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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1987)
Theologians Say PAGE 7 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 19, 1987 Document Clarifies Church Stand BY JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (NC) — Catholic theologians said the new Vatican instruction on procreation does not represent any major new Catholic teaching, but draws together existing teaching on procreation technology into one place, making its positions more explicit and systematically clear. “Anybody who knew the teaching knew that this was what would come,'' said Father Charles Curran, a moral theologian at The Catholic University of America who is currently suspended from teaching because of a Vatican re jection of some of his dissenting views on sexual ethics. Outside the church, however, the story is different. Despite extensive research and rapidly growing medical practice in reproductive technology, there is “very little in the way of public “ethical or legal guidelines” for the areas covered by the Vatican document, said Australian Redemptorist Father Brian Johnstone, another moral theologian at Catholic University. Father Johnstone suggested that lack of a clear focus in public views on such issues might be part of the reason the document gained such wide immediate attention. “It does raise the issues extremely clearly” on questions many peo ple are concerned about, and “it does raise the debate” to the level of “principles and values,” he said. Procreation Document (Continued from page 1) church leaders see as enabling doctors to create life and decide on its survival The document levels some of its strongest criticism at the technique when it involves the voluntary destruction of “spare” embryos, linking that practice with an “abortion mentality." In the process, “life and death are subjected to the deci sion of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree,” the document says. “The abortion men tality” which spawned the procedure can also “lead to a system of radical eugenics." Eugenics is the attempt to improve the human race through the preselection or cultivation of specific genetic traits. Where there was disagreement among Catholic theologians, much of it focused on the document's total ban on fertilization outside the womb. Whether they agreed or disagreed with that ban, they concurred that the issue there was the same as that of ar tificial birth control: Neither is acceptable if one agrees with the church’s demand that procreation and the physical act of intercourse cannot be separated. Dr. Thomas Hilgers, director of the Pope Paul VI In stitute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb., hailed the instruction as a “defense of the human per son” in response to “many abuses.” Hilgers, a specialist in reproductive medicine and a leading advocate of church-approved natural family plan ning methods, said the document confirms important values that “my entire practice of reproductive medicine revolves around ” The permanent council ot the French bishops' con ference, at the conclusion of a meeting in Paris, said the document was not an exercise in “dogmatism” but a “ser vice to mankind and to the very future of humanity" Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, president of the Na tional Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the instruction The document’s assertion that the special character of the conjugal act rules out in vitro fertilization, which places conception outside the body, is rooted in Pope Paul Vi’s en cyclical “Humanae Vitae” t Of Human Life) which says the act is inseparably unitive and procreative. With regard to the sanctity of marriage, all techniques which violate the “unity” of marriage, such as surrogate mothers or reproductive cell donation are judged illicit. The statement's defense of the individual person means the human embryo, even at its simplest form, may never be treated as an object to be frozen, cloned, manipulated genetically, experimented on or disposed of. Because it sees a threat to the individual, the family and the institution of marriage, the document urged govern ments to actively restrict such biomedical developments as non-therapeutic embryo experimentation, reproductive “a clear and compelling exposition of Catholic teaching” on key life-and-death issues. Father John Mahoney, a British theologian writing March 11 in the London paper, The Independent, objected that the Vatican position “does not appear to take account of situations where the natural capacity to procreate is not present.” He also questioned the way the document treats the em bryo absolutely as a person from the time of conception. He said the instruction gives “no weight” to scientific phenomena such as genetic twinning and, in some cases, recombination of embryos that had twinned. These phenomena, he said, raise questions “whether the early human embryo can be called an individual.” In Rome Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was asked by reporters to comment on a wave of polemics over the docu ment. The cardinal, who is prefect of the Vatican Congrega tion for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the instruc tion, said, “It’s not a wave (of criticism) but a balanced panorama with some discordant voices. “Our effort" he added, “was to renew the respect for life and the value of the human person. The problems are dif ficult. One must at least recognize that our position is clear and coherent with our anthropological vision" cell donation and surrogate motherhood. “Recourse to the conscience of each individual and to the self-regulation of researchers cannot be sufficient for en suring respect for personal rights and public order,” it said. Taken as a whole, the document strongly asserts the church’s duty to judge the licitness of scientific procedures, and just as strongly asserts the sufficiency of traditional teachings as criteria for these judgments. But one theologian critical of the Vatican’s position said: “The teaching's clear, but will it be convincing to everyone? I doubt it" The pastoral challenge of “spreading the word” on the teaching was clearly what the doctrinal congregation had in mind when it called on theologians to “make accessible to the faithful” the church's teaching on the beginning of new human life. He heals the broken hearted and binds up all their wounds — Psalm 147 CHRIST, THE DIVINE HEALER A Special Day of Reconciliation for All Catholics Saturday, March 28,1987 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at St. Pius X High School (1-85 and Shallowford Road) This is the Lenten event that more and more Catholics are discover ing is the perfect preparation for Easter. In just a few short hours, in God’s presence, you can dwell upon the year, reflect on your relationship with Christ, and commit yourself once more to Him. Three well-known preachers will share with us three of Christ's miracles and the theme for the day will be the healing power of Christ—spiritual, emotional, physical. You'll hear Father Robert Poandl, Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Blairsville, Georgia; Father Cayet N. Mangia- racina, O.P., Parochial Vicar, Church of the Holy Cross in Tucker; and Father Richard J. Lopez, Religion Instructor, St. Pius X High School in Atlanta. Also, confessors will be available throughout the day and a Mass will be held at 12:15 p.m. Bring your family—or ask a friend to join you—for a time of peace and recollection. Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be available. For more details, call the Parish Office at Sacred Heart Church in Atlanta, 522-6800. The Archdiocesan Committee on Evangelization gs«§
