Petition to Georgetown University: Stop Aborted Fetal Cell Line Research

UPDATE JULY 1, 2004:  The petition  to Cardinal McCarrick has ended. Over 4000 signatures were gathered and the first set of 3000 were presented to his office March 17th.  To date, he has not responded to Children of God for Life or the thousands of personal letters his office has received.  As a result, Children of God for Life has begun proceedings to initiate a formal denunciation of GU as a Catholic university. 
As our Holy Father Pope John Paul II stated:

 “It is clear that university centres that do not observe the law of the Church and the teaching of the Magisterium, especially in the matter of bioethics, cannot be considered as having the character of a Catholic university.”  (Address of John Paul II, To the International Congress, GLOBALIZATION AND THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, December 5, 2002)

Many thanks to all of you who have taken the time to sign our petition and to write to Cardinal McCarrick personally.  We will keep you updated on the results of this important effort to uphold the integrity of our Catholic institutions.

Office of the Archbishop: His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick
Archdiocesan Pastoral Center
5001 Eastern Avenue
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-3447
301-853-4500

Your Eminence,
      We the undersigned respectfully request that you immediately put an end to the research using aborted fetal cell lines at Georgetown University or take action to remove its Catholic identity.  It is an outrage and a scandal that any Catholic facility could condone the use of aborted fetal cell lines, regardless of how long ago the abortions occurred. By allowing this research to continue, GU is in effect:

1) Condoning an action that is clearly contrary to Catholic Church Teaching
2) Encouraging further fetal tissue research, since the use of the cell lines is acceptable to a Catholic institution
3) Encouraging further development of medical procedures through illicit research
4) Discouraging the use of alternative, morally acceptable avenues of research
5) Ignoring the impact of such a decision on countless other Catholic institutions that adhere to higher moral standards

     The acceptance of this activity at a Catholic university also serves to thwart efforts to stop radical legislation such as the NJ cloning bill allowing destruction of embryos and abortion of implanted cloned human beings.  What will Georgetown researchers say when the NIH offers grants to use these cell lines in a federally funded research program?  Will it be concluded that since the university is not directly involved with the murder of innocent human life such research would be acceptable?  Perhaps you are not aware that the very cell lines being used at GU were produced specifically for research purposes and carry the same moral repugnancy of any aborted fetal cell line produced today.  

     The Magisterium is quite clear on the duties of Catholic Universities as Pope John Paul II stated, “It is clear that university centres that do not observe the law of the Church and the teaching of the Magisterium, especially in the matter of bioethics, cannot be considered as having the character of a Catholic university.”  (Address to the International Congress, Globalization and the Catholic University, December 5, 2002 )

    Your Eminence, you have the duty to uphold the sanctity and dignity of these aborted children in accord with the Vatican teaching in Donum Vitae: "The corpses of human embryos or fetuses, whether they have been deliberately aborted or not, must be respected just as the remains of other human beings.  Furthermore, the moral requirements must be safeguarded, that there be no complicity in deliberate abortion and that the risk of scandal be avoided” (I.4).(Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation: Replies to Certain Questions of the Day)

      Top scientists from around the world agree that real progress is being made with ethically obtained adult stem cells and certainly GU has the opportunity to be a front-runner in pursuing this avenue of research.  Please, Your Eminence, use your authority and put an end to the unnecessary use of aborted fetal cell lines, which actually diverts important funding and hinders other noble and morally responsible research.  Thank you for your immediate attention to this most important matter.