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Photo by Michael J. Johnson.
Southern Cross, Page 2
Headline Hopscotch
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monsignor William 0. O’Neill, rector of the
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, watches as
Bishop J. Kevin Boland completes the state
forms to make himself eligible to direct a portion
of his state tax liability toward the G.R.A.C.E.
Scholars program.
Bishop applies for GR.A.C.E.
Scholars Tax Credit
Savannah
B ishop J. Kevin Boland recently lent his per
sonal support to the new GR.A.C.E.
Scholars program by filling out the forms to
direct the maximum $ 1,000 of his state taxes to
the scholarship program. G.R.A.C.E. (Georgia
Residents Assisting Children’s Education)
Scholars is part of a new state initiative for resi
dents who want to contribute to faith-based or
private education. It allows taxpayers to redirect
a portion of their tax liability to nonprofit
school scholarship programs. It is a joint project
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese
of Savannah. The law, enacted in 2008, pro
vides an income tax credit for Georgia residents
and corporations to donate to a Student
Scholarship Organization (SSO) for students in
public schools or students just starting school at
faith-based or private accredited educational
institutions. Any individual, married couple or
corporation can contribute to G.R.A.C.E.
Scholars. For more information, contact
Rosemary Alexander in the Diocese of
Savannah Catholic Schools Office at (912) 201-
4121 or by email at rlalexander@diosav.org or
go to the GR.A.C.E. Scholars Web site at
www.gracescholars.org .
Cardinal Dulles dies at 90;
Jesuit theologian made
A CARDINAL IN ‘01
Washington (CNS)
C ardinal Avery
Dulles, a Jesuit the
ologian who was made a
cardinal in 2001, died
December 12 at the
Jesuit infirmary in New
York, Murray-Weigel
Hall. A cause of death
was not released but he
had been in poor health.
He was 90 years old.
Cardinal Dulles had been Cardinal Avery Dulles,
the oldest living U.S. car- sj, in 2005.
dinal. His death was
announced by the New
York-based Jesuit provincial’s office. Funeral
arrangements were pending. His death “brings
home to God a great theologian and a totally dedi
cated servant of the church,” said Cardinal Francis
E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. bish
ops. “I am deeply saddened at the loss of a personal
friend, but I rejoice in the hope that now he sees
clearly what he explored so well in his studies on
revelation, on grace and on the nature of the church
and the papal office,” he said in a statement.
Vatican document warns certain new research violates moral principles
By John Thavis
Vatican City (CNS)
new Vatican document warned
that certain recent develop
ments in stem-cell research, gene
therapy and embryonic experimenta
tion violate moral principles and
reflect an attempt by man to “take
the place of his Creator.” The latest
advances raise serious questions of
moral complicity for researchers and
other biotech professionals, who
have a duty to refuse to use biologi
cal material obtained by unethical
means, the document said. The 32-
page instruction, titled Dignitas
Personae (“The Dignity of a
Person”), was issued December 12
by the Congregation for the Doc
trine of the Faith. Pope Benedict
XVI personally approved the text
and ordered its publication.
Here are the major points of the
instruction:
—Two fundamental principles for
reflection on bioethical questions
are: First, the human being is to be
respected and treated as a person
from the moment of conception;
second, responsible human procre
ation occurs in the act of reciprocal
love between a man and a woman
in marriage.
—Stem-cell research opens new
prospects for regenerative medicine
and is morally permissible when it
uses stem cells taken from adult
organisms, but not when it takes
cells from human embryos, because
it invariably causes their death.
—Researchers in the biotech pro
fession have a moral duty to refuse
to use biological material that
comes from a procedure considered
gravely immoral by the church,
even if there is no close connection
between the researcher and those
doing the illicit procedure.
—The morning-after pill and
other methods of preventing the
implantation of a fertilized egg are
immoral because they are intended
to cause an abortion. Using such
methods falls “within the sin of
abortion,” and when there is cer
tainty that an abortion has taken
place there are serious canon law
penalties.
—Human cloning, whether for
producing embryonic stem cells or
to obtain the birth of a genetically
predetermined baby, is immoral.
—Techniques for assisting fertili
ty are morally permissible if they
respect the right to life of every
human being and respect procre
ation as a result of the conjugal act
in marriage.
—In vitro fertilization and the
deliberate destruction of embryos
are morally unacceptable.
—The freezing of embryos or of
human eggs, commonly done in
assisted fertility treatment, is also
morally illicit.
—The thousands of unused,
frozen human embryos are in a
sense “orphans.” The proposal for
“prenatal adoption” that would
allow frozen embryos to be bom,
although well intended, would
itself be subject to a number of
problems.
oan ~L» u
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For more information call the Southern Cross at
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