VOL. 31, NO. 12
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Friday, March 20, 1987
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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58 Per Year
Procreation document
Because you can doesn't mean you should WASHINGTON (NC) - "What is technically possible is not for that very reason morally admissible," declared the Vatican instruction on technology and procreation issued March 10. The new Vatican entry into one of the most disputed and rapidly expanding intersections between morality and technology was hailed by some and criticized by others. Even those who disagreed with some of its points, however, welcomed other conclusions, such as the condemnation of the commercial use of human embryos. Among Catholic theologians there was wide support for the document's rejection of technological exploitation of embryos and fQr its repudiation of the use of third parties for the production or gestation of a child. They said the new Vatican in- .' struction on procreation does not represent any major new Catholic teaching, but dra ws together existing teaching on procreation technology into one place, making its 'positions more' explicit" and sysThe·eye of the storm tematically clear. Outside the church, however, the story is different. Despite exten- raise the issues extremely clearly" .church's demand that procreation sive research and rapidly growing on questions many people are con- and the physical act of intercourse medical practice in reproductive cerned about, and "it does raise cannot be separated. technology, there is "very little" in . the debate" to the level of "princiDr. Thomas Hilgers, director of the way of public "ethical or legal pies and values," he said. the Pope Paul VI Institute for the guidelines" for the areas covefed Where there was disagreement Study of Human Reproduction in by the Vatican document, said among Catholic theologians, much Omaha, Neb., hailed the instrucAustralian Redemptorist Father of it focused on the document's tion as a "defense of the human Brian Johnstone, another moral total ban on fertilization outside person" in response to "many theologian at Catholic University. the womb. abuses." Whether they agreed or disagreed Hilgers, a specialist in rep~oduc Father Johnstone suggested that lack of a clear focus in public views with that ban, they concurred that tive medicine and a leading advoon such issues might be part ofthe the issue there was the same as that . cate of church-approved natural reason the document gained such of artificial birth control: Neither family planning methods, said the wide immediate attention. "It does is acceptable if one agrees with the d.ocument confirms important val-
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ues that "my entire· practice of reproductive medicine revolves around." He said medical experts and Catholic theologians who criticize the new instruction should themselves be criticized for promoting theories and reproductive techniques that "denigrate the integrity of [the married] couple and their prospective child." A critique ofthe Vatican instruction's complete ban on in vitro fertiIlzation came from Jesuit Father
John Mahoney, a British theologiim. Writing March II in the London paper, The Independent, Father Mahoney objected that the Vatican position "does not appear to. take account of situations where the natural capacity to procreate is not present." The Br'itish Jesuit also questioned the way the document treats the embryo 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." The instruction did not rule out strictly therapeutic manipulation of genes or chromosomes, but it warned that "certain attempts" in this area "are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities." These, it said, are contrary to human dignity and cannot be justified. Some theologians criticized the Vatican's consultation process on the document, saying the doctrinal congregation did not consult those most affected, women and child-less couples. But Vatican officials said consultations dated back to the summer of 1985. Among those giving input were geneticists, biologists, doctors, sexologists and psychiatrists. Some women were consulted in their capacities as mothers and some in their scientific capacities, said an official. Turn to Page Six
Marian year to open with worldwide TV rosary VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope John Paul II plans to open the Marian year he announced on New Year's Day by praying the rosary over a television broadcast linked by satellite to 12 Marian sanctuaries worldwide. The broadcast is scheduled for June 6, the eve of the special year of devotions to Mary, the Vatican announced. Alternating in six languages, including English, the pope will say the rosary from the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, believed to be the oldest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The responses will come via satellite from Catholics gathered at the various Marian shrines. The sanctuaries, on five continents, have not yet 'been announced, but a Vatican official said they are expected to include
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, as well as shrines in Poland, the Philippines, France, Portugal and other countries. The TV project is being organized by Global Media Ltd., a California firm, the Vatican said. The Pontifical Commission for Social Communications, headed by U.S. Archbishop John Foley, said Global· Media coordinated broadcasting for the recent "Live Aid" and "Sport Aid" international fund raisers. The live rosary transmission will be offered free by the company to television stations all over the world, the Vatican said. A London transmission center is to coordinate the broadcast. Marjorie Weeke, an official of the Vatican communications commission, said the broadcast is
aimed at "bringing the world' together to pray for peace." It will feature filmed art works from the Vatican Museums, commentary in various languages and an explanation ofthe rosary..
She said it was hoped' that national networks and local stations would decide to pick up the program. The pope recites the rosary on the first Saturday of each month, normally in a small courtyard at the Vatican. He called for the special Marian year to last from Pentecost Sunday, June 7, until Aug. 15, 1988, the feast of Mary's bodily assumption into heaven. He has urged local dioceses to pay special attention to Mary in. liturgical services, and has encouraged pilgrimages to Marian shrines. He has said he will soon issue an encyclical dedicated to Mary. Rosary History The rosary, says The Catholic Encyclopedia, is the most wi~~ly'
practiced nonliturgical devotion in the western Church. It consists of 15 decades or groups of 10 Hail Marys, with an Our Father and a Gloria between each decade. The 15 decades are divided into joyful, sorrowful and glorious events associated with the life of Christ; and the person praying the rosary keeps track of prayers said with a necklace-shaped string of beads. The rosary as now used seems to have originated with the monastic orders, in which monks recited 150 psalms daily, while lay brothers, usually illiterate, substituted 150 other prayers which they knew by heart as did' devout laypersons. F or many centuries the Our Father was the prayer u~ed and the rosary beads were known as paternosters from the first two words of the Lord's prayer in Latin.