The bishop has the option of taking to the pulpit and saying plainly that because the abortion law in the United States is so extreme that it is totally incompatible with Catholic doctrine.
On the other hand....
CHARLOTTE OBSERVOR
Bishops take on stem cells
Priests in N.C.'s dioceses asked to educate parishes on Catholic stance against research
TIM FUNK
The Roman Catholic bishops of Charlotte and Raleigh are gearing up to try to defeat any move in the N.C. legislative session to appropriate money for embryonic stem cell research.
Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh sent letters to parishes across the state directing priests to educate their flocks on Catholic teachings against such research.
Then later, N.C. Catholics may be asked to write and call their state lawmakers to urge them to do all they can to defeat any bill that would fund stem cell research in which embryos are used, Jugis told the Observer.
"These embryos are our brothers and sisters -- this is new human life that's begun, even though it's just in the embryonic stage," Jugis said. "We were once in the embryonic stage."
Supporters of embryonic stem cell research -- including many Catholics -- say it has the potential to cure such chronic diseases as diabetes and Parkinson's disease. They also say that the embryos used -- from fertility clinics -- will likely be discarded anyway.
Jugis said some couples do return to fertility clinics to reclaim the embryos or have them put up for adoption.
As for those suffering from chronic diseases, Jugis said the Catholic church can support research on adult stem cells, which come from organs and tissues.
"I'd say, `Let's work together to find a morally acceptable means to address cures,' " Jugis said.
Since President Bush's 2006 veto of legislation that would have expanded federal funding of such research, some governors and legislators have pushed for state funding.
In North Carolina, a state House committee has been studying the issue since 2005. And Rep. Earl Jones, D-Guilford, has said he'll push a bill sometime after March that would create research guidelines and set aside public money as research grants. He introduced a bill in 2005 that would have appropriated $10 million, but it faced opposition from social conservatives and never came up for a vote.
"When you cut through all the dialogue," Jones recently told the (Greensboro) News & Record, "what do you want to do -- destroy the embryos that are going to be thrown away anyway or use them for research purposes?"
But N.C. legislative leaders have so far not mentioned stem cell research as a top priority for the session that begins this week.
Still, Jugis and Burbidge are forging ahead just in case, asking N.C. Catholics to read three documents that are being inserted in church bulletins this month.
One of the documents explains Catholic teaching on sanctity of life issues. Another -- "A Call to Action" -- has the bishops inviting parishioners to "help defeat this legislation that would destroy innocent human life."
Asked how he can ask government to restrict funding for non-Catholics, too, on the basis of Catholic theology -- that life begins at conception -- Jugis said that "science ... shows that at that embryonic stage, there is already a new human being."
Jugis ruled in 2004 that Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights could not receive Communion in the Charlotte diocese. He said he has not decided whether he would penalize Catholic legislators who vote for embryonic stem cell research.
This is not the first time Jugis has weighed in on controversial issues. He's a steadfast opponent of abortion, has called for a moratorium on the death penalty in North Carolina, and has asked members of the state's congressional delegation to pass comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform.