oses ao Mi Hi
U
6T6S
November
Volume
30,
11 t
NEWS
2001
Number
12
Serving Catholics
Vatican censures
Inside
cloning of human Vocations: Priest's role vital
to parish
Western North Carolina
in
in
the Diocese of Charlotte
Church officials condemn
embryo by U.S.
human cloning experiment,
scientists
calling actions
life
PAGE
10
By JOHN NORTON Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) The Vatican condemned the cloning of human embryos by U.S. scientists, reject-
—
News
Local
ing claims that the research produced simple
Sacred Heart Mission
cells
and not human
individuals.
Despite the scientists' stated humanitarian aims, the research repre-. sents a new form of discrimination against defenseless people, the Vatican said in a Nov. 26 statement.
in
Wadesboro reaches out to community with
Advanced Cell TechWorcester, Mass., an-
Scientists at
nology
evangelization ...
Deacon
HERALD
&
PAGE
5
travels country,
serves community through ministry
in
nounced Nov. 25 in the online journal E-Biomed: The Journal of Regenerative Medicine that they had cloned the first human embryo. The researchers said they would use the technique, known as therapeutic cloning, to develop genetically compatible replacement cells for patients
PAGE
...
12
with
illnesses
Parkinson's
like
diabetes
— not human
From STAFF
AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON lic
(CNS)
— Catho-
leaders and pro-life organizations
strongly condemned the actions of
Ad-
vanced Cell Technology following the company's Nov. 25 announcement of success in cloning early-stage human embryos. "Cloning is not an isolated incident; it is further illustration of our country's downward spiral of moral principals," said Bishop William G. Curlin, bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. "Roe vs. Wade permitted the legal killing of innocent lives in our nation. That legislation opened a Pandora's box of immoral acts," said Bishop Curlin. "It brought an open season for attack on all humanity. Abortion, assisted suicide and
now
cloning
...
all
gard the sanctity
dangerous Scientists of Advanced Cell
Technol-
ogy, a privately held biotechnology firm
based in Worcester, Mass., reported Nov. 25 that after more than 70 attempts they recently produced cloned human embryonic cells, two of which divided to four cells or more. It was the first public announcement of human embryonic cloning in the world.
They said they also induced parthenogenesis in not-fully-mature human eggs, getting several to divide for up to
reaching the blastocyst stage. officials say they oppose reproductive human cloning and they aimed at producing a baby
five days,
The company's
—
—
sought to obtain human embryonic stem cells soleiy for experiments aimed at eventually turning such cells to thera-
these atrocities disre-
.of
human
life."
See CLONING, page
11
and
clones.
But the Vatican, noting that the
Advent 2001
scientists referred to what they produced as an "early embryo," rejected the claim that no human had been
Father Anthony
cloned.
Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X
in
Maggie Valley Christmas Parade
It is
"beyond doubt, as indicated by
we human embryos some would have
the researchers themselves, that here
Greensboro,
find ourselves before
shares heartwarming
and not
cells,
as
(people) believe," the Vatican said.
message for second week
The Vatican said the determinawhen human life begins cannot
tion of
of Advent ...PAGE
8
{very Week
be fixed by convention to a certain stage of embryonic development, but instead was found "in the first instant of existence of the embryo itself." Though in this case recognizing human life was more difficult because researchers created the
—
Entertainment .Pages 6-7
& Columns
—
embryo
in a
without uniting "dis-human" way sperm and egg the resultant being had the same dignity as any other human life, the Vatican said.
We must strive to construct
The scientists' justification on the grounds of fighting illness "sanctions a true and proper discrimination among human beings based on measuring the so an time of their development embryo is worth less than a fetus, a
together a present and a future
fetus less than a child, a child less than
more in
an adult," it said. This overturns "the moral imperative that instead imposes maximum
Editorials
.Pages 8-9
—
tine with Christ's will for
the unity of
all
his disciples.
maximum respect precisely who are not in a condition to
Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach
defend or manifest their intrinsic dignity," the Vatican said.
Gloria Minniti (left), Jim Donovan, Leahbelle D'Anna, and Joan Donovan fill baskets with chocolate "coins" to distribute to parade watchers.
care and
-Pope John Paul Insegnamenti
VIII, 1,
II
1997
for those