I Love Him Already

ChelseaReligion3 Comments

The anticipation of Catholics all over the world was palpable yesterday. I could feel it, even though I was alone in front of the television. I don’t know if it was that darn seagull or what, but something indicated that last night was going to be the night.

And then…
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And then…
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…Who?

And then I saw this:
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And then this:
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And this:
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I’m still in the process of getting to know our new Holy Father, but what I’ve seen so far makes me love him already.

‘Viva Papa Francesco!’ Why does this sound and feel so beautifully perfect right now? The Holy Spirit just rocks my world.

Must read: Francis: Soldier and Pastor

HuffPo on The British Embryo Authority and the Chamber of Eugenics

ChelseaGenetic Engineering1 Comment



A must-read at the Huffington Post:
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Scene: A laboratory setting. A scientist begins constructing a new individual by combining parts from two different humans. A new part from one or two additional people is then added. At some point, an electric shock is administered. The scientist observes the composite for a few moments, looking for signs that it is on its way to becoming an autonomous being. It stirs. It’s alive.

If this sounds unsettlingly familiar, it should, but not because it is a replay of Frankenstein. The procedures described, currently under evaluation by the British Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority (HFEA) for the prevention of “mitochondrial diseases,” would carry profoundly negative implications for the future of the human species were they ever implemented, and thus warrant much wider concern than they have attracted up until now. In particular, they will facilitate a new form of eugenics, the improvement of humans by deliberately choosing their inherited traits.

Read the whole thing.

Then, of course, watch episode 2 of BioTalk in which we talk about 3-parent embryos and modifying future generations.

Contraception Confusion: The Morning After Pill

ChelseaAbortion, ContraceptionLeave a Comment

MAP.pngWell, this has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. Many of you may have heard that bishops in Germany approved use of the “Morning After pill” (MAP) to treat victims of rape. Swiss bishops recently made a similar announcement recently. Naturally, many pro-lifers and faithful Catholics — myself included — were wondering what, exactly, these bishops were thinking since the MAP, perhaps more than any other form of birth control pill, is a known abortifacient.

Many thanks to Abram Muenzberg who was the first to shed some light on this issue for me and gracious enough to write an article explaining it to our readers at Catholic Lane what’s missing from our conversation about the morning after pill. After first explaining that the MAP has two basic functions — preventing ovulation (which you don’t hear a lot about in most criticisms of the bishops decision) as well as preventing implantation — he explains:

the rapist has no right to have his sperm fertilize the eggs. To use the language of Bl. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, the marital act has already been negated by the removal of any unitive meaning in the case of rape and does not require, for that reason, an openness to procreation. Therefore, contracepting by preventing ovulation is not a sin against purity or the Sacrament of Matrimony.

MAPs are never acceptable once a woman has ovulated, because of its abortifacient effects. If we can establish that a rape victim has not yet ovulated, an MAP can be acceptably and licitly used to prevent conception.

He goes on to explain the “proper procedure” for administering the MAP. Specifically, according to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, these conditions must be met:

  • The woman is not already pregnant from prior, freely-chosen sexual activity.
    The woman has been sexually assaulted.
    The woman has not yet ovulated (i.e. has not released an egg from her ovary into the fallopian tube where it could be fertilized by the attacker’s sperm).
    The morning-after pill can reasonably be expected to prevent her from ovulating.

    • The NCBC has also weighed in on this recently with two posts on their blog this week: There is No Inconsistency: An NCBC Ethicist Addresses the Emergency Contraception Debate and Read it!

    In light of this fuller understanding of the bishops’ position, I think I’m with Stacy Trasancos (who also enlightened me to the fact that the policy enacted by the German and Swiss bishops is actually the same policy that the USCCB has held for years, now) here. On one hand, the bishops seem to be correct in theory and they certainly should not be condemned for trying to do something to help victims of rape. On the other hand, however, this theory leaves a bit to be desired in practice. Assuming you get a Catholic hospital to follow the “proper procedure” (which we know they don’t always in other ethical situations) accurately determining whether or not a woman has ovulated yet in a single visit to the emergency room is easier said than done. Thus there is almost always the risk of induced abortion.

    The Apostolate of Suffering…Again

    ChelseaDisabled, SufferingLeave a Comment

    josemaria.jpgI’ve published it here a few times already, but, in light of a discussion at my local young adult Theology on Tap I thought I’d introduce (a better version of) The Apostolate of Suffering to a wider audience. So this week I published it at Ignitum Today and Catholic Lane. Then I was excited to have it picked up by the St. Josemaria Institute!

    This is a message that will never get old. As I say in the article:

    Imagine the great good that could be done if, instead of considering life less valuable or without meaning because of deteriorating health or decreased physical mobility, we would all accept the sufferings that befall us and offer that which we endure to our crucified Lord for the salvation of souls.

    Please, click on any one of the links above (or all of them!) and read the rest.

    Love, Sex and Spinal Cord Injury

    ChelseaDisabled1 Comment

    “Soooo….can you still have sex?”

    Since my accident thirteen years ago, I’d say this is one of the most common questions I’ve gotten from my peers — especially when I was in my twenties. Believe it or not, I was actually even asked this (in a less blunt way) by my spiritual director when we were discussing my vocation (because intercourse in a necessary part of the vocation to marriage).

    wedding-dance.pngRecently, the Daily Mail caught on to the reddit comment thread of Rachelle Friedman Chapman (aka the “Paralyzed Bride“) in which she has addressed the issue of sex after a spinal cord injury several times:

    ‘Obviously our sex life is different. There were no “logistics” before and we could be way more spontaneous,’ she wrote to a captivated audience.

    ‘But we totally do (have sex)!!

    You can read it all here. I appreciate her candor. For those who have no experience with it, life with an SCI is a great mystery that seems devoid of any kind of pleasure or happiness. So, I think it’s important for us to be open to answering even what seem like invasive personal questions, if for no other reason than for the sake of helping people to understand that life with a disability is not as awful as it seems. That being said, I think she does get a little more, shall we say, detailed than is probably necessary.

    I still like Kanae Vujicic’s response when she and her husband Nick, who was born without arms or legs, were asked the inevitable “intimacy” question on Australia’s 60 minutes. With a big smile on her face, she simply says, “He has everything he needs.” And that’s all you really need to know, folks.

    It’s a little more complicated for men than women, but, yes, as I’ve said here many times, people with spinal cord injury live very “normal”, happy, active lives – lives that include the joys of love, marriage, sex…and babies.

    That’s right, and babies. I can’t speak from personal experience here, of course, but I’ll never forget a friend of mine relating an exchange she had with a woman who’s first question, when told that my paralyzed friend had a daughter, was, “what agency did you get her from?” Once again, it’s more complicated for men with SCI, but us women — paraplegics and quadriplegics alike — are fully capable of getting pregnant and giving birth — naturally (See: Paralyzed and Pregnant and Paralyzed and Pregnant With Twins).

    I’ve gotten some pretty invasive, blunt, stupid and border-line offensive questions from people in the past 13 years, but, in all honesty, I’d rather people ask these questions than hold back and make assumptions of their own.

    Related:
    Disabled People Are “Sexy,” Too!

    Also recommended: The Wheelchair Mommy — for even more answers to your burning “what’s-life-like-with-an-SCI” questions?

    ‘Solar Suitcase’ Saving Moms, Babies During Childbirth

    ChelseaAbortion1 Comment

    For years we’ve been hearing that Africa “needs” widespread access to abortion and contraception services to combat the problem of maternal deaths. Here’s a thought, why not instead try to improve healthcare over there and the technology needed to help give birth?

    One woman is doing just that. Dr. Laura Stachel is literally shedding some much needed light on labor and delivery in Africa and helping save moms and babies during childbirth. From CNN:

    Transhumanists, Monkeys and Bionic Man

    ChelseaTranshumanism1 Comment

    1. Responding to an H+ article by Belinda Silbert, Wesley Smith comments on how Transhumanists Want to Be Gods:

    Transhumanism is a collective of (mostly) naked materialists who hope science and technology will replace the deeper meaning they lost by rejecting metaphysical beliefs. Transhumanists harbor futuristic dreams of making themselves immortal and possessing what would now be thought of as superpowers through technological recreation. Toward those ends, they spend a lot of time and energy discussing and debating arcane issues such as the ethics of uploading consciousness into computers and living forever.

    I find it all rather sad. And worrying. Transhumanism harbors blatantly eugenic ambitions and as part of its theology (more on that in a moment) it angrily rejects human exceptionalism. For example, one of the movement’s high priests, J. Hughes, has yearned to enhance a chimp into human attributes to prove we are not special.

    I used the word “theological” above because in many ways transhumanism is a quasi religion. It has dogma, eschatology, and yearns for a material New Jerusalem of immortal life.

    Read more.

    2. Speaking of chimps. On the one hand, Transhumanists are all about transforming humanity. On the other hand, they also seek to redefine what it means to be a person, extending personhood rights to any kind of intelligence, artificial or otherwise. Recently Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy signed a law granting human rights to great apes:

    It is now safer to be a monkey in Spain—at least if you’re one of the larger species—than a man. Thanks to a new law passed by the Spanish parliament and signed into law by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the Great Apes are protected from the moment of conception against abortion and fetal experimentation. Human embryos, on the other hand, remain unprotected and the subject of scientific research.

    Read more.

    bionic-man.png3. No doubt, when most people think of “transhumanism” they think of literally infusing the human body with all kinds of nanotechnology. In London a bionic man complete with artificial organs, synthetic blood and robotic limbs has gone on display at the Science Museum. At the Public Discourse, William Carroll talks about “Rex” and why it is impossible for any machine to be a human being.

    The bionic man can hear through cochlear ears, see with the aid of a bionic eye, has speech software (similar to Stephen Hawking’s) for verbal responses, and a rudimentary kind of artificial intelligence. Nearly all these developments come from advanced electrical engineering that connects to or mimics electrical signals from muscles and nerves.

    Is the Bionic Man Human?

    To speak of the bionic man’s being able to “hear,” “see,” and “talk” raises philosophical questions about whether the bionic man is truly performing “human” functions.

    Read more.

    4. All of this ties in nicely to the latest episode of BioTalk in which Rebecca Taylor and I talk about transhumanism, performance enhancing drugs & the purpose of sport. If you’ve got kids involved in sports, you may want to start talking to them about these things.

    Breakfast, Lunch and Hugs

    ChelseaDisabled, Prenatal Genetic TestingLeave a Comment

    Oh, this is just delightful. Tim Harris is providing his community with food…and hugs!

    Please, tell me again how people with Down syndrome have miserable lives and need to be eliminated in the womb because they are a burden on their families and society. Go on. Say it to my face.

    Drinking the Chalice of the Lord

    ChelseaSufferingLeave a Comment

    In today’s Gospel reading (Mt 20:17-28) the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus: “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” And Jesus replied: “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can” and He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink…”

    No servant is greater than his master (Jn 15:20), and our Master suffered a most agonizing trial and death – a ‘cup’ (Lk 22:42) to be consumed before the work of salvation could be ‘finished’ (Jn 19:30). Likewise, for us the road to heaven is paved in suffering and sacrifice.

    Can you drink the chalice of Our Lord?

    josemaria-cross

    BioTalk Ep. 3 – Lance Armstrong: Cheater or Transhumanism Pioneer?

    ChelseaBioTalk, TranshumanismLeave a Comment



    Should Lance Armstrong be “celebrated as a pioneer in human enhancement“? In this episode, Rebecca Taylor and I talk about the transhumanist movement, which seems to be starting in the world of sports with performance enhancing drugs. Taylor makes a great point that I hadn’t thought of before about how we, as a culture, seem to have completely changed the concept of what sport is meant to be. Check it out:

    Previous episode: Three Parent Embryos and the Brave New United States