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Clockwise from, the bottom lef t: U.S. Rep . Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, gi ving a public policy persp ective; Msg r. Jeremiah McCarthy on the theological imp lications; Dr. William B. Hurlbut offering a scientific view; the hand of a 21-week old unborn child reaches out to touch a surgeon 's hand.
Medical marvels, moral imperatives Searching f or answers to moral dilemma
Power of science, concern f or the p oor
"What does size have to do with it anyway?" Dr. William B. Hurlbut , said, his voice rising for the first time in a long and detailed description of the ethical issues and possibilities of medical breakthroughs in genetic research. Some people. Dr. Hurlbut said, shmg off the ethical issues of using microscopic human embryos as research tools b y saying: "What is it? It is so tiny." What , he asked in reply to his own question , is Earth , a planet so tiny in the context of the universe? And , referring to the embryo, he said , "We were all invisible. What are we to make of this? Wh at is developing life?" . . Dr. Hurlbut , a member of President Bush's Council on Bioethics , answered that ¦ question when he showed a slide from an operation on an unborn child. As the doctor was successfully completing the operation to repair a birth defect which wo uld have resulted in spina bifada , the 21-week old child reached out his hand and touched the doctor 's finger. MORAL DILEMMA, page 15
The key issues in the debate over the "new genetics" are the use — and misuse — of power and a Gospel-based concern for the poor, moral theologian Msgr. Jeremiah J. McCarthy told the Archbishop Quinn Colloquium. "My point is to try and lay out for you a vision of how we see ourselves as human beings," said Msgr. McCarthy, author of the book "Medical Ethics: A Roman Catholic Perspective " and director of accreditation and institutional evaluation of the Association of Theological Schools in the * United States and Canada. Msgr. McCarthy began his presentation by citing the motto ol St. Vincent de Paul, taken from Jesus' words in St. Luke s Gospels: "The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor." He concluded by saying: HKauued in the list of the poor are our embryonic sisters and brothers." The prime moral question facing medical science is "the issue of power," Msgr. McCarthy said, and any discussion of power must also consider questions of justice, fairness and equity. "Health is a fundamental right, " he said, but that issue is often POWER OF SCIENCE, page 15
. Mass welcomes Anglican dialogue members
Mother Teresa struggled , ' overcame doubts - Page 10 ~
Pope calls f or end to killing in Mideast ~ Page 11 ~
Archbishop William J. Levada invites the people of the Archdiocese to join him in welcoming members of Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States to a Eucharistic celebration at St. Mary's Cathedral on March 16 at 5:30 p.m. As the Catholic co-chair- of the dialogue, Archbishop Levada hosted a three-day meeting of the dialogue group at Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park this week. The archbishop writes about the dialogue on Page 5.