From Catholic On-line: Catholic bioethics priest ‘cuts through spin’ on stem-cell debate

COQUITLAM, Canada (CCN/The B.C. Catholic) —“ Society needs to cut through hype surrounding the stem-cell debate, a debate that has incorrectly identified the Catholic Church as standing against stem-cell research aimed at medical breakthroughs, said the director of U.S. Catholic bioethics center.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pa., spoke to some 200 at Our Lady of Fatima Parish here Sept. 27 on stem-cell research and accompanying moral issues in a talk, —Cutting Through the Spin of Stem Cells and Cloning.”

Although Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk is only 40 years old, he has accomplished more academically than most do in a lifetime. He has a doctorate in neuroscience from Yale University, four undergraduate degrees in molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, biochemistry and philosophy, as well as two degrees in advanced theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has addressed state legislatures, and regularly travels around Canada and the United States to speak on stem-cell research.

“It is incorrect to say that the Roman Catholic Church is against stem-cell research,” he said to begin his talk. “It is only correct to say the Roman Catholic Church is against embryonic stem-cell research. The ethical concerns differ with the source of the stem cells, because you do have to destroy an early and vulnerable human to get embryonic cells…”

Which coinsides with the view of the PNCC.