PEOPLE of GOD
September 2017
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W O R L D A N D N AT I O N A L N E W S affected,” said the Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville. “The Rio Grande Valley in the past has often received the help of others in times of dire distress; we are called to offer our assistance in that same spirit to others.” In response to Harvey, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, with the assistance of local TV station Telemundo 40, set up several sites to receive donations of water, dry goods, diapers, canned foods and other items. The donations were delivered to distribution centers in the most affected areas. “We have to be generous and grateful that we ourselves here in the valley were spared in this disaster,” said Sister Norma Pimentel of the Missionaries of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. “We are in solidarity with the many people who are hurt in Texas.”
Pope offers prayers for victims of flooding in Texas, Louisiana VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis offered his prayers for the people of Texas and Louisiana struggling to cope with the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey and he praised all those engaged in rescuing and caring for the thousands of people forced out of their homes. In a message to Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of GalvestonHouston, Pope Francis asked that his “spiritual closeness and pastoral concern” be relayed to all those affected by the hurricane and flooding. CALIFORNIA BISHOPS Continued from page 10
DACA students are not the so-called “bad hombres,” an insidious label used to instill fear in others and feed the racism and nativism that unfortunately is rearing its ugly head in our cities. Far from it, DACA eligible youth are high school graduates, in school or working on their GED. Many are now in college. They may be honorably discharged members of the armed services. No one convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor (or three misdemeanors) can apply for DACA. These young people are working in businesses and professional jobs, harvesting our fields, building our homes, and providing
The message was sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and released by the Vatican Aug. 31. “Deeply moved by the tragic loss of life and the immense material devastation that this natural catastrophe has left in its wake, he prays for the victims and their families, and for all those engaged in the vital work of relief, recovery and rebuilding,” Cardinal Parolin said.
Celebrate creation, pray for environment, say church leaders in Europe VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic bishops’ conferences and Christian churches in Europe have invited all Christians to pray for the world and the environment during a monthlong celebration of creation. “Recent developments remind us of the growing urgency of the continuing climate change, loss of biodiversity, growing piles of waste and many other challenges,” said a joint statement by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, the Conference of European Churches and the European Christian Environmental Network. “Even if we know there are several causes, we cannot forget that part of the problem is due to our selfishness, lack of care and widespread misunderstanding of the world as a source of profit,” said the statement, which was released Aug. 31. Because “Christians of all traditions acknowledge creation as a gift from God,” the three groups jointly called on all Christians to care for and manage creation with responsibility.
many of the services of hospitality we take for granted. They have placed their lives on the line to defend our liberty and freedom. Most importantly, they are giving back to the only nation they have ever known. They are the hard working good neighbors America needs to compete in the global economy of today.
serve, comfort, and protect our brothers and sisters. We will not protect serious and violent criminals and we will work with authorities in advancing security and other legitimate requirements. We will, however, not allow reckless rhetoric to bully us from the course of compassion and basic decency.
Catholics – both in our parishes and larger service organizations such as Catholic Charities and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) – will remain steadfast in offering assistance to immigrants. As Bishops, every day we see the impact of the failure of a political leadership that washes its hands while immigrants suffer. We choose to continue to
We are encouraged by the fatherly admonition of Pope Francis: “[C]hildren are a sign. They are a sign of hope, a sign of life, but also a “diagnostic” sign, a marker indicating the health of families, society and the entire world. Wherever children are accepted, loved, cared for and protected, the family is healthy, society is more healthy and the world is more human.”
BIOETHICS Continued from page 27
themselves. In August, a highly troubling report was published describing the first successful editing of DNA in human embryos. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory of Shoukhrat Mitalipov at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and involved the generation of many dozens of embryos by IVF. The experiments utilized a new and highly precise DNA-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 to fix a defective, disease-causing gene that some of the embryos carried. While research into understanding and eliminating serious diseases is certainly good and praiseworthy as a goal, the techniques we employ as we pursue good research goals need to be good as well. Doing evil that good may accrue, is, after all, still doing evil. These research experiments performed on human embryos at OHSU were morally objectionable on a number of counts. If such genetically modified embryos had been allowed to grow up, there may well have been unintended effects from modifying their genes, unanticipated defects that they and future generations would bear. The problems and risks associated with this kind of “germ-line therapy”
raise such serious concerns as to make it doubtful it should ever be attempted in humans. Even more distressing from the moral point of view is the fact that very young humans were treated not as ends, but as mere means to achieve particular investigative goals. They were created in laboratory glassware, experimented upon, their genes were tinkered with and they were killed and dispatched as research fodder into biohazard waste containers. The purported darkness of medieval times was never as dark as the remarkable ethical blackness that is descending upon contemporary “enlightened” man as he exploits and destroys his own offspring. Vigilance and care are required when dealing with vulnerable research subjects, and human embryos are among the most vulnerable of God’s creatures, entrusted to us as our children, calling for stringent measures to ensure their protection and safeguard their human dignity. Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org