|
| Dear Parishioners, You have surely heard a lot recently about "stem cell research", and chances are very good that you are confused by the conflicting voices in the news. Sometimes, however, simple principles help us to determine what we should do. And one of the simplest principles which all people of every faith (or even of no faith) should always uphold is that every human being has the right to life! This simple principle was included in the Declaration of Independence 225 years ago—a document belonging not to any one religion, but to all Americans—that we are endowed by our Creator with certain rights that cannot be alienated, the first being the right to life. Another basic principle, easily recognized by any honest person, is that the life of every human being begins at their conception. Every human being who ever walked the face of the earth, including Jesus Christ, grew continuously from that most-important moment, gradually becoming a man or woman who could interact with others. You and I were once microscopic in size, and if anything dangerous happened to us before birth, we would never have been born, but we certainly did exist! Yes, there was a time that we were a blastocyst, an embryo, a fetus, an infant, a baby, a boy or girl, an adolescent, an adult—and all the time we were continuously the same human being! So whenever we hear talk of using "embryonic stem cells" —as opposed to other stem cells, even if their use could heal all the illnesses in the world, we have got to hold onto the principle that it is never right to treat any human being—even a microscopic one—as something less than human, as something to be used in any way by anyone else. There are currently thousands of frozen embryos which are not intended to ever be brought to birth, and many people are eager to experiment upon them in the sometimes greedy hope that they’ll discover cures for diseases. But the truth is that these embryos are the tiniest, most helpless human beings in the world. Is there anyone to speak up for them, or will they go to the slaughter? Does it mean anything to anyone that Jesus, too, was once so helpless? Father Mark Taheny |
