Intercessions for Life
June 2002
For all who will die this week,
and especially for those who have given up hope,
that we might nourish them with the Bread of Angels,
and cherish their lives and wisdom
to their last sacred breath;
We pray to the Lord:
For those who will die today,
For all victims of violence,
and especially for those beaten by their spouses,
that God might implant in their abusers
a respect for the sacredness of life
and the sanctity of marriage;
We pray to the Lord:
For doctors,
and all whose work is healing,
that they might resist the temptation
to put their faith in science alone,
and trust only in the infinite power of God;
We pray to the Lord:
For Pope John Paul II,
and for all who have grown old,
that our love and care for each one of them
might testify to the infinite value of their lives;
We pray to the Lord:
For women burdened by the memory of abortion,
that through the grace of repentance
God might heal their scars and bring them peace;
We pray to the Lord:
June 2002
These embryonic human beings [stored in IVF clinics] are alive, now, and involved in a terrible dilemma utterly beyond their control. They are human, innocent and helpless, and therefore deserving of love and the protection of the state. They are dependent on civilization but civilization is perhaps even more dependent on them, as we consider their fate. In considering their fate, we are determining our own. Perhaps this is the real precipice on which we stand: the notion (again) that certain human beings can be considered so insignificant as to be unworthy of love and protection solely on the basis of their size and stage of development.
- John Mallon, "Embryos Are Human," The Washington Times, Aug. 20, 2001, at A15.
The act of cloning is a predetermined act which forces the image and likeness of the donor and is actually a form of imposing dominion over another human being which denies the human dignity of the child ... [who] would be seen as an object and a product of one's fancy rather than as a unique human being, equal in dignity to those who "created" him or her.
- Intervention of Archbishop Renato Martino at the Nov. 19, 2001 U.N. Meeting "On International Convention Against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings"
Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity.
- John Paul II, World Day of Peace Message, Jan. 1, 2002
[The] world suffers more from the morally and spiritually defective than from the genetically defective. Thus, it is sad that our best minds are busy fighting our genetic shortcomings while our more serious vices are allowed to multiply unmolested.
- Leon Kass, "Making Babies - the New Biology and the 'Old' Morality," The Public Interest, No. 26, Winter 1972.