Editorial

Human cloning:
Problem of 'therapeutic bait-and-switch' tactics

Some scientists - even enlisting the help of popular actors - have been trying to convince the American people that human cloning isn't such a bad thing.

They've been making the distinction between two kinds of human cloning: reproductive cloning (bringing a cloned human being to birth) and therapeutic cloning (using cells from a cloned human being to develop possible cures for diseases).

They urge us to approve the "therapeutic" cloning, because it will help all mankind. What they fail to mention is that a living embryo is killed in the process of that cloning. But, hey, it's only a tiny embryo, and what's that against saving the rest of the world from disease!

Not buying argument. Not everyone is buying their argument. We "must be suspicious of rhetoric that turns health and healing into an idol, an end in itself to which all else is sacrificed," says Dr. M. Therese Lysaught of the University of Dayton in an article written for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Respect Life program.

Lysaught adds, "Many prominent scientists admit that the therapeutic promise of human embryonic stem cell research is overstated. This is even truer with cloning, given the preliminary nature of the work, the low efficiency rates and the high rates of genetic deformity in cloned animals."

Bait-and-switch. She also cautions about the problem of "therapeutic bait-and-switch." Once there is public support and techniques have been developed for using cloning, new technologies can become "detached from their therapeutic moorings and be made available for decidedly non-therapeutic purposes.

For example, this is what happened with Botox, the botulism toxin originally developed to treat spasmodic conditions of the eyes. Now it has become the treatment of choice for cosmetic surgery.

Slippery slope. While almost everyone believes that reproductive cloning should be banned, this ban would be nearly impossible to enforce once we allow cloning for research, Lysaught warns.

Judie Brown, American Life League president, goes even further, saying that "the supposed distinctions between 'reproductive' and 'therapeutic' cloning are utterly irrelevant. Human cloning is always reproductive, because human cloning produces a living human being."

Cloning laws. Efforts to pass cloning bans in Wisconsin and in the entire country failed to pass the respective Senates this year. There will be renewed attempts to secure bans on all human cloning - both reproductive and therapeutic - in the months ahead.

As we observe Respect Life Month, I encourage people to study this issue (see related article on page 9 [of print edition]). Be prepared to urge your elected officials to support complete bans on human cloning. We must continue to respect all human life at every stage.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

Mailbag

To the editor:

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In 1989, Fr. Rick Heilman, who was soon to be diocesan vocation director, stated that a worthy goal was that every parish strive to start a vocation committee. Efforts were made to do so. And so I was pleased recently to receive a brochure on workshops on a diocesan level for vocation committees. In the pamphlet it is stated that the responsibility of promoting vocations is a shared responsibility of the whole church.

I think in recent years we are beginning once again to realize this and take concrete steps in that direction. One of the best places to begin is in the home and on the parish level. We need to nourish vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and lay state.

In the light of decreasing numbers of priests, if we focus upon the priesthood, in our diocese we have around 130 parishes. If each parish could produce one vocation to the priesthood, we would have 130 active priests and be in fairly good shape. And if they produced two vocations! Wow!

In June my home parish had four priest sons. Since then one has retired. Granted that a vocation is a call from God and that it may be unrealistic to expect every parish to produce a vocation to the priesthood. But my proposal does give us an image of what is possible if every parish continues and intensifies its efforts to nourish the seeds of vocations which God has planted.

In my judgement the workshop on parish vocation committees is one of many Spirit steps in the right direction.

Fr. Don Lange, Ridgeway

Psychology opposite to religion

To the editor:

I was disappointed to see the article about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Sept. 26 issue. Modern psychology is a philosophy that is totally opposite to religion, because psychology believes that the "real you" is your brain, while we believe that the "real you" is your immortal soul. Psychology believes that a person's happiness and behavior are bettered by changing the chemistry of the brain with drugs, while we believe that a person's happiness and behavior are bettered by the formation of a correct conscience.

St. Francis of Assisi regarded his mortal body as a beast of burden that carried him from place to place, his "Brother Burro." On his deathbed, he apologized to his body for mistreating it! Since Wilhelm Wundt, psychology regards the mortal body as the entire person. There is no middle ground between St. Francis and Dr. Wundt.

Are drugs the answer? Will there ever be a drug to cure a broken heart or a purposeless life?

I heard one of the bishops involved in the homosexual molestation scandal say that what he did was an accepted psychological treatment of the time. We should take this as a warning of what can happen when we allow the eternal truths of our church to be alloyed with "modernism." I stand with those who say that we are souls, not brains, and I will resist any penetration of godless psychology into our church.

Peter Formiller, Fitchburg

Bishop's celebration 'magnificent'

To the editor:

Sunday, Sept. 29, 2002 - what a truly magnificent day! The entire staff and the many persons on the Celebration Planning Committee are to be congratulated for a "job well done" in the celebration of Bishop Bullock's 50th anniversary in the priesthood and nine years as Bishop of Madison. We were humbled and in awe to be in the presence of the many bishops and priests. Congratulations to the Diocese of Madison and to all who made this wonderful day possible for "our" Bishop "Bill" Bullock.

Carol and Tony Mack, Fridley, Minn.