Council 112 Respect Life Report February 2007

Tony Marino is an Air Force veteran who later received a degree in English Literature at Long Island University. For more than 30 years, he was an insurance agent for Aetna before eventually becoming a private insurance consultant. Since his retirement in 2003, he has devoted himself to the service of St. Peter's Parish in Concord and the Right to Life movement in New Hampshire. Tony has been married to his wife, Annette for more than 40 years. They have ten children and 22 grandchildren.

In my essay titled Brave New World, I spoke about a work of science fiction, which depicted a science-controlled civilization which reduced human beings to utilitarian entities. Once again we see that art imitates life. A world renowned embryologist recently stated, “Soon it will be a sin for parents to have a child that carries the heavy burden of genetic disease. We are entering a world where we will have to consider the quality of our children.” This “world-renowned scientist” is suggesting that we must examine our children prior to birth, the way we examine a garment prior to purchase or food prior to consuming. I prefer to look at a child in the womb as His Holiness John Paul II put it: ”Life is a gift from the Creator, to be spent in the service of one’s brothers and sisters. It is to be accepted, respected, and promoted with every means available, and defended from every threat.” Regardless of disease or disability, the child is made in the image of God, and is His gift meant to be welcomed into this world as His creation.

The forces of the Culture of Death march on: In California, the legislature attempted to approve legislation which would have allowed doctors to prescribe fatal medication to “terminally ill” patients. Fortunately the legislation failed, but you can be assured that the death culture forces will try again. In other countries where such legislation has been passed, elderly people have become fearful of seeing a physician, because “terminally ill” has come to mean “quality of life," the definition of which is left to the physician. In the US, legislation that would have outlawed the cloning of human babies was defeated. The reason it was defeated was because the legislation was tied to a provision that would have allowed the creation of embryonic stem cells, created solely for the purpose of destruction through research. As stated by the Director of the Center for Bioethics & Human dignity, “Human embryos belong in nurturing wombs, not in dissecting dishes in a research lab. Killing human embryos for their stem cells is a form of biotech cannibalism that we must not countenance as a civilized society.”

All people who seek to replace the “Culture of Death” with the “Culture of Life” should be aware that this culture war will not be won without hard work. It took many years to retrieve the dignity of persons from slavery, and it will take many more years to retrieve the dignity of persons from the “Culture of Death." We must ask ourselves, what are we doing to help to retrieve the dignity of persons?

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RETURN TO RESPECT LIFE PAGE AWARDS AND HONORS BIRTHDAYS CHURCH PROGRAMS COMMUNITY PROGRAMS COUNCIL NEWS FAMILY PROGRAMS FIRST DEGREE TEAM GOOD OF THE ORDER INSURANCE KNIGHT OF THE MONTH LINKS OUR GRAND KNIGHT PHOTOS VIDEO OF THE MONTH YOUTH PROGRAMS CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO VISIT OUR FATHER McGIVNEY SITE	Tony Marino is an Air Force veteran who later received a degree in English Literature at Long Island University. For more than 30 years, he was an insurance agent for Aetna before eventually becoming a private insurance consultant. Since his retirement in 2003, he has devoted himself to the service of St. Peter's Parish in Concord and the Right to Life movement in New Hampshire. Tony has been married to his wife, Annette for more than 40 years. They have ten children and 22 grandchildren. Council 112 Respect Life Report June 2007 BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED In my essay titled Brave New World, I spoke about a work of science fiction, which depicted a science-controlled civilization which reduced human beings to utilitarian entities. Once again we see that art imitates life. A world renowned embryologist recently stated, “Soon it will be a sin for parents to have a child that carries the heavy burden of genetic disease. We are entering a world where we will have to consider the quality of our children.” This “world-renowned scientist” is suggesting that we must examine our children prior to birth, the way we examine a garment prior to purchase or food prior to consuming. I prefer to look at a child in the womb as His Holiness John Paul II put it: ”Life is a gift from the Creator, to be spent in the service of one’s brothers and sisters. It is to be accepted, respected, and promoted with every means available, and defended from every threat.” Regardless of disease or disability, the child is made in the image of God, and is His gift meant to be welcomed into this world as His creation. The forces of the Culture of Death march on: In California, the legislature attempted to approve legislation which would have allowed doctors to prescribe fatal medication to “terminally ill” patients. Fortunately the legislation failed, but you can be assured that the death culture forces will try again. In other countries where such legislation has been passed, elderly people have become fearful of seeing a physician, because “terminally ill” has come to mean “quality of life," the definition of which is left to the physician. In the US, legislation that would have outlawed the cloning of human babies was defeated. The reason it was defeated was because the legislation was tied to a provision that would have allowed the creation of embryonic stem cells, created solely for the purpose of destruction through research. As stated by the Director of the Center for Bioethics & Human dignity, “Human embryos belong in nurturing wombs, not in dissecting dishes in a research lab. Killing human embryos for their stem cells is a form of biotech cannibalism that we must not countenance as a civilized society.” All people who seek to replace the “Culture of Death” with the “Culture of Life” should be aware that this culture war will not be won without hard work. It took many years to retrieve the dignity of persons from slavery, and it will take many more years to retrieve the dignity of persons from the “Culture of Death." We must ask ourselves, what are we doing to help to retrieve the dignity of persons? Next article --->
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