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USUALLY JUSTIFIED THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 3 PRIEST STATES Priest Calls Transplant Of Organs Moral Problem BY GILBERT ROXBURGH, 0. P. It's been labelled the "great- medical break-through of our age." Experts have been work ing in the field for some time, and the future promises im mense progress for human health and happiness. The movement forward is in the area of medical transplants —transferring organs or tis sues from human beings orani- mals to other humans in need of such tissues or organs. THERE HAVE BEEN some headline-making cases in re cent weeks, where the use of an animal heart or an animal kid ney has kept a human life go ing, at least for a time. There are other instances less sensa tional, where a donor contri butes a part of his body to some one else , like giving an eye to an eye-bank for future use. This important work of medi cal transplantation is being done at key hospitals around the country, much of it in Lou isiana and Mississippi. This major scientific effort also poses a number of moral problems: can a generous donor licitly give his eye to another, merely from altruistic mot ives? Could he will it to some one without sight after his own death? THIS ISA MORAL problem because of the Christian view that the human body is not completely under man's own dominion. It is a part of him given by God as a sacred trust, to be used in accordance with God’s designs, not his own. The question is this: Can a man mar the physiological in tegrity of his own body by re moving some portion of it? If so, when? WE HAVE A general princi ple we apply to such cases. It’s called the "Principle of Tota lity." It was formulated seven hundred years ago by St. Tho mas Aquinas, and finds appli cation in our day in the nume rous papal pronouncements on medical-moral problems by Pius XIL The Principle of To tality comes down to this: any part of the human body is for the sake of the whole; it’s the health of the organism itself which nature tends to, and if some part or member of the or ganism impairs this health, and there is no way to restore the health, the part must go for the sake of the whole. A man has no right to damage or maim his body. But suppose one part of the body becomes diseased— a tooth, let's say. Using the Principle of Total ity, we would say: Pull it out. the part must go. The blood, the pain, the wound that accom panies tooth extrachion is more than justified by the need to Ed Curtin Presents ALLEN COLLAY SEXTET -Plu»- 5:30 TO 7:30 BILL FARMER TRIO Ch*tt«r • Humor • Mu»ic Let Our Lounge Be Your Afternoon and Evening Retreat DANCE AT THE Sated Souci 760 We»t P'tree TR. 5-4251 (Throughout the nation, medi cal science forges ahead with the transplants of organs from one human to another; from chimpanzee to man. The Rev. Gilbert Roxburgh, 0. P., of New Orleans, examines the morality of these transplants from New Orleans, one of the medical centers which is blazing the trail. His article was written especially for the CLARION Herald, official Catholic news paper of theArchdiocese of New Orleans.) safeguard the whole body at the expense of the part. And the Principle of Totality is a rule we use in morally justifying the taking out of tonsils, ap pendix, or performing amputat ions. For most of us, these operations are no moral pro blems at all. BUT SUPPOSE THAT your health is all right; it’s the health of a friend or neighbor which is endangered. Both kidneys are diseased. Can you offer, for his well-being, your own kidney? The Principle of Totality does not apply, for your body is dis turbed for his well-being, not your own. Yet, charity allows you to do for others what you could do for yourself. This seems to be the way me dical-moral experts approach the problem: 1. It is considered perfectly moral to will one’s eyes to someone else after death. The proper functioning of one’s own body need no longer be conside red, and a living person can probably benefit from the cor nea of someone recently de ceased. 2. Experts also seem agreed that a living person can give a blood transfusion or skin graft, because the giving of this kind of living material does not damage the functioning of the donor's body. Nature easily and quickly re stores the quantity of blood or skin given. 3. Difficulties come in those cases where nature does not re store what was lost—an eye or a kidney. Catholic thinkers are far from agreement here. Some say that the relation of more guardianship over the body in God’s sight forbids mutilation even to help someone else: the Principle of Totality isnotver- fied. HOWEVER, MUCH modem theological thought gives a sec ond thought to whether or not— at least in some instances— there is appreciable damage to the donor’s organism. The human body has a num ber of dual organs (lungs, gonads, kidneys). In some cas es, when one of these dual or- OYSTERS STONE CRAB CLAWS SHRIMP CRAB Open 12Noon to 10:30P.M. 2933 PEACHTREE RD. In Buckhead 233-4125 gans is removed, the body seems to suffer no harm what ever. One organ is all that is needed. If one kidney is dona ted to someone in need, the don or’s bodily functions are in no way impaired; one kidney is all that is needed. THEREFORE, IN practice kidney transplants can be al lowed, even though there is some uncertainty about na ture's hidden purpose inpro viding an organ which is "pure ly extra." The same norms would pro bably apply in all cases where "duality of organs" exists, as in the case of the ovaries, as long as one of the "dual org ans" will continue to function properly. The transplant could not be permitted if any funct ion of the body was suppressed. IS THE HUMAN eye in this category? Opinion is not unanimous. Certainly some eye efficiency (depth vision) is im paired if one eye is removed, but is this loss enough to let us assert that the functional efficiency of the donor's body has been impaired? Some think yes. Some think no. But in prac tice eye donation can be con sidered allowable. (There must, of course, be a weigh ing of goods hoped for: is there a greater need for sight in this other person than in me in or der to justify this kind of trans plantation?) Regarding the transfer of animal tissues or organs there is, ordinarily, no moral pro blem. The bodies of animals can certainly be disposed of for man’s own bodily wellbeing. Thus, a gland from a chimpan zee or other animal could be transplanted into the human body. APPARENTLY NOT a great deal is known about the ultimate effects of this sort of thing, but we can say in this matter that is permissible which medical science judges to be beneficial. As one authority says, "Good medicine is usu ally good morals." In short, glands, tissues, organs which can be "absorbed" by the hu man body are morally permiss ible. The exception to this is the transference of the sex glands of, say, a monkey to a human. This is immoral because of the special dignity of the reproduc tive organs in man, their con nection with man’s unique human offspring, and their far- reaching influence on the don or’s own human life. Since it is commonly considered that the transplanted organ of an animal continues to function in a non- human way, even in the human body, the notion of trans planting animal sexual organs is repugnant to God’s plan for man. AS OUR SCEINTIFIC know ledge pushes forward, we will be better able to form realis tic moral judgments that both improve man’s lot in this world, and reflect God's eternal plan for the next. THE ANNUAL RING PROM of D’Youville Academy was held last week at the Ansley Golf Club. Msgr. Joseph G. Cassidy, V. G., P. A. presented the rings. Wendy Jones was chairman, with Cindy Parker as co-chairman. Lisa Long was in charge of decorations and Judy Haynes and Carroll Qffen were refresh ments co-chairmen. Shown, left to right, first row, are: Patricia Earley, Marie Sheahan, Pauline Wehner, Penelope L. Padgett, Bonnie Cowan, Susan Applegrath. Second row: Patricia Zuber, Cynthia Parker, Janet Cook, Luarue Stafford, Elizabeth Smith, Carroll Offen, Lisa Long, Danelle Grove, Anne Gude, Malin Davis. Third row; Sharon Higgins, Nadine Jones, Arlene Houfek, Lynn Grotnes, Florence Farnsworth, Kathy Manguno, Deborah Bruno, Susan Smithers, Anne Young, Deborah Wallen, Virginia Brennan, Ann Marie Bradley, Elaine Reilly, Margaret Riordan, Mary Jane Daly, Ellen Gage, Sharon McParlan, Helen Gude, Mar garet Schladenhauffen, Virginia Jones, Maria DeGive, Judith Haynes. FATHER THREADGILL Decatur Missioner Finds Sweden Land Of Many Different Tongues Fr. Threadgill, who wrote the following letter, is now an Oblate missioner in northern Sweden. The son of Decatur pharmacist Selman Threadgill, he grew up in Decatur and saidf his first Mass three years ago in the church of St. Thomas More, where his mother had been president of the Altar and Rosary Society. The Oblate Fathers Box 47 Roslags Nasby, Sweden February, 1964 Wintertime greetings from Swedenl Now that the hustle and bustle of Christmas has faded away, I thought it time for a letter before the Lenten sea son is upon us. I want to send my thanks to all those who help ed make our Christmas such a happy one. Many cards, letters and packages were proof that you have not forgotten me and this mission. God Bless you all for your goodness. Our new little parish was highly honored on Christmas by the presence of His Excellency, Bishop John Taylor, O.M.I. He celebrated the Midnight Mass and preached in Swedish, Eng lish and German. A large per centage of our parishioners are Germans and besides there were a good number of visitors from Germany here for the holi days. They have been such good and faithful parishioners, so I was naturally pleased when the Bishop spoke to them in their own tongue at Mass. It helped to make up for my own language deficiency. I suppose most people think that a missionary in Sweden faces only one language hurdle - Swedish. That is the highest hurdle, of course. But a priest here has need of even more languages. I would rank the other languages in importance OUR LADY OF TRUST Pope Emphasizes Marian Devotion VATICAN CITY (NC) —Pope Paul VI told students at Rome’s major seminary that they must never let their devotion to Our Lady flagg and must become aware of "the relationship be tween the Madonna and our individual souls," Pope Paul left the Vatican to celebrate a 7 a.m. Mass in the seminary chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Trust, whose feastday is observed a t the seminary on Feb. 8, THE POPE TOOK the op portunity to praise Marian de votion enthusiastically. He said: ’The panoramic vision of theology centered in the humble Handmaid of the Lord must never disappear from our spiritual eyes.,. We must first honor the most holy Madonna before we invoke her. Our piety, the faithful pupil of tradition, must preserve its full object ive expression of worship and imitation before assuming the subjective expression of pray ing for things for our comfort and benefit." IN PRAYING to Our Lady, the Pope said, Christians "celebrate in her the myster ies of the Lord and venerate her greatness and her priv ileges, praise her beauty, ad mire her goodness and study her virtues and example.*' The Pontiff said that the "modern development of Mar ian piety must for us follow this furrow which the most ancient and authoritative tradi tion of the Church offers to the spirituality of the Chris tian people. Thus by honoring Mary we arrive at the discovery of her superlative action in the economy of salvation and parti cularly her action of inter- cession...Thus we arrive at the discovery o f a personal re lationship which each soul can develop with salutory effective ness and which becomes a tri bute of honor and love for Mary, the fount of all sorts of graces for souls.” this way: (1) English (lucky me): (2) German: (3) French: (4) Italian: (5) Polish — then it is a toss up between Spanish, Hungarian, Dutch and a few others. Surprisingly, Norweg ian and Danish are not neces sary, because Scandinavians can manage among themselves by each speaking his own mother tongue. There is a problem (especially with Danish), but they have managed to live with it. What about Finnish? Most people just shrug their should ers — "impossible". Finnish is in a class by Itself and very few non-Finns ever learn it. In Finland Itself, there are two official languages, the other be ing Swedish. And in the far north of Sweden we find some Finnish speaking Swedes. The north also has, of course, the Lapps, who have their own language called Lapska. The far north of Sweden is the missionary goal of the Ob- lates. We came to Sweden to found the Church up there. As I have probably mentioned earl ier, the entire northern half of Sweden is now under the care of one lone priest. But he lives on the southern edge of his "parish" (242,106 square kilo meters, which is larger than all of Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal taken together). The inevitable result is that this pastor sees his scattered parishioners only about twice a yar as he drives through. We Oblates want to take the greater part of this area into our care and estab lish chapels in the larger cities. We will also have to travel a great deal, but our visits to the people can be made more fre quently. I have been in the Swedish arctic and near vicinity twice, once during the summer of ’63 and once again this January. Not having much time on this last visit, I flew to the city of Lulea in a commercial plane (and I was the only passenger). Mass was celebrated in two locales in both Lulea and another near by city. In Lulea we were given the use of a tiny "chapel" in the basement of the Protestant parish house. Sixteen adults and two little boys formed the con gregation. The prize goes to one lady who rode five hours, one way, from a town on the Finnish border to be there. After Mass we discussed the problem and possible solutions. They are most anxious for a priest to live among them. And we are going to do everything possible to have a mission post in Lu lea within a year. (This should be the BIG intention in your prayers for the Oblate Swedish Mission). After sixteen months, Fr. John Schoeberle and I have been joined by a third Oblate priest: Fr. Alphonse Hojenski, O.M.L, most recently the pastor in Roscoe, S.D., USA. Father was my professor in Moral Theology and Canon Law, and he brings to Sweden a most impressive scholarly back ground. He is a valuable addi tion to the Swedish clergy. Fath er Hojenski resides at the res idence of Bishop Taylor, as he is here to assist the Bishop. We hope that he may also be able to help in our parish in the future. Fr. Schoeberle is eager to leave for the North. Plans have been made for him to help the priest in the northern parish for awhile and then to move on to Lulea. It is impossible to know when these things will happen. Right now we feel unable to do much more than we are do ing. We need two more priests immediately (if not sooner!): Certainly it is quite unthinkable for one priest to begin in the arctic all alone. This is at least a two-man Job — all agree on that. Our building plans are tem porarily at a standstill here in Roslags Nasby. Our hands are EXPERT SAYS tied by the Planning Commis sion of the community . This area is experiencing an im mense growing period and the planners are unable to handle all of the requests and appli cations which come to them. But we live in hope, for we have been promised some action in April or May. In the mean time, our rented house serves us quite well as residence and parish church. Asking again a remembrance in your prayers and promising the same to you, I remain, Sincerely in Our Lord and Mary Immaculate, Father O.M.I. Selman Threadgill, Ads In Religious Papers Pay Off Catholics Ignorant Of Social Doctrine NEW ORLEANS, La. (RNS)— Father Louis J. Twomey, S.J., director of Loyola University's Institute of Industrial Relations, told laymen here they face the task of overcoming "the de ficiencies with which you came out of your Catholic schools.” The past failure of Catholic education to teach the social doctrine of the Church, he said, has resulted in Catholicism seeming irrelevant in society. FATHER TWOMEY spoke at a weekend institute in theology for the laity sponsored by Xavier University of New Or leans and Friendship House, a Catholic lay organization in Chicago. Ignorance of the Church’s social doctrine, he said, "is completely baffling and a re flection of the whole concept of what we mean by the faith." SOME CATHOLICS, he add ed, see no contradiction between membership in the John Birch Society and the Catholic Church, between membership in the white Citizens’ Council and the Catholic Church. Father Twomey said he was not Judging those who had neg lected the teaching of social doctrine. They too, he said, were ignorant of it. FAILURE TO promote the Church’s social doctrine, he continued, can be seen in Latin America and in the racial situation in the U.S. "In Latin America,” Father Twomey declared, "the great failure was that the Church was allowed to become identified with the upper class — the in- tellectuals...the well-scrubbed rich." BUT LATIN America, he add ed, "is no worse and no better than our treatment of the Negroes in our country.” The 200 delegates attending the tree - day institute were from Louisiana, Georgia, Tex as, Alabama, Mississippi, Illi nois and Minnesota. TORONTO, Ont. (NC) — It pays to advertise in religious news papers. In fact, according to the president of one advertising agency, H. V. Petersen, the church press is a "sleeper" in Canadian media—a feature which catches the readers’ at tention and brings returns far exceeding expectations, Hugh Munro, writing in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Can ada’s largest morning news paper, said national advertisers "have been pleasantly sur prised” at the results of their advertising in religious news papers. HE SA ID THREE factors were responsible: • The "big five” of the Can adian church press have begun to cooperate and have under taken a modest collective pro motion campaign. The "big five” are the Canadian Church man (Auglican), the Canadian register (Catholic), the Pres byterian Record and the United Church Observer. • Their circulations have boomed since World War II. • They appear to be success fully swimming against the tide which is adversely affecting most consumer magazines. H. G. ANDERSON, president of Walsh Advertising Company, Pope Asks End To Illiteracy VATICAN CrTY (NC)—Pope Paul VI has called on all Chris tians to stamp out illiteracy to directors of the Italian As sociation of Educators, the Pope said: 'To the surprise of quite a few people, it has come to be known through recent surveys carried out throughout the world that illiteracy, usually consid ered to be diminishing, is ac tually a graver problem with the growth of culture. Such a sad calamity cannot leave the Church indifferent, nor those who are honored with the name of Christian.” Ltd., and of the Canadian As sociation of Advertising Agen cies, said: "Certainly national adver tisers will want to pay more attention to the church press than they have in the past. Each of these church publications has shown improvement both in ap pearance and editorially—and with 800,OCX) circulation, we cannot overlook this particular group of Canadian media.” SUBSCRIBE TO THE GEORGIA BULLETIN *> « Visiting Every Shrine in the World From « O « All-Inclusive « Yea r- Round Departu res « INCLUDING; Belgium, Egypt. England, France, Germany, Hawaii, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Ire land, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxem bourg, Macao, Monaco, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Jfi W ** A ft ' ,N , / * ' v sry Pilgrimage Accompanied A Spiritual Director © a The world’s fastest growing airline CATHOLIC TRAVEL OFFICE AG Dupont Circle Building, Washington, D. C. 20036 Please send me your free illustrated booklet describing in detail the "world-covering" pilgrimages. N»mi Address. m § # City/Zone/State ft m « $ (5