 Fr.
Tom's Tomes October 22, 2006
l want to thank all those who have welcomed me back from my vacation. It was good to spend time with my mom, my sister, and my brother, sister-in-law and two nieces. I went out to the southwestern part of Oregon to visit my brother and his family. They moved there earlier this year because of a job move. Oregon is a beautiful state. We spent time at the Redwoods in California, at the shore of the ocean, and Crater Lake. It is important to spend time with family and to watch my two nieces grow. Here in Chillicothe we continue to focus a lot of attention between now and November 7on the election. The focus of attention is on Amendment 2. This amendment is asking to legalize cloning. It is important for all voters to be aware of the fact that this amendment is not what the ads on television lead a person to believe. During the Masses this weekend Bishop Finn has asked parishes to show a DVD explaining more about Stem Cell Research and what it means. The Catholic Church has always supported the dignity of human life. From the moment of conception to the moment of natural death the Catholic Church holds that all human life is sacred. No one has the right to take the life of another human being. When you listen to the news how often do we hear about shootings, persons who are victimized by crime, shootings in schools, children being abused? These things all make the head lines. What makes news is the taking of life and the harming of people. In our culture we have become almost immune to the tragedy which affects people. When we watch television how often do we see harm being caused to people or people who have been the victims of murder? Again what is happening is that the sacredness of human life is not being upheld. The harming and taking of human lives is a part of the world around us. Earlier this year at the Chillicothe Corrections Center two people died. Again tragedy hit us very close to home. This incident points out clearly we are all affected by the taking of human life. How do you react? For a while it was in our minds but what about now? How does it affect our daily lives. Why I bring up all these examples is because we are so accustomed to death. This amendment sounds as if it will cure all the ills people have. This is not true. In the process of developing possible cures we are destroying human embryos which are human lives. Stem cell research has been around for 25 years. There have been successes using adult stem cells. There have not been any success to this date from embryonic stem cell research. Amendment 2 is a moral debate. This is not a political debate. My personal question is why the Constitution of the State of Missouri should have written into it an issue dealing with medical procedures? Amendment 2 talks about stem cell research. This, according to the ads on TV, is a medical question. When else in the history of the State of Missouri has a medical research question been written into the State Constitution? This question needs to be pondered if you do not think embryonic stem cell research is not a matter of life and death of an embryo. Please consider this topic very carefully. God bless you in your decision making process on Amendment 2. God bless you this week, |