Bob at Subdivided We Stand has posted the lastest in his series "I Read Leviticus So You Don’t Have To". In this segment, he addresses some of the wackiness of Leviticus 19, including the circumcision of trees. Head on over and bring your sense of humor. 🙂
Researchers in both the USA and Germany claim to have produced embryonic-like stem cells from testicular cells. The Germans published the results of their work on mice in Nature last week; the Americans claimed to have done similar things with human testes (ouch), but have not published in a peer-reviewed journal, but rather presented it at a conference. The group that did the work in America is also studying similar work on ovaries.
Presumably these cells can be entirely legitimate from a Catholic bioethical standpoint, provided that the germ cell (i.e., testicular or ovarian tissue) material is donated and procured in an ethical manner (which can get complicated, but we’ll leave that for another entry). The problem with embryonic research to date is that the process involves killing or harming human embryos, and perhaps involves involves cloning to boot. Since this embryonic-like cells are taken from adult donors, this intrinsic stumbling-block is removed.
In addition to avoiding that big ethical issue, this technique, if it works, would also avoid some serious technical barriers facing embryonic stem cells. If you give a patient stem cells derived from an embryo, you must either try to create a cloned embryo or else face the risk of tissue rejection. Human cloning has yet to done, now that Dr. Hwang was exposed as a fraud, and any therapy that involves such a concept faces quite a few issues with expense, technical validation, etc.
In other news, Geron Corporation, which holds the rights to the original human embryonic stem cell lines that Dr. Thompson derived at the University of Wisconsin Madison (thus sparking this whole debate) is preparing to launch a clinical trial of human embryonic stell cells on human patients–and just to clarify, unlike the embryonic-like stem cells that I mentioned above, these ones are derived from destroyed human embryos. I believe that this is the first such trial to happen in the USA in several years–in the last trial on Parkinsons Disease patients, the subjects’ symptoms got worse after getting the cells.
I’ve been doing a little thinking about the current immigration debate. The two main lines of argument that seem to be dominating discussions are as follows (in broad strokes).
Illegal immigrants are hard workers who just want a piece of the American pie and are willing to do jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. Leave them alone.
Illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes and heavily burden America’s educational and medical services. They’re also a security risk. Kick them out.
I think both are right and both are wrong.
Pitt:
On Sunday evening, instead of the usual Q+A, there’s a lecture at Synod Hall (behind St. Paul Cathedral) at 7:00. The topic is Leonardo and the Real Opus Dei: “What did Leonardo believe? What was he trying to say in The Last Supper, the Madonna of the Rocks and the Mona Lisa? The Da Vinci Code, while advertised as fiction, also purports to have the scoop on those works, and on the Gnostic Gospels, the Holy Grail, and Opus Dei. Where lies the truth?”. The talk will be given by Sarah Phelps Smith and Edward C. Smith. It starts at 7:00, and should be quite interesting!
Also, be sure to mark your calendars because there’s a Friday Feast coming up on April 7th – Italian themed! Come, and bring friends!
Your Pitt NC Secretary,
Christine Winschel
CMU:
1) Lecture at St. Paul’s Cathedral (in Synod Hall) on the topic of the Da Vinci Code, the Gnostic Gospels, and Opus Dei. The lecture will be given by Sarah Smith and Edward Smith at 7:00 pm (after 6:00 Mass).
2) A fun and free "Alternative Event" in the CMU University Center (UC). Originally, the inspiration for this event was to provide a morally acceptable alternative to the CMU TBA (showing at the same time as this event). This "Alternative Event" has turned into a huge event of which many of the religious organizations on campus have become a part. This "Alternative Event" will provide tons of FREE pizza, Dave & Andy’s ice cream, and other snacks. Additionally, there will be a night of board games and video games in one room and two FREE showings of the award-winning movie Crash in another. All students are invited (even Pitt students) to this event, and if you are aware of anyone who is planning on seeing the TBA tonight or if you see anyone you know standing in line for the TBA when you come to this event, please (charitably) suggest this event to them as an alternative. Below is a schedule for this event:
7:30pm – Game room (Rangos 3) opens with video games, board games, free pizza, chips, drinks, etc.
8:00pm – FREE Showing of Crash (Connan Room), with free popcorn inside
10:00pm – More free pizza, Dave & Andy’s ice cream sundaes (Rangos 3)
10:30pm – Another free showing of Crash (with more popcorn)God bless,
– Joseph Arizpe
CMU Newman Club V.P.
Adrian Warnock does not often openly criticisize Catholicism, a fact that demonstrates his desire to emphasize unity in the body of Christ over differences in ecclesiology. So, when he does criticize the Catholic Church, it really catches my attention.