By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
When Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a Catholic, addressed a campaign rally in support of Barack Obama on Oct. 26 and called embryonic stem cell research “pro-life,” Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea chose not to let the preposterous comment go unchallenged.
Gov. Granholm, an abortion supporter who has twice vetoed a ban on partial birth abortion and is now supporting a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution with regard to scientific research on human fetuses, was addressing a pro-Obama campaign rally in Grand Rapids on Oct. 26 when she told the crowd: “As a Catholic, I can say to be pro-cure is to be pro-life.”
Bishop Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing responded to the comment the following day : “Of course, Catholics and all other responsible citizens will continue to seek cures for disease and injury. But to imply that Proposal 2 is a valid expression of Catholic principles is shocking. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Going on about the November ballot proposal to amend the constitution, the bishop said “Proposal 2, which goes before Michigan voters in a week, would give an unrestricted license to those who perform destructive experiments on human embryos.”
“While the Catholic Church strongly supports legitimate forms of stem cell research and all other proper forms of scientific inquiry, the Church also teaches that is it is always immoral to destroy a human embryo. For that reason, the Catholic Bishops of Michigan have taken a strong position in opposition to this well-funded assault on human life.
“Saint Paul reminds us that we must preach the Truth in season and out of season. The Truth will never go unspoken. To be in favor of Proposal 2 is not to be pro-life. A well-formed Catholic conscience would never lead a person to support Proposal 2 ‘as a Catholic.’”
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