Gulf Pine Catholic

6 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 29, 2024 Death and grief are inevitable parts of all our lives. But Christian hope is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate this Easter Sunday. The belief that we will be reunited with our loved ones in the joy of heaven some day can serve as a light in the darkness of grief. Until then, we can find guidance on how best to deal with life’s most difficult moments through the words of Scripture and the example of Christ’s followers in this world. Author and theologian Henri Nouwen, for instance, of- fers these thoughts: “The resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our faith in the resurrection of our bodies…Our bodies, as Paul says, are temples of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corin- thians 6:19) and, therefore, sacred. The resurrection of the body means that what we have lived in the body will not go to waste, but will be lifted in our eternal life with God. As Christ bears the marks of His suffering in His risen body, our bodies in the resurrection will bear the marks of our suffering. Our wounds will become signs of glory in the resurrection.” People with mental illness are among those who en- dure suffering in this world. I recently shared the story of Deacon Ed Shoener, who lost his 29-year-old daughter Katie to suicide due to her bipolar disorder. Deacon Ed co-founded the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers to help other families dealing with this type of loss, as well as to bring acceptance and heal- ing to those with mental illness. Though Katie is no longer physical- ly present in Deacon Ed’s life, his faith affirms his belief that she is still with him in some way. During a “Christo- pher Closeup” interview, he told me, “The communion with the saints is not just the saints who are painted on a wall…We all hope to be a saint one day, to live eternally with God. So, our loved ones, we’re still in communion with them. And yes, absolutely, I pray to Katie. I pray for Katie all the time, as I do other saints too, and other loved ones…Also, if anyone asks me if they can do anything for me, I always say, ‘Have a Mass said for Katie.’…I wasn’t brought up Catholic. I was raised Protestant, and have come to the faith later in my life… But I think this idea of purgatory is a beautiful teaching of the Church, this idea of purification. And that’s what we do when we pray for someone or have a Mass said for some- one. We help them during their period of purification.” Deacon Ed has taken the most horrible experience of his life and turned it into a vehicle to help others, all while maintaining a connection to his daughter. It is the light that Jesus’s resurrection brought into his life -- that Jesus’s res- urrection brings into all our lives -- that allows Him to do this. Pope Francis summed up this state of belief beautifully when he explained, “If Christ is risen, we can look with renewed eyes and hearts on each event in our lives, even the most negative. The moments of darkness, failure and even sin can be transformed and herald a new path for- ward. When we have reached the bottom of our misery and weakness, the risen Christ gives us the strength to rise again. If we entrust ourselves to Him, His grace saves us. The crucified and risen Lord is the full revelation of mercy, present and at work in history.” Tony Rossi is the radio host/producer for The Chris- tophers. For a free copy of the Christopher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org. Light One Candle Rossi Finding hope in Christ’s Resurrection A sweeping decision by the Alabama Supreme Court in February sent shock waves through the world of assisted reproduction. Justice Jay Mitchell, writing on behalf of the court’s 7-2 majority, concluded that human embryos in IVF clinics “are ‘children,’ … with- out exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.” A firestorm followed. The decision uncomfortably reignited basic ethical questions that those in the IVF business had hoped were behind us. It had obvious financial implications, since it allowed parents to seek damages against IVF clinics when their embryonic children were lost or destroyed. It effectively upended the tacit assumption guiding the work of every IVF clinic, namely, that human embryos are nothing special, just a “means to an end” or objects to be used in the quest to satisfy customers and improve profitability. As one commentator put it, the court’s decision is “clearly extraordinary in its determination that in vitro, 8-cell, microscopic embryos are considered people.” But should it really be so extraordinary? What’s extraordinary is the fact that so many people, for so long, could become so riveted to the falsehood that lit- tle human beings are not human beings, just because they are little. IVF has become so engrained in lifestyle choices that it’s now not only awkward, but positively impolite, to suggest that pre-born life has intrinsic value, whether in a petri dish, a freezer, or a womb. Yet scientific facts have a hard edge to them, and as O’Rahilly & Muller put it in “Human Embryology & Teratology,” the third edition of their famous textbook: “Although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed.” The awkward truth for the pur- veyors of IVF is the fact that we are all embryos who have grown up, and if all men are created equal, then all embryos are human beings, each of whom ought to be uncondi- tionally safeguarded and never exploited. The Alabama court ruling thrust the state into the national spotlight and sent panicked lawmakers on both sides of the aisle scrambling to come up with a quick legislative “fix.” Only a few weeks after the judicial decision, the powerful infertility industry succeeded in convincing both the Alabama House and the Senate to pass legislation guaranteeing fertility clinics and doc- tors immunity from prosecution for any “death or dam- age to an embryo” that might occur during the IVF process. Rather than running scared and caving to pressure from IVF advocates, we should be facing the question of how we have become so complacent about some- thing so glaringly wrong. Why have we stood by to allow the industrialized commodification and destruc- tion of younger human beings? IVF involves at least two major moral problems -- the “collateral damage problem” and the “intrinsic problem.” The collateral damage problem means that in order to achieve one IVF birth, clinic workers may create a dozen embryos, prescreen and transfer several of the “best” ones, discard or freeze the “leftovers,” and if more than one implants successfully, selectively abort the additional fetus(es). Those IVF-produced babies who manage to run this gauntlet and cross the threshold of birth still manifest elevated rates of birth defects when compared to normally-conceived babies, another instance of collateral damage. This high tolerance for collateral damage in IVF clinics and among IVF customers arises out of the intentional prioritization of the desires of older, more powerful and wealthy adults over the rights and needs of voiceless embryonic children. Parental wants are always assumed by the industry to trump their chil- dren’s best interests, allowing for grave human rights violations to become “standards of infertility care.” When it comes to the “intrinsic problem,” mean- while, IVF always involves actions contrary to the meaning of marriage and to the core designs of human marital sexuality. Even if parts of society assert otherwise, sex remains fundamentally about bringing forth the next generation of human life within the stable bond of mar- riage. Children are not commodities and are entitled to be brought into the world through the loving embrace of the marital act, and within the protective and loving environment of the maternal womb, rather than being manufactured and manhandled under laboratory lights by hired hands in fertility clinics. SEE BIOETHICS, PAGE 7 Making Sense of Bioethics Fr. Pacholczyk Poking the hornet’s nest of IVF