Abstinence Education Under Attack Again (12/17/04)

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part V (12/10/04)

Michael Reagen Headlines Pro Life Dinner (12/03/04) 

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part IV (11/26/04)

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part III (11/19/04)

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part II (11/12/04)

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part I (11/5/04)

Are You Equipped to Fight the Culture of Death? (10/29/04)

Stem Cells, Abortion and Catholic Doctrine (10/22/04)

Strike Three on PBA Ban? (9/17/04)

Strike Two on Banning Partial Birth Abortions (9/10/04)

Register, Vote and Pray (9/3/04)

Pro Woman Emphasis Effective? (8/27/04)

Good and Bad Stem Cells (8/13/04)

Med Center Continues Slide Down Ethical Slope (7/30/04)

The Culture of Death at Catholic Colleges (7/16/04)

Michael Reagan Chides Stem Cell Opportunists (7/2/04)

Life Insight 12-17-04 

Abstinence Education Under Attack Again

            Abstinence education has taken some hits lately.  Henry Waxman, a staunchly pro-abortion Congressman from California, recently issued a shamefully dishonest report attacking abstinence education.  Although such dishonest attacks, and the mainstream media’s lust for them, are aggravating, I think we can take some solace in these attacks. 

The fact that the billion dollar contraceptive sex ed industry and its shills find it necessary to attack the comparatively puny (financially) abstinence education effort should be received as good news.  After all, the cobra does not waste its venom on dead animals. 

For decades, the contraceptive sex ed industry has had a near monopoly in public funding and in access to schools and other venues for forming the minds of children.  Unfortunately, the fallout—physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually—has been devastating.  Conversely, after just six or seven years of receiving federal funding, abstinence programs are showing concrete results in lowering sexual activity, sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancies. 

In a December 7 news release, a spokesman for the Abstinence Clearinghouse captured this sentiment quite well:  “Sex education advocates are simply scared because they see their monopoly on the minds of children eroding and they have no idea what to do about it.  Attacking abstinence education is their desperate attempt to hold on to the power they have held without accountability for four generations.”

Perhaps the most comprehensive response to the false or misleading charges came from Melissa Pardue of the Heritage Foundation.  She begins by countering Waxman’s portrayal of increases in abstinence education funding as being excessive by pointing out that “in 2002 alone, the government spent $12 promoting contraception and condom use for every $1 it spent to encourage teens to abstain from sexual activity.”

Next she skewers Waxman’s denial of the well-established correlation between teen sex and increased risk of attempted suicide.  She cites a 2003 Heritage Foundation analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Wave II, 1996) which “found that sexually active teens are significantly more likely than their non-sexually-active peers to be depressed and attempt suicide.”

The Waxman report also falsely asserts that no studies exist to substantiate the effectiveness of abstinence education in decreasing teen pregnancy or the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.  Pardue points out that there are currently 10 evaluations showing the effectiveness of abstinence education in reducing teen sexual activity, four of which were published in peer-reviewed journals.

Additionally, Pardue cites an April 2003 study published in Adolescent and Family Health which found that “increased abstinence accounted for 67 percent of the decline in pregnancy rates…[and] 51 percent of the drop in the birth rates for single teen girls…”  A similar study released in the August 2004 Journal of Adolescent Health “attributes 53 percent of the decline in pregnancy rates for 15-17 year olds to decreased sexual activity, which was larger than the decline attributed to contraceptive use.”

Finally, Ms. Pardue points out that Waxman’s report “completely ignores the fact that parents overwhelmingly support the values and messages of authentic abstinence education.”  A January 2004 Zogby poll found that:

v     91 percent of parents want schools to teach that “adolescents should be expected to abstain from sexual activity during high school years.”

v     79 percent of parents want teens to be taught that they should not engage in sexual activity until they are married or at least in an adult relationship leading to marriage.

v     68 of parents want sex education programs to teach that “individuals who are not sexually active until they are married have the best chances of marital stability and happiness”.

v     91 percent of parents want teens to be taught that “the best choice is for sexual intercourse to be linked to love, intimacy, and commitment.  These qualities are most likely to occur in a faithful marriage.”

“These themes”, Ms. Pardue points out, “are central to abstinence education

curricula.”  Ms. Pardue’s complete analysis and other useful information is available online at http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/abstinence.cfm (or from my office). 

The Girls and Boys Town Center for Adolescent and Family Spirituality, 402-498-1890, The Abstinence Clearinghouse, www.abstinence.net or 605-335-3643, and the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, www.medinstitute.org or 512-328-6268 are also great sources of information on this topic.

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Life Insight 12-10-04 

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part V

             In Evangelium vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), Pope John Paul II sums up his vision for forming a new culture of human life and love by pointing to the essential role of the family.

            “Within the ‘people of life and the people for life’…the family has a special role…It is truly ‘the sanctuary of life:  the place in which life—the gift of God—can be properly welcomed and protected’…Consequently, the role of the family in building a culture of life is decisive and irreplaceable…It is above all in raising children that the family fulfills its mission to proclaim the Gospel of life.

            “By word and example, in the daily round of relations and choices, and through concrete actions and signs, parents lead their children to authentic freedom, actualized in the sincere gift of self, and they cultivate in them respect for others, a sense of justice, cordial openness, dialogue, generous service, solidarity and all the other values which help people to live life as a gift.”  (Evangelium vitae #92)

            I think most people intuitively understand the importance of strong family life as a powerful contributor in forming a civilization that is good, just, loving and that respects all human life.  But I think it’s also easy to overlook such obvious and basic responsibilities in our quest to engage in the battle against the culture of death.  So here are a few practical suggestions for families to engage in their “irreplaceable role” in building a culture of life:

1.  Married couples and those preparing for marriage should commit to learning and living the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and married love.  No other effort can better prepare couples for a happy and healthy marriage than a proper understanding of the meaning, dignity and extraordinary beauty of the gift of human life and love.  I recommend studying in particular the Pope’s “Theology of the Body.”  Excellent study resources for this and other related Church documents are available through One More Soul, 800-307-7685 or www.omsoul.com.

2.  Always be open to God’s will in having children.  Pope John Paul II says in Evangelium vitae: “In giving origin to a new life, parents recognize that the child, ‘as the fruit of their mutual gift of love, is in turn a gift for both of them, a gift which flows from them.’”

3.  Teaching and giving children an example of the true meaning of suffering and death.  The Pope says this can be done by “fostering attitudes of closeness, assistance and sharing toward sick or elderly members of the family.”

4.  Foster individual and family prayer.  The family prays in order to glorify and give thanks to God for the gift of life, and implores his light and strength in order to face times of difficulty and suffering without losing hope.  One practical suggestion is to participate in the Family Apostolate for Life (brochure available from my office) which provides many suggestions for families to grow in holiness and love.

5.  Consider adopting a child or being a foster parent.  Or, at least consider adoption-at-a-distance, by providing material assistance to a child or family in need.

6.  Participate in the social and political life of society.  The Holy Father says that “the family, particularly through its membership of family associations, [should work] to ensure that the laws and institutions of the state in no way violate the right to life from conception to natural death, but rather protect and promote it.”

            Finally, the Pope says “It is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and their close interconnectedness…The trivialization of sexuality is among the principal factors which have led to contempt for new life.”

            Parents are the first and primary educators of their children, but can certainly turn to the Church for assistance.  One excellent resource is the Church’s document “The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality” available from One More Soul or online at http://www.cin.org/vatcong/sexed.html.

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Life Insight 12-3-04 

Michael Reagan Headlines Pro Life Dinner

            If you’ve ever wondered how you could contribute to the effort to rebuild a culture of life and love, I’ve got just the ticket…literally!  On Thursday, January 13, President Reagan’s eldest son, Michael Reagan, will be the keynote speaker at a fundraising dinner in Omaha for the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research (NCER).  And I want you all to come!

            Let me first explain a bit about this Coalition that I helped to form.  Having participated in the failed effort by pro-life and pro-family groups to prohibit the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s use of aborted fetal tissue in research, it was apparent to me that we needed a different approach.  We needed a group of professionals in the fields of science and medicine to lead the way in challenging immoral research; a group that couldn’t be as easily dismissed or marginalized by the University and its shills or by our elected officials.

            Hence the formation of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research.  NCER’s mission is to effectively advocate for research that respects the life, dignity and rights of every human being at each developmental stage (and conversely to oppose research that fails this test).  NCER’s boards are comprised of professionals in the fields of science, medicine, business, ethics, religion and politics.

NCER’s prime focus is on education.  Through position papers, educational forums and its website (www.ethicalresearch.net), NCER is disseminating understandable and useful information explaining the science and ethics of biomedical research.  NCER will also be an advocate in the public policy arena for laws that prohibit research that harms or destroys human life. 

Despite its accomplishments to date, NCER’s board of directors (on which I serve) has recognized that the increasing pressure to expand immoral research, and the growing influence of those advocating such expansion, necessitates a significant increase in NCER’s level of activity.  Consequently, NCER has made the commitment to hire state senator Chip Maxwell as its full-time paid executive director. 

This position is crucial to NCER’s continued growth and ability to influence the direction of biomedical research in Nebraska.  The January 13 fundraiser with Michael Reagan will help cover some of the expenses associated with hiring an executive director. 

There are many ways an individual can help make this event a success.  One is to help underwrite the expenses associated with the event with a contribution to NCER.  Another is to sponsor a table for $1000.  Table sponsors receive 10 tickets to the dinner, 2 tickets to the private reception (including a photo with Mr. Reagan) and recognition in the evening program. 

Or you could simply purchase a ticket to the dinner ($50/person) or, better yet, to the private reception with Mr. Reagan ($150/person; $250/couple)(which includes a photo and ticket to the dinner).  For more information or to purchase tickets, call 402-690-2299.  Contributions to NCER (in excess of the dinner cost of $25) are tax deductible and should be mailed to NCER, 5215 Webster St., Omaha, NE  68132.

I cannot emphasize enough how crucial the work of NCER is in rebuilding the culture of life and love.  Embryo-destructive research and cloning represent attacks against human dignity that are so devastating they could obscure even abortion and assisted suicide’s attack on human dignity.  By supporting NCER through this event, you will be making a substantial contribution to the pro-life cause.  Please be as generous as you can and if you have any questions, please call me at 402-477-7517 or call NCER at 402-690-2299.

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Life Insight 11-26-04 

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, IV 

            In his encyclical Evangelium vitae (“The Gospel of Life”) Pope John Paul II provides a vision for forming a new culture of human life and love that involves proclaiming, celebrating and serving the Gospel of Life.  Here I will focus on how we can serve the Gospel of Life.

            “By virtue of our sharing in Christ’s royal mission,” says our Holy Father, “our support and promotion of human life must be accomplished through the service of charity, which finds expression in personal witness, various forms of volunteer work, social activity and political commitment…We must care for the other as a person for whom God has made us responsible…

“[W]e are called to become neighbors to everyone and to show special favor to those who are poorest, most alone and most in need.  In helping the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned—as well as the child in the womb and the old person who is suffering or near death—we have the opportunity to serve Jesus…’As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’” (Evangelium vitae #87).

            This is the vision for serving the Gospel of Life.  What are some tools to get us there?  My first response to this question is “bloom where you’re planted.”  God gave each of us a calling in life, and our most fundamental responsibility in forming a culture of human life and love is to live that vocation with fidelity and zeal.

            The primary role of the clergy and religious is to sanctify the laity (to teach and form us in the faith and inspire us to holiness).  The primary role of the laity in general (married or single) is to sanctify the temporal order (to live and proclaim our faith in the work place and elsewhere in the world where the clergy cannot go).  More specifically, the first priority of married couples is to work for a healthy and holy marriage and to raise children with a solid formation in virtue and faith, equipped to radiate and defend our faith throughout the world.  

            In simply living these primary vocations with fidelity and zeal, we are serving the Gospel of Life and profoundly displacing the culture of death by forming a solid foundation of faith in our culture.  In addition to this primary duty, there are many other practical ways in which we can serve the Gospel of Life.

            There are many avenues for directly engaging in the pro-life cause.  Naturally, my first recommendation is to engage in pro-life activities in your own parish.  Most parishes in Nebraska have a pro-life coordinator who implements programs/activities suggested by my office.  They are always grateful for additional support and assistance.  Catholics can also be associated with my office through Nebraska Catholics for Life.  Members receive a newsletter with practical material to help them pray, be informed and act for the pro-life cause.

            There are other pro life groups (e.g. Nebraska Right to Life and its local chapters, and Nebraskans United for Life) and service agencies (e.g. the 29 pregnancy-help centers throughout Nebraska) that are always in need of contributions of time, talent and treasure.

And there are many other wonderful programs or organizations that help form a culture of life and love such as Natural Family Planning Outreach, St. Vincent de Paul Society and Hospice programs.

            John Paul II specifically mentions the “unique responsibility [that] belongs to health care personnel…[as] guardians and servants of human life.”  And he points out the need for “commitment in the political field”.  Just imagine the transformation of our culture that could materialize if all Catholic health care professionals and public servants carried out their duties in fidelity to the sacred dignity and inviolability of human life that even our nation’s founding documents acknowledge is self-evident.           

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Life Insight 11-19-04 

Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, III

            Pope John Paul II’s vision for forming a new culture of human life begins with evangelization (proclaiming the Gospel of Life).  He also mentions in his encyclical Evangelium vitae the need to celebrate the Gospel of Life.

            “Because we have been sent into the world as a ‘people for life’ our proclamation must also become a genuine celebration of the Gospel of life…For this to happen, we need first of all to foster in ourselves and in others a contemplative outlook.  Such an outlook arises from faith in the God of life, who has created every individual as a ‘wonder’.  It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its utter gratuitousness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and responsibility. 

“It is the outlook of those who do not presume to take possession of reality, but instead accept it as a gift, discovering in all things the reflection of the Creator and seeing in every person his living image.  This outlook does not give in to discouragement when confronted by those who are sick, suffering, outcast or at death’s door.  Instead, in all of these situations, it feels challenged to find meaning, and precisely in these circumstances it is open to perceiving in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue and solidarity.” (Evangelium vitae #83)

            It is said that verbal engineering always precedes social engineering.  In Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives, Professor William Brennan, PhD, a sociologist at St. Louis University, chronicled some of this verbal engineering as applied to various groups of human beings.  His book includes a chart comparing dehumanizing statements made throughout history about the unborn, Native Americans, African Americans, European Jews, women and disabled persons.  The statements refer to these human beings as “deficient”, “nonhuman”, “animals”, “parasites”, “diseases”, “inanimate objects”, “waste products” and “nonpersons”.

            Verbal dehumanization takes a toll on how we view human life.  After 32 years of legalized abortion and a dominant culture that regards unborn children as “fetuses”, “blobs of tissue”, and “products of conception”, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that human life, at every stage, is increasingly viewed as a burden to be eliminated or overcome, rather than as an opportunity for love. 

The Holy Father recognizes that we must counter this by rediscovering and celebrating an awe for human life.  In Evangelium vitae he gives us plenty of exceedingly beautiful thoughts upon which to meditate.  Here’s just one example:

“Indeed, ‘despite its hardships, its hidden mysteries, its suffering and its inevitable frailty, this mortal life is a most beautiful thing, a marvel ever new and moving, an event worthy of being exalted in joy and glory’…Moreover, man and his life appear to us not only as one of the greatest marvels of creation: For God has granted to man a dignity which is near to divine (Ps. 8:5-6).  In every child which is born and in every person who lives or dies we see the image of God’s glory.  We celebrate this glory in every human being, a sign of the living God, an icon of Jesus Christ.”

One of the practical tools my office provides to foster a deeper sense of awe for the miracle of life is the Spiritual Adoption program.  This program asks individuals to spiritually “adopt” an unborn child and his/her parents for nine months by praying daily for them.  During the nine months, participants are provided with monthly fetal development information and pictures of the developing child.  At the end of the program, participants are encouraged to donate baby items to a local pregnancy-help center. 

To make this program more efficacious, I encourage participants to begin on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, so the nine month spiritual “adoption” can coincide with the conception, gestation and birth our Lord, Jesus.  For more information on this and other programs to celebrate the miracle of human life, contact me at 402-477-7517 or gregschlepp@alltel.net.

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Life Insight 11-12-04

Our Vision and the Tools to Get us There, Part II

In laying out his vision for a new culture of human life, Pope John Paul II recalls our “duty to preach the Gospel of life, to celebrate it in the liturgy and in our whole existence, and to serve it with the various programs and structures which support and promote life.” (Evangelium vitae #79)

Proclaiming the Gospel of life

“We need to bring the Gospel of Life to the heart of every man and woman and to make it penetrate every part of society.   This involves above all proclaiming the core of this Gospel.  It is the proclamation of a living God who is close to us, who calls us to profound communion with himself and awakens in us the certain hope of eternal life.  It is the affirmation of the inseparable connection between the person, his life and his bodiliness.

“It is the presentation of human life as a life of relationship, a gift of God, the fruit and sign of his love.  It is the proclamation that Jesus has a unique relationship with every person which enables us to see in every human face the face of Christ.  It is the call for a ‘sincere gift of self’ as the fullest way to realize our personal freedom…The meaning of life is found in giving and receiving love, and in this light human sexuality and procreation reach their true and full significance.  Love also gives meaning to suffering and death; despite the mystery which surrounds them, they can become saving events.” (Evangelium vitae #81)

Since the deepest root of the culture of death is alienation from God (spiritual poverty), it’s not surprising that evangelization (proclaiming the Gospel of life) would be at the top of the Pope’s list for forming a new culture of human life.  My 14 years of experience battling the culture of death confirms the Holy Father’s conclusion that at its deepest levels, the battle is spiritual, not intellectual.

If we do not have a healthy relationship with God, we are not likely to fully appreciate or respect the value and meaning of human life made in His image.  Conversely, the deeper and healthier our relationship is with God, the deeper and more profound will be our appreciation and respect for human life.

Therefore, the most basic, yet profound, pro-life activity we can pursue as individuals is to grow in holiness and to radiate that holiness to those around us.  The beauty and allure of a holy life will open more doors and hearts to objective truth and authentic love than the most compelling and eloquent words.

There are many ways to deepen our relationship with God, such as a weekly holy hour, fasting and a daily Rosary.  But the most profound way is daily (or frequent) reception of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Savior in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  After all, the Mass is the source and summit of our faith.

There are also numerous activities my office promotes to foster spiritual renewal.  For example, Intercessors for Life is a project that asks individuals to commit to pray and fast one day a week for success in forming a new culture of human life.  The Abortion Center Prayer Project provides parishes with prayer cards that ask God for the conversion of Nebraska’s abortionists and their staff and for the closure of the three abortion centers.  The Family Apostolate for Life provides suggestions to families for nurturing holiness within the individual, the family and throughout society.

Finally, every year my office sponsors a Vigil Mass and All Night Adoration on the night prior to the Walk for Life in Lincoln.  This Mass and adoration (held at St. Mary’s Church on January 28, 2005) is offered in reparation for the sin of abortion. 

Our Lord said that there are certain kinds of demons that do not leave but by prayer and fasting.  Certainly, the destruction of innocent human life is such a demon.  Therefore, our efforts to form a new culture of human life will be fruitful only if they are firmly rooted in prayer and fasting.

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Life Insight 11-5-04

 Our Vision and the Tools to Get Us There, Part I

            It has been nearly thirty two years since the U.S. Supreme Court usurped the legislative process and imposed legalized abortion on demand upon this nation.  Not only has Roe v Wade (and its companion Doe v Bolton) resulted in an estimated 45 million dead babies and wounded mothers, it has, in the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “deformed a great nation.”

            Many good efforts by the pro-life movement have mitigated this evil practice:  the formation of several thousand pregnancy help centers; the massive educational efforts reinforcing the humanity of the unborn child and the harm abortion inflicts upon mothers, fathers and others; the post-abortion outreach of hope and healing through Project Rachel and related ministries; and the public policy efforts to protect unborn human life to the fullest extent allowed under the regime of Roe v Wade.

            These efforts are not insignificant, and it’s unimaginable where our nation would be without these efforts pushing back against the culture of death.  Yet the attacks against human life are expanding (e.g. assisted suicide/euthanasia, embryonic stem cell and cloning research), and in some ways worse. 

            It is my view that one of the main reasons the pro-life movement has not had more success in protecting human life is that it has largely prosecuted this battle without a clear understanding that abortion and similar attacks are symptoms of deeper problems.  Consequently, these deeper problems have largely been ignored.

            Almost 10 years ago, Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, illuminated these deeper problems in his extraordinary encyclical Evangelium vitae (“The Gospel of Life”).  Nothing in my 14 years as state director of the Bishops’ Pro Life Program has transformed my thinking more and given me more insight into the battle between the culture of death and the culture of life than this encyclical.

            To more easily comprehend these deeper problems and the manifestations they produce, imagine a cross-section picture of a dandelion showing the root underground and the plant above ground.  The philosophical roots, according to our Holy Father, are radical individualism (self-centeredness, ignorance of neighbors and duties to them); relativism (no recognition of moral absolutes or objective truth); materialism (valuing “having” over “being” or “doing”).

The deepest root, however, is “the eclipse of the sense of God and man, typical of a social and cultural climate dominated by secularism.”  Our Holy Father speaks of this deepest root as a “vicious circle”:  If our relationship with God our Creator is weak, our understanding and appreciation of human life (made in His image and likeness) is also weak.  If we don’t appreciate the meaning and value of human life, we are more likely to violate its dignity.  Violating the dignity of human life, like all sin, darkens our intellect and will making it harder to know and love God—thus completing the “vicious circle.”

A concrete example of these philosophical roots is the abuse of our sacred gift of sexuality through contraception.  Returning to the dandelion metaphor, if contraception represents the root of the weed, the manifestations or plant that is produced by this root includes abortion, artificial reproductive technologies, embryo-destructive research, cloning, divorce, breakdown of the family, child abuse and neglect, among others.

Understanding the roots of the culture of death is critical to understanding how to attack those roots and rebuild a culture of life and love.  In subsequent columns, I will present the Holy Father’s vision for attacking the roots of the culture of death and many practical tools to help us rebuild a culture of life and love.

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Life Insight 10-29-04

Are You Equipped to Fight the Culture of Death?

We are at war. I’m not speaking of the war on terror, but the culture war. A war that will determine whether the abortion license will recede or expand nationally and internationally; whether the near infanticide of partial-birth abortion will be prohibited or become a gateway to outright infanticide.

A war that will determine whether our society will further degrade human life by allowing the destruction of embryonic human beings for research. A war that will determine whether we trespass even further into God’s domain as the Author of life by producing human life in our own image, by our own specifications, through cloning and other forms of genetic manipulation.

A war that will determine whether we embrace terminally ill and elderly persons and provide compassionate support and comfort care or whether we help them commit suicide. A war that will determine whether we elevate and empower young people to appreciate and live chaste lives or whether we allow evil influences to undermine their purity and innocence.

This a war for the very heart and soul of our nation—a war that will, I believe, determine whether our great nation rises or falls. How equipped are you to engage in this battle? I occasionally receive communications from individuals who feel called to be more active in pro-life activities and want to know what they can do. I know there are many more who feel this same calling—or at least a frustration about the downward slide of our culture—but don’t feel equipped or confident to engage in the battle.

Next weekend, November 5 and 6, the annual Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro Life Activities Convention will be held at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. The theme of the Convention is "Rebuilding a Culture of Life", but another theme could be "Equipping Catholics to Fight the Culture of Death".

The keynote speaker at the Friday night banquet is Most Reverend Raymond Burke, Archbishop of St. Louis. Archbishop Burke has been a beacon of moral clarity in admonishing pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians whose advocacy of legal abortion imperils their immortal souls. He recently wrote a magnificent pastoral letter providing excellent guidance to Catholics on engaging in the electoral process and on the primacy of right to life issues in evaluating candidates for office.

Saturday’s topics and speakers will be equally engaging. Fr. Richard Hogan, formerly of Priests for Life, will help us uncover the inspiring beauty of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. This incredibly profound teaching gives us a deeper understanding of our nature and dignity as bodily creatures made in God’s image and likeness.

Sandra Faucher of the Rosetta Foundation will share some incredibly insightful and encouraging research on Generation Y (ages 9-24). Her research reveals that this Generation is remarkably pro-life, spiritual and huge in numbers (60 million compared to 17 million in Generation X before it). Her presentation will highlight the tremendous hope this generation provides for our future efforts to build a culture of life—and the tremendous peril if we abandon this generation to the culture of death.

Other topics are "Contraception vs. Chastity: What Parents and Teens Really Want", "Women Deserve Better [than abortion]", Cloning and Beyond and I will conclude the convention with a presentation on our vision for attacking the culture of death and the tools to get us there.

The cost for the entire convention is a modest $40 and that includes free child care. So bring your family and prepare to be inspired, rejuvenated and equipped to engage in this battle to rebuild a culture of life. See the ad in this paper for more information and a registration form.

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Life Insight 10-22-04

Stem Cells, Abortion and Catholic Doctrine

In the last two presidential debates, John Kerry answered questions on abortion with an intellectually dishonest and misleading assertion: banning abortion, he claimed, would constitute the imposition of his "article of faith" upon those who don’t share it. This is hardly a new concept. Pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians have for quite some time been rationalizing their votes against limitations on abortion by claiming to be personally opposed to abortion, but unable to impose their "religious" view on others.

The rationale, or strategy, is based on the erroneous assertion that there is no objective beginning of human life or at least no definitive point when it "acquires" moral and legal status; it is simply a matter of religious or individual opinion. By making this assertion, efforts to ban abortion or embryo-destructive research can be undermined by claiming that such laws would effectively enshrine religious doctrine in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

This false assertion has been quickly applied to the debate over embryonic stem cell research. Last week, I attended a presentation on stem cell research by L. Dennis Smith, former president of the University of Nebraska. Although most of his presentation focused on the science of stem cell and cloning research, he apparently couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attack the Catholic Church.

In response to a question that had no relevance to the Church, he took the opportunity to incorrectly state that the Church’s moral view of unborn human life is based on an 18^th Century papal declaration that life begins at conception. As you might guess, I got a little prickly at this point and raised my hand to correct the error.

The truth is, no Pope or Church Council has ever dictated when human life begins—independent of the prevailing science at the time. In other words, the Church has always looked to the science of biology to determine when human life begins, because this is a question of biology not theology.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2271) teaches, "since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable." What has changed over the centuries is the canonical penalty that the Church imposes on those who procure an abortion.

These changes have coincided with the advancements in biology. In the earlier centuries when it was unclear or unknown how or when human life began, the canonical penalty for abortion was greater (excommunication) after quickening (when fetal movement made clear the presence of an unborn child).

In 1869, Pope Pius IX applied the penalty of excommunication to abortions procured at any stage of development. Contrary to false claims by abortion advocates, this was not a change in the Church’s consistent theological teaching that direct abortion at any stage and for any reason is a grave sin. It merely changed the Church’s canonical penalty for abortion in light of medical discoveries revealing clearly that fertilization is the point when human life begins.

The Church’s teaching on the moral status and rights of the human embryo and fetus is fundamentally different from the Church’s teaching on the Trinity or the Immaculate Conception. The latter teaching is based on Catholic doctrine or "articles of faith" that, if legislated, would be a true violation of the Establishment Clause.

The former teaching is based on the general agreement among human embryologists that the embryo and fetus are "human beings" in the early stage of development. And it’s based on a truth our nation’s founding document called "self-evident": "that all men are created equal…endowed by their Creator with [the] unalienable Rights [of] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Therefore, contrary to Sen. Kerry’s assertion, support for laws that recognize and protect these human’s right to life is no more an imposition of an "article of faith" than support for laws against murder in general.

For an excellent new bulletin insert explaining the science and ethics of stem cell research and human cloning, contact my office or go online to http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/stemcell/Q&ABulletinInsert09222004.pdf 

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Life Insight 10-8-04

Umbilical Cord Blood Saves Lives

Until recently, after a baby was born, the umbilical cord was cut and disposed of with the rest of the "after birth". Advances in "adult" stem cell research reveal that umbilical cord blood is rich with stem cells that can save lives. And, more important, these stem cells are morally acceptable because obtaining them causes no harm to another human being. As a result, an increasing number of parents are showing interest in saving or donating their children’s cord blood.

According to the Umbilical Cord Blood Education Alliance, following delivery, there is approximately 3-5 ounces of blood remaining in the umbilical cord and placenta. This blood contains hematopoietic (blood) stem cells which are the "building blocks" of the immune system and are able to transform into any type of blood cell: red cell, white cell or platelets.

In a transplant, cord blood stem cells replenish the immune system and repopulate the supply of bone marrow. Traditionally, such stem cells were harvested from bone marrow which is a painful process. Cord blood is obtained after the baby is born and the umbilical cord is clamped and cut. This process is painless and safe. Moreover, cord blood stem cells are much easier to match to a recipient than is bone marrow.

At the present time, the primary use of cord blood stem cell transplantation is to treat blood diseases and cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma, or hereditary disorders, such as sickle cell anemia and immune deficiencies. Some of these diseases are best treated with the child’s own cord blood stem cells. But for diseases that have a genetic basis, physicians prefer to use stem cells from a matched donor such as a sibling or an unrelated donor from a public cord blood bank.

Cord blood stem cells are also being used to conduct ethical stem cell research. Some of this research has shown that cord blood also contains more fundamental stem cells that can transform into other cell types such as nerves or muscles. Although such research is in the early stages, it suggests that "adult" stem cells could be as flexible as embryonic stem cells in their ability to form any of the body’s tissues and cells.

Parents can either donate their child’s cord blood to a blood bank for public use or they can privately bank it for use only by their child or family. There is no charge to the parents if they donate their cord blood for public use. There is a retrieval charge (roughly $1000) and a storage charge (roughly $100/year) if parents want to store their cord blood for their own use.

A Catholic physician in Atlanta has formed a Catholic non-profit foundation called Babies for Life with the idea of helping to facilitate the process for couples who wish to privately bank their baby’s umbilical cord blood or donate it for people in need of a stem cell transplant. In addition to helping to facilitate the donation process, the foundation works to increase public awareness about the moral and medical good that comes from donating cord blood to the public registries.

More information about Babies for Life is available on its website at www.babiesforlife.org or by calling them at 404-303-9187. Additional information about the process of cord blood donation or private banking is available online at www.marrow.org or www.parentsguidecordblood.com or by contacting me at 402-477-7517.

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Life Insight 10-01-04

Thirty Two Years of Celebrating Life

This Sunday (October 3) marks the thirty second year that the Catholic Church in the United States will observe Respect Life Sunday. In 1972, the Catholic Bishops initiated the Respect Life program with two objectives in mind: (1) to raise the consciousness of American Catholics regarding ways to promote respect for human life, and (2) to motivate people to establish a just social order in which the rights of all men and women are assured and protected.

If you think about it, it reveals a disturbing poverty of our culture that we need a special time each year to consciously focus on the sacred dignity of human life. Oh sure, this sacred dignity has been violated throughout the history of man, but today’s attacks are different.

In Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II refers to today’s attacks as "another category of attacks affecting life in its earliest and in its final stages, attacks which present new characteristics with respect to the past and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness. "It is not only that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as ‘crimes’; paradoxically they assume the nature of ‘rights,’ to the point that the state is called upon to give them legal recognition" and even pay for them.

"Such attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defense. Even more serious is the fact that, most often those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family--the family, which by its nature is called to be the sanctuary of life."

Think about this. While human life and its dignity have been violated pretty much throughout the history of man, most of the time such violations have been considered to be wrong and were illegal (legalized slavery is one exception in our nation). When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, it declared an intrinsically evil act to be a fundamental Constitutional right.

Furthermore, it granted this right only to mothers and only if the victim of the act is her own offspring. Can it be a more certain sign of the devil, or more insidious, than when an act pits mother against her own child?

Not only did this decision result in the slaughter of tens of millions of our most innocent and defenseless brothers and sisters, it has, in the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, "deformed a great nation." You simply cannot strip the most basic human right from an entire group of human beings and not degrade how we view human life in general and other vulnerable persons (elderly, sick, disabled, frozen embryos) in particular.

This year’s Respect Life program has as its theme, "Made in His Image." The program combines prayer, pastoral services, advocacy and education. The program packet, which was sent to every Catholic parish and high school in the state, contains six excellent articles on timely topics, a beautiful poster, an inspiring flier, liturgical suggestions and a catalog of additional resources.

The article topics are: Surgical Advances for Unborn Patients, Human Dignity in the "Vegetative" State, A Call to Effective Action: When Being Right is Not Enough, Assisted Reproductive Technologies Are Anti-Women, Sex: What Do Women (and Men) Really Want?, and Youth Suicidal Behavior. Each article includes references to other program models and/or resources on that topic.

We all lead busy lives--too busy in my opinion--but please make an extra effort this weekend to recognize the beauty, sacredness, awe and miracle of human life. Attend a Life Chain prayer event near you, say some extra prayers for greater respect toward human life, join or donate to your local pro-life group, or St. Vincent de Paul Society, or otherwise be more attentive to the needs of your neighbor.

Our Lord has called each of us to live and proclaim the Gospel of Life. One day each of us will stand before God and give an accounting of how we responded to this call. And our Lord will judge us not by our success in answering His call, but by our fidelity to Him and the Truth about human life and love that He wrote on our hearts.

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Life Insight 9-17-04

Strike Three on PBA Ban?

Last week, Federal District Judge Richard Kopf became the third judge to rule that the federal ban on partial-birth abortions is unconstitutional because some abortionists claim the brutal technique provides health benefits for women. After Congress passed the ban last year (for the third time) with a huge bipartisan majority, and President Bush signed it into law, abortion activists challenged the law in three separate courts (San Francisco, New York and Nebraska).

Judge Kopf’s ruling begins with a cold and bizarre depiction of human reproduction and a degrading comparison between childbirth and abortion. From a November 2001 PBS program that presents the "miracle" of human reproduction, Judge Kopf selectively picks this excerpt:

"Again and again the uterus contracts as the cervix opens up. The tiny passageway that once allowed the entrance of a single file of sperm now must widen to about four inches to accommodate a baby’s head. Human births are far more dangerous than those of other mammals or even other primates. The human brain is three to four times bigger than an ape’s brain. And the pelvis is narrower to allow us to walk upright. A human baby has to go through considerable contortions to make it through the narrow opening. Sometimes, there simply is not enough room."

He then completes the degradation with his own callous comparison of childbirth and abortion: "Like giving birth to a child, when a woman ends her pregnancy during or after the second trimester, she confronts a serious problem. Her cervix will frequently be too small to allow the skull of the human fetus to pass through it. Although terminating a pregnancy in America is safer than childbirth, this ‘skull-is-too-large’ difficulty makes the abortion of a human fetus, like the birth of a human baby, potentially very dangerous to both the life and health of the woman."

Gee whiz, if human reproduction is as big of a threat to women as Judge Kopf portrays it, why not just ban it completely? Judge Kopf apparently sees no distinction between the natural (albeit difficult at times) act of childbirth and the violent and unnatural act of forcing open a woman’s cervix, pulling all but the child’s head from the womb before stabbing her in the head and sucking her brains out.

In coming to this conclusion, Judge Kopf viewed as relevant and credible only the medical opinion of a few abortionists. Despite their experience and expertise in maternal-fetal medicine and in treating high risk pregnancies, the medical experts who testified against this procedure were not credible in Kopf’s view because they hadn’t performed a partial-birth abortion. How absurd and how extreme.

Even Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who voted to reaffirm Roe v. Wade, ruled in favor of banning partial-birth abortion (in Stenberg v. Carhart,2000) in part because he believes it’s wrong to effectively give a few doctors veto power over the entire legislative branch of government.

This veto power is even more extreme given the fact that lawyers defending the PBA ban were prohibited by the courts from having access to medical records of women who had undergone partial-birth abortions. This made it impossible to medically refute (or substantiate) the judgment that partial-birth abortion was necessary to preserve the health of some women.

Finally, Judge Kopf seems to contradict himself in this ruling. First, he makes the case that the large skull of a (pre-viable) second trimester child necessitates a health exception to the PBA ban. But he then exempts post-viability pregnancies from his ruling. If a pre-viable child poses a "serious problem" to a woman’s health, then an even larger post-viable child certainly poses a more serious problem, right?

Perhaps I’m being silly for expecting coherent reasoning in a ruling that treats the killing of a child in the process of being born as a constitutional right rather than a brutal act that shouldn’t happen to an animal, let alone a human being.

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Life Insight 9-10-04

"The media continues to report that the Reagan ‘family’ is in favor of (embryonic) stem cell research, when the truth is that two members of the family have been long time foes of this process of manufacturing human beings--my dad, Ronald Reagan during his lifetime, and I." So says the late President Reagan's eldest son, Michael, in a June 21 article.

"The media should keep in mind that we are also members of the Reagan 'family', and my father, as I do, opposed the creation of human embryos for the sole purpose of using their stem cells as possible medical cures. Moreover, using the widely promoted and thoroughly discredited argument that embryonic) stem cell research can lead to a cure of Alzheimer's disease, the media and proponents of stem cell research have suggested that had the research been done a long time ago, my dad might have avoided the ordeal he endured. This is junk science at its worst."

Michael Reagan's letter couldn't have come at a better time. The media and proponents of embryonic stem cell research have unleashed a full-court press trying shamefully and dishonestly to capitalize on late President Reagan's illness and death. For example, Michael cited an editorial written by William Clark, President Reagan's national security advisor and one of his closest friends. "Mr. Reagan's suffering under Alzheimer's disease was tragic," Clark says, "and we should do everything we can that is ethically proper to help others afflicted with it. But I have no doubt that he would have urged our nation to look to adult stem cell research--which has yielded many clinical successes--and away from the destruction of developing human lives, which has yielded none. Those who would trade on Ronald Reagan's legacy should first consider his own words."

It is nothing short of a travesty that President Reagan's unambiguous pro-life record and convictions are now being hijacked to advance immoral research with federal funds--a practice he opposed while president. I could almost script the cynical and calculated conversations among opportunistic members of the research industry, many I suspect whom despised most of Ronald Reagan's policies while president. Can you hear them crowing about hijacking Reagan's pro-life legacy to both advance immoral research he opposed and redefine what it means to be pro-life?

What makes this hijacking even more shameful and dishonest is the fact that stem cell experts have apparently known for some time that of all the disease that could someday benefit from embryonic stem cell treatments, Alzheimer's is among the least likely to benefit. An yet Nancy Reagan, as well as the general public, has been misled with wild exaggerations and promises--seldom done with early-stage research--in order to advance the political agenda of the biotech industry.

Not only has the biotech industry hyped embryonic stem cell research, but it has largely obscured the significantly more advanced adult stem cell research which, unlike embryonic stem cell research, is already reaping results treating diseases in humans and is morally acceptable. Michael Fumento, whom Michael Reagan refers to as "one of the nation's most skilled debunkers of junk science" says that "Unfortunately, embryonic stem cell researchers have so powerful a public relations) machine that many influential people don't even know there's an alternative."

Some of our local media, particularly the Omaha World Herald editorial page has been heavily skewed in support of embryonic stem cell and cloning research. Readers should be very skeptical about considering information from such sources as objective and even truthful.