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USE YOUR VOICE: Senate debate on federal funding of stem cell researchApril 5, 2007My dear friends in Christ, This week is Holy Week, our final preparation to share in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his death on the Cross for us, and his rising from the tomb on Easter Sunday. This most holy of times offers us the chance to recommit ourselves to the full meaning of our baptism into the mystery of Christ: we too die and rise with Him to new life. Jesus mounted the Cross for each one of us. His mercy is without limit, and embraces every single human being in all of history. Every human life, from the moment of conception, is there on the Cross with our Savior. Every human embryo in every womb of every mother, and in every laboratory test tube, is loved by God with such utter abandon that He wills His own death for the sake of the child's life. We cannot, in good faith, claim to love our Lord Jesus without also loving all those whom He loves. To love as Christ means to will the good of the beloved more than our own good. This love is the lesson of the Cross. It is radically opposed to using another to promote our own good. That use of another for our own good is precisely the temptation offered by Satan to Christ, when he showed Him the kingdoms of the world and offered their allegiance, if only Christ would bow to him. It is evil; we must utterly reject such exploitation, just as Jesus did in refusing that temptation. Recently, our state government legalized human cloning of embryos for research, effectively allowing the creation and destruction of human life in just this exploitative and evil fashion. Although we tried to use our Catholic voices democratically to support life, we failed to achieve the moral outcome we desired. We must keep trying to change the hearts of our political leaders, especially on issues of fundamental moral significance. Next week, Easter week, on April 10 or 11, the United States Senate will debate and vote on two bills that propose federal funding for stem cell research. Senate Bill 5 proposes to use surplus human embryos from in vitro fertility treatments to create embryonic stem cells for medical research. This threatens to make all of us complicit in the evil of exploiting the most innocent of human lives for our physical health. Iowa Senator Thomas Harkin, who is a Catholic, cosponsors S-5. It is unlikely, therefore, that we can convince him to vote against this bill, though we must try. Because he does not recognize the inherent paradox of claiming to be both "Catholic" and "in favor of embryonic research," we must pray fervently for his conversion. The second bill, Senate Bill 30, proposes to maintain the current compromise in federal funding of embryonic stem cells, so that existing stem cell lines may be funded but no new lines may be created or used in federally-funded research. This bill also strengthens the opposition to new embryonic stem cell lines by outlawing the creation, destruction, or injury of human embryos for research purposes. Instead, it proposes to fund ethical, adult stem cell research and to create a national bank for stem cells derived from placental tissue and amniotic fluid. Though the present compromise is still morally problematic, this bill would be morally licit to support. As your Bishop and shepherd in the faith, I beg of you to contact our Iowa Senators, and ask them to vote against S-5. Our Senators are: Senator Charles E. Grassley (R) Senator Thomas Harkin (D) Especially at this Passiontide, it is so important for us to stand with Christ, as He stands with us through our baptism, in order to defend the least among us. God's love is without limit, and His mercy endures forever. Let us imitate His infinite love, and renounce the temptation to use another human for our own good. May God have mercy on us all, poor sinners as we are. Your brother in Christ, Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless |
