Understanding the Gospel of Life: Lecture Series
Dates: January 8, 15, 22, 29 (All Thursdays)
Time: 7pm
Place: Peoria Notre Dame Auditorium
Pope Benedict frequently cites a passage from 1 Peter in his preaching and talks: "Always be ready to give a reason (logos) to those who question the hope that is yours in Christ." This series is to help Catholics have a reasonable and articulate answer to those who question the hope that is ours, especially our convincing hope that all life is a gift worth cherishing and defending, from conception through natural death. January is the month when we commemorate the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision which eliminated legal restrictions on abortion in states. It's also the month when President Obama will be inaugurated as President of our nation. We pray for him as he assumes his new role as leader of the USA, and support him as our President. However, if his promises and voting record play out, the next four to eight years may well pose new and increasingly difficult challenges to Catholics who wish to continue insisting on the human rights of the unborn. Aware that the non-violent weapons of truth, reason and love are our effective and Christian (and only truly legitimate) resources, this series seems timely and necessary. So please come and join us!
Jan. 8: Evangelium Vitae: The Prophetic Witness of Pope John Paul II
Fr. Charles Klamut
On March 25, 1995, Pope John Paul II issued what has been called the most historically important document of his pontificate. Shortly after its release, Fr Richard John Neuhaus commented: “Any thought that public attention to abortion and related ‘life’ questions might fade away was firmly contradicted by a new papal encyclical last week, ‘Evangelium Vitae’... the pope leaves not a shadow of doubt that the relevant teaching is unchangeable and binding upon all Catholics.” The document is rich, biblically detailed, and philosophically shrewd. Its powerful defense of the dignity of human life gives a stirring endorsement of the goodness of God’s gift of life, along with a devastating critique of contemporary nihilism and violence, summarized in its depiction as the “culture of death.” If all pro-lifers were to study this document carefully, and apply its reasoning to their efforts, their cause would benefit immeasurably. You will not find a more coherent, compelling, all-in-one compendium of the subject anywhere. It will make you proud to be Catholic.
Jan. 15: Stem Cell Research: Issues and Implications
Dr. Steve Smart
President Bush banned federal funding on all future lines of embryonic stem cell research. President Obama promises to remove the ban. What will this mean? What is the science behind this research, and what does it entail? What is the moral status of the embryo: a potential person; or a person with potential? Is the Church’s certainty of its answer to this question based on science and reason, or is it strictly religious and sectarian? Why is it that adult stem cells and the fruits of “reprogramming” represent the future of the field; while embryonic stem cell research appears impractical, unethical and ultimately unnecessary? Is the issue science as such (as the secularists insist); or, rather... science without conscience? Why persist with stem cell research which is destructive of human embryos, when it can be done using vastly available adult sources, which are empirically more reliable? These issues and more will be discussed by a speaker who has been doing research and presenting on this topic to professionals in the medical field for over five years.
Jan. 22: Health Care Ethics and Catholic Hospitals: Issues and Potential Challenges
Dr. Joseph Piccione
Catholic hospitals provide quality health care to millions in America, infusing professional medical practice with a deep awareness of the dignity of the human person derived from the Christian world-view. Increasingly aggressive government policies are threatening to undermine the freedom of Catholic hospitals to follow their own ethical guidelines. What are some of these ethical issues which Catholic hospitals must insist upon, and why? Upon what basis can and must Catholic hospitals insist on their right to forsake such practices as abortion, sterilizations, and administration of the so-called morning-after pill? In this context, what is FOCA, and why did Cardinal Francis George, speaking on behalf of the US Bishop’s conference, recently say that, if passed, it “would have a... destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children;” and that “it would be an evil law that would further divide our country”? Dr Joseph Piccione, chief ethicist at OSF St Francis hospital, will speak on these issues and more.
Jan. 29: The Gift and the Science of Fertility
Mr. Paul Kortz
In our post-industrial, technological modern civilization, we have seen an increasing tendency to commodify and mechanize all of reality – including the human body. Pope Paul VI prophetically warned forty years ago, among other things, that widespread contraception would reduce the body to being seen as a mere machine. Against this reductionist view, the Church insists that the body is a wondrous gift from God which, created in intimate union with the soul, incarnates the mysterious and wonderful reality of the human person. Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” shows how the true meaning of the body is “nuptial,” created in the likeness of the Trinity to give and receive a total gift of self, especially through covenant marital sexuality. From this point of view, the speaker will discuss the gift and science of fertility, along with exciting new scientific advances which work with, not against, the natural rhythms of the body, in order to either temporarily prevent or even achieve pregnancy. Mr Kortz is a health care professional, an R.N. who worked many years in the Emergency Department at OSF St Francis. He is currently head of the OSF Fertility Care Services department.