syndrome. As per a 5/9/07 New York Times article by Amy Harmon, 90% of pre-born children identified with Down Syndrome are aborted: “A dwindling Down syndrome population, which now stands at about 350,000, could mean less institutional support and reduced funds for medical research. It could also mean a lonelier world for those who remain.”

In 2007’s “Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives,” Kathryn Lynard Sipes offered a collection of essays, aimed at helping parents understand the absolute preciousness of their child with Down Syndrome. On a deeper level than language, advocacy groups need to fight for the recognition of the sanctity of each and every human life.

Official Hospice philosophy conflicts with Catholic teaching, re: nutrition & hydration.

....official Hospice philosophy conflicts with Catholic teaching (re: nutrition & hydration)....As per the Vatican's 2007 "Responses to Certain Questions of the USCCB Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration" <www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070801_risposte-usa_en.html>,

• "The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented....A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means."

Just shortly before he died, Pope John Paul II said

• "the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering" <www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2004/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040320_congress-fiamc_en.html>.

The Catholic position dramatically contrasts with the expressed philosophy of the Hospice Foundation of America on nutrition and hydration:

• "because of the advances of science we are now able to prolong the lives of persons who would not survive without external support, mechanical devices, or, at times, intravenous or central line (cut-down) nutrition and water....For persons in the final phase of illness, the withholding of food and fluids is not painful....one's metabolism changes and the resulting elevated level of ketones produces a mild sense of euphoria, so that hunger and thirst are not the problem we would imagine. This same phenomenon has been well documented in the self-imposed starvation of Irish prisoners in Northern Ireland [JT's NOTE: The independent film, "Hunger", deals with these historical incidents & clearly shows that starvation is as inhumane as it is immoral!]....In no way is the withholding of food and fluids comparable to the methods or rationalizations employed by Dr. Kevorkian."

When my mom was no longer eating 10 years ago, Hospice DISCONTINUED SERVICES because I had insisted on artificial feeding. In regard to HFA's efforts to disassociate from Kevorkian, "Me think thou doth protest too much."

The past week has marked the 4th anniversaries of both Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo. It's interesting that the Hospice Foundation of America's web site is packed with justifications for how Terri Schiavo was treated (i.e., murdered, by Catholic standards).

Father John C. Ford, SJ Deserves Better!