13 d
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^ATHOLIC
News & Herald Volume
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
In
Number 30
•
April 26, 1996
Warns Of
Bishops' Panel
Dangers
5
Genetic Testing
The Committee on Science and Human Values issues a statement addressing the moral issues raised by increased use of genetic testing and its "enormous potential for abuse."
By JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (CNS) — Genetic testing has legitimate uses but poses an
"enormous
potential for abuse," said
the U.S. bishops'
and
Human
Committee on Science
Values.
"Genetic testing raises and will continue to raise moral issues for the individual, for the family, for racial or
The Committee on Science and Values, headed by Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Honolulu,
Human
convenes yearly meetings of bishops and scientists. The new statement grew out of their September 1995 meeting and was approved for publication by the bishops' Administrative Committee when it met in March. "Genetic testing is an important tool,
ethnic groups and for society as a whole," it
said in a
1
,500- word statement released
April 23. Just one week earlier two U.S. Marines were court-martialed in Hawaii for refusing to provide blood and tissue samples for the Defense Department's
four-year-old
DNA databank.
Their headline-making case brought
many will suffer if wisdom and sound morality do not guide its use," the
but
statement said. "Clearly, the scientific
community
cannot shoulder the whole burden of bringing ethics to bear," it said. It urged church collaboration with scientists "to harmonize scientific advance with
national attention to
some of the moral and legal issues that genetic testing
religious insight."
poses.
See Genetics, page 13
Chancellor Confirms Commitment During Visit a
ASHEVILLE
— Students,
faculty
and parents at Asheville Catholic School had taken a "snow-check" on Father Mauricio West's first scheduled visit during National Catholic School Week in February. When the diocesan chancellor and vicar general, Father "Mo," finally made it on March 29, Father Frank Cancro, the school's administrator, invited
him
to preside at
a school liturgy, tour the classrooms and
meet with the school board and members of the Parent Faculty Association (PFA) at a noon luncheon. While visiting informally with the students, Father Mo was asked by fourthgrade teacher Lynn Steen whether he ever used basic math in his work. "Of course," he replied. "When I have to make a loan from the diocese, for instance, I have to compute the interest rate." Unwilling to miss such an opportunity, Steen ventured to ask,
'Then, we could make our list right now and you could compute the figures." A leaky roof over the fourth grade classroom has recently ruined a wall map of the state which the students promptly pointed out to him. Not to outdone, Father Mo told Steen: "Order
new map and send me
the bill."
During his homily at the Mass for the student body concelebrated by Father Cancro and Father Andrew Latsko, pastor of St. Margaret Mary in Swannanoa, Father Mo asked the students: "Tell me things about your
Elizabeth Taylor Donates To
AIDS House Of Mercy
school." Again, the leaky roof led to a
By ELIZABETH
litany of to-do' s as well as to-give-
thanks-for's. Eventually the students
mentioned the value of learning about Jesus Christ as a salient feature of their
education
at
an opportunity to discuss school related issues with members of the school board, and members of the PFA. Judy Cavallo, principal of Asheville Catholic School, said that parents
Mo
wanted
to
convey
to
their concerns about the
school's continued existence and growth. "In respect to funding, Cavallo explained,
"we
are unlike the diocesan
schools of the Mecklenburg region. are
we simply
a parochial school.
are an inter-parochial entity
Nor
We
which
depends on the active participation of the parishes throughout the area for our operational revenues." Since most the students now enrolled are from St.
See Chancellor,
next page
MAYBACH
Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE visit to Charlotte,
spired others to
Asheville Catholic.
The noon luncheon gave Father Mo
Father
JOANN KEANE
two-year-old girl peeks around out of the corner of her "house" near Kingston, Jamaica. The child and her family are among the thousands living in destitute poverty on this West Indies island. (See notebook, page 4)
To Asheville School By PAUL FREDETTE
Photo by
A
During a recent
AIDS Foundation that gets support from
Elizabeth Taylor in-
her fragrance sales," Sister Straney said. "She' s very committed to helping those
make
a difference.
Taylor was in the Charlotte area to promote a new fragrance last week. She made a personal appearance to about 900 people at the Eastland Mall Belk store April 19, during which she presented a check to House of Mercy, Inc., a hospice-type organization of the Sisters of Mercy in Belmont that provides care to those who have AIDS. Taylor, long a supporter of AIDS ministries, donated $5,000 and established a matching program that provided another $5,000 each from the Belk Foundation and Elizabeth Arden
AIDS Founwas established in 1992, and gets its funding from activities directed by Taylor. The initial funding came from the sale of wedding photographs from her marriage to Larry Fortensky. Because Taylor underwrites all costs dations
for the foundation,
all
through the foundation to
AIDS
money
organizations. In
years, the
ETAF
raised
given directly
is
its first
two
distributed $2.3 mil-
lion.
Sister Straney said she
began
talk-
ing with Taylor's staff in February. "At
cosmetics.
Mercy
with AIDS." The Elizabeth Taylor
Sister
Margaret Straney,
first, I
didn't
know who it
CEO and president of House of Mercy,
would say was
accepted the $ 1 5 ,000 donation from the three groups. "Elizabeth Taylor has an
See Taylor, page
that
it
was 1
was. All they a celebrity,"