Bishops Comment on Stem-Cell, Cloning Bills

WASHINGTON – Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia urged U.S. senators to vote down a bill that would permit the destruction of human embryos to obtain their stem cells.

“The question is whether our technical progress is guided by an equally advanced sense of the dignity of each and every human life, so our technology becomes a servant to humanity and not our cruel master,” Cardinal Rigali wrote in a letter to the Senate as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The Senate was expected to vote on the bill shortly after it returned from its Easter recess.

On a related front, Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., introduced the Human Cloning Prohibition Act.

Should the bill become law, the United States would join 20 other nations with similar bans on cloning.

“The United Nations has urged its member nations to enact such bans to preserve human dignity and protect women’s health,” said a statement by Deirdre McQuade, director of planning and information for the U.S. bishops’ pro-life secretariat.

“The cloning agenda poses a tremendous risk to women, as it would require exploiting countless women as egg factories,” she added.

“Women have died from the hormonal manipulation required for egg extraction. Others have become seriously ill or lost their natural fertility at a young age.”

Study Cites Young Adults As Problem for Church

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Catholic Church’s relationship with younger adults is problematic, says a newly published study by four leading sociologists of religion.

In one recent survey “just over half of American Catholics said that young adults’ lack of participation in the Church is a serious problem,” the 205-page book says.
That concern was reflected not just by older Catholics, but even by nearly half of the younger adult Catholics surveyed, it says.

The new book is titled “American Catholics Today: New Realities of Their Faith and Their Church.” It was co-authored by William V. D’Antonio, James D. Davidson, Dean R. Hoge and Mary L. Gautier. D’Antonio and Hoge are fellows of the Life Cycle Institute of The Catholic University of America, Davidson teaches sociology at Purdue University and Gautier is a senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

Reporting mainly on a 2005 telephone survey of nearly 900 Catholics by the Gallup Organization, the study compares results of that survey with similar surveys taken in 1987, 1993 and 1999 and with other sociological studies of Catholics conducted by the authors in recent years.

Virginia Legislators Expand Death Penalty

RICHMOND, Va. – Despite a warning by Virginia’s Catholic bishops that the state’s death penalty has spiraled “out of control,” legislators voted overwhelmingly to override a gubernatorial veto and make it a capital crime to murder a judge or a subpoenaed witness.

The legislators narrowly failed, however, to override Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s veto of legislation that would make it a capital offense to direct a killing even if one does not personally participate in the murder.

The House of Delegates voted 79-21 to override the veto, but the 40-member Senate voted for it 25-14, two votes short of the two-thirds needed for a veto override.

“No matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so,” said Bishops Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond and Paul S. Loverde of Arlington in a joint statement .

“Even as states across our nation exhibit growing unease, restraint and moratoria on the use of capital punishment – 10 of 38 states in which it is lawful have suspended it – Virginians and their elected officials continue to apply the accelerator to a system of punishment that kills to teach that killing is wrong,” the bishops said.

Chicago’s Cardinal George Breaks Femur in a Fall

CHICAGO – Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George returned home from the hospital on Easter after falling and breaking the upper part of his right leg while blessing food baskets a day earlier.

Cardinal George, 70, apparently slipped on water on the marble floor at St. Ferdinand Catholic Church April 7, landing on his hip and breaking the top of his femur.

Cardinal George uses a brace on his right leg because of complications from polio and has said it’s not uncommon for him to fall because of the brace, so he resumed the service.

As that proved painful, however, he later was taken to the Loyola University Medical Center, where the break was found.

After spending the night in the hospital, Cardinal George went home the next morning, but did not participate in the scheduled Easter celebrations.

The cardinal celebrated Mass in the private chapel at his residence. He is expected to maintain his regular work schedule from home, though his public appearances for a few days would be postponed.