Good Friday
Service for Life

When?  March 25, Noon
until 3pm.

Where? We will gather at Gas
Works Park
on the north shore of Lake Union and walk
in procession to the Institute for
Systems Biology, 1441 N 34th St.

Why? The Institute for Systems
Biology promotes
experiments upon human embryos which involves their dismemberment and
destruction.  Jesus said:  As you did it to one of the least of
these my brethren, you did it to me. (Mt 25:40)

******

What
is a stem cell?

A stem cell is a relatively unspecialized cell that, when it divides, can do
two things: make another cell like itself, or make any of a number of cells
with more specialized functions. For example, just one kind of stem cell in our
blood can make new red blood cells, or white blood cells, or other
kinds—depending on what the body needs. These cells are like the stem of
a plant that spreads out in different directions as it grows.

Is the Catholic Church opposed to all stem cell research?

Not at all. Most stem cell research uses cells obtained
from adult tissue, umbilical cord blood, and other sources that pose no moral
problem. Useful stem cells have been found in bone marrow, blood, muscle, fat,
nerves, and even in the pulp of baby teeth. Some of these cells are already
being used to treat people with a wide variety of diseases.

Why is the Church opposed to stem cell research using the embryo?

Because harvesting these stem cells kills the living human embryo. The Church
opposes the direct destruction of innocent human life for any purpose,
including research.

From Stem Cell
Research and Human Cloning: Questions and Answers (U.S.
Catholic Bishops)

*******

The
Institute for Systems Biology has publicly endorsed using human embryos for experiments and
research. ISB’s founder and president, Dr.
Leroy Hood has aggressively promoted this research.  Interviewed by O’Reilly Network, he
attacked those who oppose research on human embryos as the “religious
right” who imposed “pathetic constraints” on people like
himself.  He has publicly supported
House Bill 1268 which would make the cloning of human embryos legal in
Washington State. On its website Institute for Systems
Biology states: we will use
systems approaches over the next 15-25 years to place these defective genes in
the context of their biological systems and learn how to circumvent their
limitations. This is preventive medicine. The agents for preventive medicine
will include drugs, embryonic stem cell therapy, engineered proteins,
genetically-engineered cells, and many others.

******

Experience is already showing how a tragic coarsening of
consciences accompanies the assault on innocent human life in the womb, leading
to accommodation and acquiescence in the face of other related evils such as
euthanasia, infanticide and, most recently, proposals for the creation for
research purposes of human embryos, destined to destruction in the process.

A free and virtuous society, which America aspires to be, must reject
practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception
until natural death. In defending the right to life, in law and through a
vibrant culture of life, America
can show the world the path to a truly humane future in which man remains the
master, not the product, of his technology.  (Pope's
address to President Bush at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 23, 2001)

This
year Good Friday falls on March 25, Feast of the Annunciation which marks the
beginning of Christ’s human existence - his conception in the womb of the
Virgin Mary. In the Apostle's Creed we state that Jesus was “conceived by
the Holy Spirit.” Conception is the crucial moment. Like all of us, He
began as an embryo; from that day his human potential began to unfold.  Join
us at Gas Works Park
for this prayer vigil during the hours when Jesus suffered and died for our
sins.

For
more information, please contact Fr. Phil Bloom at Holy Family Parish,
206-767-6220 or Becky Steffan at
Aquinas Catholic Books and Gifts, 425-828-4413.

<a href="http://geocities.com/sialavidapuno/systemsbiology.html">  Pictures
and Information about Institute for Systems Biology

http://geocities.com/sialavidapuno/systemsbiology.html