by Bishop John R. Gaydos, Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri

We began this month of October, dedicated to Mary’s Rosary and to the protection of human life, with the annual Assembly of the Missouri Catholic Conference here at the State Capitol. That important meeting has already been previously covered in the pages of The Catholic Missourian. Everyone who attended the morning general session received a very clear and thorough crash course in the promising medical advances envisioned from legitimate stem cell research, as well as the pitfalls and the euphemisms of those who would lead our society into these pitfalls by adopting unethical means of obtaining stem cells and destroying incipient embryonic human life in the process. The Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, director of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, led us through the opportunities and challenges in this field of medical research. It is my albeit unscientific understanding that adult human stem cells have already been demonstrated to be able to regenerate damaged heart muscle, and yet not one concrete medical application has been achieved from any embryonic stem cell research on any organism close to us humans.

As you may be aware, this Assembly was taking place against the backdrop of our State government unwilling to take up this important issue during the Special Session called by the Governor this past September and early October. Since then two other developments are proving to be most interesting as we prepare to observe our government in action when the legislature reconvenes in January. Last week there was the announcement of the formation of an initiative petition called the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The advocacy group includes many high-profile and well-intentioned people who have been co-opted by more euphemisms and now want us to see this is as the patient’s right to choose whatever therapy they want, much like the “right” claimed to be foundation of abortion in our land. Given the high visibility of many of the members of this group and the funding that will no doubt be available to them, I believe we will be hearing very much of their seductive, but misguided, message, in the months ahead.

The other development involved the publication of two studies on new methods used in mice to obtain embryonic stem cells. Here, too, we can learn to be alert to the euphemisms and fuzzy thinking that passes for information in our day. Those who had been working last year on embryonic stem cell legislation the old fashioned way (by having the legislature pass the law) were testifying in committee that something called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer was the way to go, since it was a cloning process and would only be used to obtain embryonic stem cells. In that case the fact is that an artificially conceived human embryo has to be destroyed for this process to work. Notice, though, how a change in vocabulary from “embryonic stem cell” to “somatic cell nuclear transfer” nicely confuses the issue. An Associated Press item appearing earlier this week on the two new methods now admits, “Currently, scientist must sacrifice human embryos to harvest such cells, which can form into any kind of human tissue.” My once-again unscientific understanding is that both of these new methods leave much to be desired. But their very undertaking and publication is a cause for encouragement. For one thing, we finally seem to have gotten somebody’s attention to the importance of this ethical challenge. The reporter in this AP article interviewed our keynote speaker, Father Tad, who pointed out that one of the methods, while not currently satisfactory, is heading in the right direction. And he is quoted as saying, “It reminds us that we have certain tools at our disposal in the scientific armamentarium that can be used in the direction of seeking an answer to the ethical impasse.”

I urge you to learn all you can about this important matter in the months ahead. Our Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) stands ready to help all who are seeking information on this topic. A good way to reach the MCC is through their website at (www.mocatholic.org).