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A US Coast Guard officer who refused to be injected with a vaccine derived from the remains of an aborted child has won an exemption from the required vaccination.
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Pope thanks "wifes of Christ"
Pope Benedict yesterday thanked consecrated virgins for their "total gift" to Christ encouraging them to "always irradiate the dignity of being the wife of Christ."
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Mail and penny drop for WYD
Preparations for World Youth Day have stepped up a notch with a letter drop to half a million Sydney homes and the release of a commemorative colour coin of the Pope.
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Priest in supermarket trolley protest
Melbourne parish priest, Fr Noel Brady, has launched a protest against unsightly supermarket trolleys left abandond in streets for up to three months.
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Call to follow WA and reject cloning
Sydney archdiocese policy officer, Dr Brigid McKenna, has welcomed a decision by the Western Australian Legislative Council to reject cloning as a victory for "commonsense science and morality."
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US churches offer mortgage help
With US lenders threatening to repossess 650,000 homes in the first quarter of 2008, Catholic parishes are mobilising to offer assistance to mortgage distressed homeowners.
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Feature - A new dawn for Sorry Day
It is time for this country to build new relationships and to be open to future possibilities, we commit ourselves to deep, on-going dialogue with our indigenous sisters and brothers on further ways of moving forward. - Fr Mark Raper, Pathways
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Featured Website - Ron Rolheiser
This is the website of one of the best known Catholic priests in the western world. Fr Rolheiser is best known through his writings and lecturing on spirituality and prising open the Word in such a clear, beautiful and heart-inspiring style.
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Film Review - Shutter
Based on a 2004 Thai film of the same name, Shutter is an American/Japanese production. If you can take the shocks and violence of this genre, this film is worth the admission price for the cinematography alone. - Fr Richard Leonard, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
[More]
Opinion - Middle class creep in Irish Church
During the transformation of Irish society from a largely rural and agricultural economy to an industrialised one there occurred a failure of imagination in the Irish Church. - Fr Oliver Rafferty, The Catholic Herald
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OPINION
Beyond knowledge to wisdomI believe this is one of the crisis points for contemporary Christianity. Put bluntly, its representatives do not seem wise. Yes, those representatives can give you any amount of information, some of them can even speak knowledgeably of Christian teachings. Wisdom is another thing altogether. - Fr Michael Whelan [More] - Aquinas Academy
FEATURE
Connected across bordersIt is time for leaders of nations to see their national interests as connected with the interests of people on the other side of the globe. We have reached the point where human existence is at stake and our destiny is inextricably linked. If we are to overcome this crisis of climate change we need to think beyond the confines of national states. - Just Comment [More] - Edmund Rice Centre
FEATURED CATHOLIC WEBSITE
Catholic Education Diocese of ParramattaReturning to our education theme, we shine the spotlight on arguably the most innovative Catholic education website in the country. In addition to all the standard features of any CEO site, Parramatta's includes some interactive opinion polls and a competition for students to attempt to ''Become the Executive Director for the day''. The site is also well regarded for its RE and curriculum resources.
- www.parra.catholic.edu.au
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Too early to judge embryo-friendly stem-cell advance
Stem cells have been harvested from embryos for the first time without killing or hurting them, but Dr Briget Vout of the Sydney Archdiocesan Life Office is reacting cautiously.
The Australian reports today on the advance that could eliminate ethical objections to one of the most promising fields of medical research.
It says researchers in the US successfully grew several colonies of embryonic mouse stem cells without destroying any embryos. They claim that if the technique is successful on humans, it could one day provide children with a personal supply of spare-parts tissue.
Stem cells, which can develop into almost every kind of cell, could provide a repair kit for people who have suffered spinal injuries, heart attacks, dementia and motor neurone disease.
Until now, however, the only way to get the cells was to destroy embryos.
Dr Vout, executive officer of Sydney's Life Office, said it is too soon to assess whether the church could support the technique.
"We welcome the search for ethical sources of embryonic stem cells and for us an ethical source would be something that doesn't involve the creation and destruction of human embryos," she said.
The stem cells were harvested by removing one cell, instead of the whole cell mass, and coaxing it into growing and forming cells with the same essential properties as embryonic stem cells taken from the inner cell mass.
In Adelaide, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute director Greg Pike told the Sydney Morning Herald that the single cell might also have the potential to be a new embryo, yet it would be destroyed. The second technique is tantamount to the creation of a defective embryo and, so, was also ethically questionable, Dr Pike said.
SOURCE
Embryos spared in stem-cell advance (The Australian 18/10/05)
Stem cell advances may ease ethical and political objections (Sydney Morning Herald 18/10/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Life Office (Archdiocese of Sydney)
Southern Cross Bioethics Institute
ARCHIVE
Catholic ethicists oppose cell research fasttrack (CathNews 30/9/05)
Pell calls for stem cell research ban (CathNews 21/9/05)
Pell announces new grant for adult stem cell research (CathNews 26/7/05)
Cardinal Pell hails stem cell discovery (CathNews 22/3/05)
Sydney Archdiocese announces Church funding for adult stem cell research (CathNews 26/3/03)
MORE STORIES
Senator Ron Boswell: Submission to the Lockhart Review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (13/10/05)
A submission from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to the Lockhart Review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference 23/9/05)
Catholic GP's stance 'could lift rate of teen pregnancy' (New Zealand Herald 17/10/05)
Breakthrough on fertility offers new hope for families (Catholic Weekly 16/10/05)
UN Population Fund: focus on "reproductive rights," not needs of the poor (Catholic World News 14/10/05)
Alan Nichols: Searching for a middle way on stem cells (The Age 17/10/05)
Faith Groups Join Forces Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (Zenit 13/10/05)
Catholic Archbishops speak out against ‘assisted dying’ bill in UK (catholicireland.net 13/10/05)
18 Oct 2005
