Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 138: It's Not Wrong, If It Feels Right!

Most of us, in fact, have probably granted our emotions leeway to trump our better moral judgment somewhere along the line.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationDecember 30, 2016Natural Law, Universal Morality

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 137: Orphans in Liquid Nitrogen

Some humanitarian tragedies occur quietly and “in the background,” only gradually coming to light years or decades after serious harm has already occurred...

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationNovember 30, 2016Embryos, Frozen Embryos

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 136: The Multiple Moral Problems of Surrogacy

Surrogacy raises grave moral concerns, and powerfully undermines the dignity of human procreation, particularly when it comes to the women and children involved in the process.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 135: Leaving Our Values at the Door of the Strip Club

Good parents never drive their children to strip clubs, and neither should any institution entrusted with a protective parental role; on the contrary, such institutions should erect appropriate boundaries and limits on harmful behaviors, so their residents can grow and flourish...

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 134: Talking to Kids About Porn & Human Sexuality

...the home setting needs to differ from the outside world, serving as an oasis and a protected environment for children.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 133: Cremains & Respect for the Human Body

Proper disposition and care of another’s body also manifests our Christian faith in the resurrection of that body on the Last Day.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 132: Seeing through the Intersex Confusion

While a newborn’s ‘intrinsic maleness’ or ‘intrinsic femaleness’ may be difficult to assess in certain more complicated intersex cases, the point remains that there is an ‘intrinsic’ or ‘underlying’ sexual constitution that we must do our best to recognize, respect, and act in accord with.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJune 30, 2016Intersex

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 131: Embryos & the 14-Day Rule

That every one of us was once an embryo remains an indisputable scientific dogma, causing a "fingernails on the chalkboard" phenomenon for researchers every time they choose to experiment on embryos...

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMay 30, 2016Embryos, Research

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 130: On Aging Gracefully

Our later years can powerfully provoke us to come to terms with our destiny and with higher truths.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 129: Catholics and Acceptable Uses of Contraceptives

…while the Church has always taught that marital acts of contraception are morally wrong, the use of contraceptives can sometimes be acceptable within certain other contexts outside of consensual conjugal acts.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 128: Human Organs from Pigs — Is It Kosher?

...significant technical and ethical hurdles remain before growing organs in pigs is likely to be feasible. The science is still in its infancy, and researchers have yet to figure out how to make human cells co-exist in a stable fashion with animal tissues.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 127: At the Heart of the Tragedy of Addiction

They may feel they are defined entirely by their addiction, unlovable and wretched, rather than seeing that they are, in fact, human beings who are precious to God and those around them, and even now endowed with some tiny space of remaining freedom.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 126: A Higher Standard Than for Cats and Dogs

For all our similarities to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are aware of a fundamental difference in kind between ourselves and our furry friends. We are not meant to die just as animals do, or be euthanized as they are.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 125: Parents and "Sex Ed"

Parents are in the unique position of being able to model for their children a healthy example of sexual integration, generosity, and self-mastery within marriage.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationNovember 30, 2015Sex Education, Parenting

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 124: The Mystery of Male-Female Complementarity

The beauty and meaning of every sexual encounter in marriage, then, is rooted not only in faithful and exclusive love, but also in the radical complementarity of spouses manifested in the abiding mystery of their mutual procreativity.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 123: Jailed for Defending Marriage

Even so, various commentators have tried to insist that Ms. Davis was elected to serve as a government official, and should carry out the provisions of the law even if she might not agree with them. But this argument is flawed on at least four counts.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 122: Consenting to the Unconscionable

…the use of tissues and organs from direct abortions raises significant moral concerns, even if the mother’s signature may have been sought and obtained.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 121: Changing My Body To “Match” My “Identity?”

This kind of confused language about allowing people to “define their identity” ignores the crucially important truth that numerous aspects of our identity, especially those related to our bodily and sexual identity, are pre-determined, objective goods...

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 120: The Banking of Sperm and Eggs before Cancer Treatments

… if the egg harvesting step could be carried out with low risk to women, if the egg freezing process would not cause any deleterious effects on children who might later come into being, and if the eggs were only used for morally legitimate purposes like LTOT, freezing a woman’s eggs would appear to be morally allowable.

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 119: What is VSED and Why Should It Matter to Us?

Choosing not to eat or drink can be packaged as a noble and well-intentioned way to avoid intense pain and suffering, but VSED ultimately represents a flawed choice. It subtly draws us into the mistake of treating the objective good of our life as if it were an evil to be quelled or extinguished.

“Making Sense of Bioethics” CMS