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In the wake of announcements from multiple pharmaceutical companies about safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, many are expressing ethical doubts about whether it is OK to take these vaccines. Do Catholics have a moral duty to decline an inoculation if it was unethically produced using a cell line that came from an abortion? The short answer is “no.” This has been discussed and explained in several magisterial church documents in recent years. In 2008, for example, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reminded us in the Instruction Dignitas Personae that: “Grave reasons may be morally proportionate to justify...

Most people still remember the story of Nadya Suleman, dubbed “Octomom,” a single woman who used in vitro fertilization to become pregnant with eight babies simultaneously. Suleman had asked her fertility specialist, Dr. Michael Kamrava, to implant at least a dozen embryos into her uterus, leading to the birth of the famous octuplets in 2009. Dr. Kamrava’s medical license was later revoked by the California Medical Board. In commenting on the case, Judith Alvarado, Deputy Attorney General in California, concluded that Dr. Kamrava had acted “like a cowboy” in ignoring fertility industry guidelines.When it comes to the “wild west”...

When Catholic couples experience trouble getting pregnant, they often seek medical help and begin to research what options are available to them. A number of moral considerations and questions generally emerge during this process: Why are techniques like in vitro fertilization (IVF) considered immoral? What approaches will the Church allow us to try? What does our infertility mean, spiritually and personally, in the face of our fervent but frustrated desire for a baby?When a couple, after having non-contraceptive sexual intercourse for a year or more, begins to investigate whether there are issues related to infertility, some medical professionals simply...

Discrimination is often understood as acting out of prejudice against persons who differ from us and do not share our views, traits, values or lifestyles. The word “discrimination,” however, has an older meaning as well; namely, to draw a clear distinction between proper and improper, good and evil, to differentiate and recognize as different. This older meaning generally carried favorable connotations with it: a person of discrimination was someone of good judgment and detailed knowledge, as in the case of one who could discriminate between fine wines, detecting subtle but relevant differences, or someone on Wall Street who could...

Many of us have hidden fears and hesitations when it comes to dealing with persons with severe disabilities. Their unfamiliar gestures, behaviors, and limitations can challenge us and infringe on our comfort zones. We may be tempted to apply a different standard when we deal with them. Even very young children with disabilities may suffer discrimination through denial of care as newborns, or through abortion in utero. During his presidential campaign, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and his wife Karen were often asked by people on the campaign trail about their daughter Bella, who was born with Trisomy 18, a...

A higher standard than for cats and dogs Sometimes people will point out: "We euthanize our pets when they suffer, and they are clearly creatures of God, so why can't we euthanize a sick and suffering person who wants it? It seems like we treat our dogs and cats better than we treat our suffering family members." The way we treat animals, however, should not be the measure of how we treat fellow human beings. We keep animals as pets, but we don't do the same with humans. We use animals to make clothing and food, but we don't do...

CONVENT STATION - Medical research has been moving at such a lightening pace, it almost doesn't seem far off that doctors in the future might tell many of their seriously ill patients, "Take two stem cells and call me in the morning."  That joke, taken from a political cartoon, points to the fact that the rapidly developing field of stem cell research is growing at a breakneck pace, giving hope of cures to countless patients suffering from diseases such as brain cancer and heart disease and conditions such as spinal cord injury.About these medical developments, the Catholic Church asks a...

The Stem Cell Debate at Dartmouth Sunday, November 16, 2008 Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. was recently invited to give a lecture entitled “Stem Cells and Cloning: Understanding the Scientific Issues and the Moral Objections” at Aquinas House, in observance of the Feast of St. Luke, the patron saint of medical professionals. Pacholczyk, or Father Tad as he encourages his audience members to call him, is the Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. He arrived at this position after receiving degrees in philosophy, biochemistry, molecular cell biology, and chemistry, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Yale University, and years...

When I traveled to Auschwitz a few years ago, one question played over and over in my mind: Did they know? Did the German people know what was happening in this camp near their own border, in their own occupied territories? With the trains coming and going year after year, with the long lines of prisoners and the billowing smokestacks, did they just turn a blind eye to the atrocities? Had they become desensitized to the point that they could no longer see the carefully choreographed death operations nearby? Some concentration camps, like the one in Dachau, were set in...

The debate over embryonic stem cell research continues to escalate in our country, and remains a topic of significant public interest. Because of this growing public interest, I am often invited to participate in public debates on stem cell research and cloning. My sparring partners are usually other scientists, politicians, or public policy experts. The debates are typically held at universities or colleges, and audiences generally have the opportunity to ask questions of both sides afterwards.  Having participated in a number of these debates over the past few years, I've been surprised by how often certain arguments are trotted out...

Proponents spin, hype and oversell embryonic stem cell facts and myths True or False? The Catholic Church opposes stem cell research. In the high stakes debate over this emerging therapy the answer to that question, says Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, is not necessarily obvious. “We must discriminate the truth claims from all the hype that’s out there,” said Father Pacholczyk, a bioethicist who earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Yale University and currently serves as director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. Invited to address the Washington Catholic Medical Association’s annual spring meeting in Seattle last week,...

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., was trained as a neuroscientist at Yale University. After finishing his doctoral work, he worked for Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He studied for the priesthood in Rome, where he focused on bioethics and dogmatic theology. Father Pacholczyk is now director of education and a staff ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Walter Camier of Crusade Magazine interviewed Father Pacholczyk.Crusade: Father, could you explain what embryonic stem-cell research is, and why it is against Catholic doctrine?Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk: The central difficulty at the heart of embryonic stem-cell research is...

Sometimes sincere people concerned with protecting innocent human life will express sentiments along these lines: "Animal rights advocates are eager to protect all kinds of animal life, but seem to ignore the most important animal of all, the human animal. Terrine of Foie Gras They are willing to save the whales, but abort the humans. Protecting animals can never be as important a task as protecting young humans from abortion, embryonic stem cell research or other forms of experimentation." Such a viewpoint, though fundamentally correct, should not be taken to signify that animal abuse in our society is an...

An exhibit called "Body Worlds" is currently touring the United States and generating some animated discussion in its wake. The bodies are posed, for example, as a rider on a horse, where the body of the horse is also plasticized. By removing skin and various layers of musculature to expose internal organs, it is possible to literally look inside the body and see its inner structure. In one exhibit, an expectant mother has been cross-sectioned to reveal her unborn child, while in another, a man has been peeled down to his musculature, and he carries his skin on his...

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — Michael J. Fox hopes that research on human embryos will help him overcome Parkinson’s disease, but new scientific findings may give him pause. As controversy raged over the actor’s TV ads promoting Senate candidates who back the embryo-killing research, scientists came out with new findings — research using human embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson’s disease produce tumors in research animals. Dr. Steven Goldman and a University of Rochester Medical Center team, in a study released Oct. 22, showed that symptoms of the disease decreased, but tumors grew in the animals’ brains, according to the report...

The Ten Great Myths in the Debate Over Stem Cell ResearchRev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.1. Stem cells can only come from embryos. In fact stem cells can be taken from umbilical cords, the placenta, amniotic fluid, adult tissues and organs such as bone marrow, fat from liposuction, regions of the nose, and even from cadavers up to 20 hours after death. 2. The Catholic Church is against stem cell research. There are four categories of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, embryonic germ cells, umbilical cord stem cells, and adult stem cells. Given that germ cells can come from miscarriages that...

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. After I gave my testimony, one of the senators asked a pointed question. "Father Tad, by arguing against embryonic stem cell research, don't you see how you are trying to impose your beliefs on others, and shouldn't we as elected lawmakers avoid imposing a narrow religious view on the rest of society?" A lot of hot-button topics are being debated in our state legislatures these days, topics of great ethical and bioethical importance, ranging from emergency contraception to gay marriage. These debates address important issues for the future of our society. Lawmakers face the daunting...

Home Theology or embryology?    REV. TADEUSZ PACHOLCZYK Embryonic stem cell researchers typically marshal several arguments to encourage public approval and funding for their research, which requires the direct destruction of five to seven day old human embryos. A life lesson from Mr. Rogers One argument runs like this: "Well, that's your feeling about embryos, your narrow religious viewpoint, and you shouldn't impose that on me. Your sentiments about embryos are different than mine, and we're all entitled to our own sentiments and opinions." Pervasive argument This pervasive argument has embedded itself in the modern American mind to a...

Safeguarding Human Life: The Very BeginningIntroductionLiving in a culture which has lost its fundamental moral anchor, we should not be surprised at the attacks on human life, at all stages of development, in our nation. On the contrary, we must be vigilant in promoting the respect for human life, safeguarding the life of every brother and sister from the moment of inception to the moment of natural death. During the coming months, we will face a particular challenge in safeguarding human life at its very beginning. Proponents of human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research are proposing an amendment to the...

                                                                                             > > October 28, 2004 The Truth About Stem Cell ResearchBy Fr. Alfred Cioffi, The Florida Catholic Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk is not your typical priest.  With a doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and having done post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital, connected to Harvard Medical School, Father Tad, as he’s known, is one of the church’s top bioethicists.In Orlando for the Catholic Medical Association’s national conference, the Fall River priest, who serves as director for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, shared insights into the myths and realities of embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, and in vitro fertilization and...