in this issue:
health care: NEGLECT
in vitro fertilization: PROTEST
stem cell research: GODLESS SCIENCE
zinger: TWINS NO MORE
reflection for prayer: ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN
health care
NEGLECT: “An academic physician gives a personal account of his wife’s progressive deterioration during her hospitalization at a university medical center. He encounters physicians who are too distracted by other academic pursuits to care adequately for his wife.”
(Reading: “Who was caring for Mary?” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 12/01, pp.1140-1141, paid subscribers only)
in vitro fertilization
PROTEST: American Life League led a pro-life protest at Jones Institute in Norfolk, Virginia. This was the first in a series of events focusing on the deadly aspects of in vitro fertilization.
(Reading: “Pro-lifers protest in vitro fertilization,” Cybercast News Service, 12/28/01)
stem cell research
GODLESS SCIENCE: Riccardo Baschetti writes in The Lancet: “You point out that research with human embryonic stem cells, despite its potential benefits, is faced with opposition. The latter has to do with religion and philosophy, not with science. … since 93% of leading scientists do not believe in God” why is religion “still allowed to interfere with the progress of science.”
zinger
TWINS NO MORE: A Philadelphia professor of obstetrics and gynecology argues that because women with twins are more likely to give birth prematurely, “selective reduction” is being used with greater frequency so that the remaining child has a better chance of survival. Professor Mark Evans said he had performed about “4,000 fetal reductions in which the fetus is injected with potassium chloride. It then dies and wastes in the womb.” He is quoted as saying “I would be very happy not to do this any more but the reality is the need for this procedure will never disappear.”
(Reading: “Twin risk ‘removal’ proposed,” The Age, 11/28/01)
reflection for prayer
ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN: Before He came, God was either known or unknown. When He came, He would be either passionately loved or passionately hated. One can never be indifferent before the Infinite. Death in a certain sense was inevitable, for once Love and Innocence confront brute force and sin, a crucifixion follows. Suffering is always the form that love takes in an evil situation. Every mother who ever had an erring son, and every wife who ever had a drunkard husband knows that. How else could Divine Love meet sin, except by a cross? Evil breaks some human hearts. Sin broke the heart of God. “Greater love that this no man hath, that a man law down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
(Reading: “Preface to Religion,” P.J Kenedy & Sons, 1946, p. 66)