Emmanuel came to us first as an embryo

At Christmas it is appropriate to ponder the mystery of God made man; made first an embryo, hidden from the world, but no less God, Himself, and certainly no less human. Catholic Online has a great article about this mystery and the role of the Church in defending all human life:

‘The Dignity of the Person’: The Catholic Church, Defender and Champion of Life
By Deacon Keith Fournier
12/23/2008
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) – Dated September 8, 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Vatican Congregation responsible for the protection of Doctrine (The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith) recently released a clear, well written and passionate defense of the dignity of every single human life from the moment of conception until natural death. As is the custom with “magisterial” documents, the title of this instruction was taken from the first line, “The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death”. The document continues, “This fundamental principle expresses a great “yes” to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research, which has an ever greater importance in today’s world.” continue

See also: Jesus of Nazareth and Stem Cells

The darkest irony – embryos destroyed for infertility research

The New York Times interviewed Professor Renee A. Reijo Pero, who is director of  Stanford’s Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education about her work in infertility research.  Cells are culled from embryos to produce sperm and egg cells. These, she hopes, will one day be used to create new embryos . . . which will likely be destroyed as well . . . all to assist those who cannot conceive or carry babies. Upside down, isn’t it?

Read Using Embryos to Put Fertility First

How Hitler Perverted the Course of Science

This article  takes less than five minutes to read – a great one to share with others. Obviously those involved with research on these victims subjects were, themselves, guilty of horrible atrocities. But what we don’t think much about is the desensitization of the conscience of the larger scientific community which seamlessly incorporated the results of such immoral research.

We must wonder if the larger scientific community in our day – even if not directly involved in the use and destruction of human embryos – will offer any resistance or moral objections to the research presented to them once federal funding is again restored to fetal tissue and embryonic stem cell research. What will be the repercussions of such desensitization? From the article about science under Nazism:

Yet once you dig a little deeper, what is so disturbing is how prosaic the reality was, how similar in form, if not content, their work was to the research of today. As I discovered when researching a history of the Nazis at war, much of what scientists did under the Third Reich was regarded as “normal science”, subject to standard protocols of peer review in conferences and journals.