The teaching bishops

By Sam Lucero
News and Information Manager

	Related article this week: • Bishops issue pastoral letter on stem cell research

The bishops of Wisconsin have taken the lead in calling for ethical stem cell research. In a pastoral letter issued April 29, their first since a June 2006 letter defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, the bishops encourage Catholics to educate themselves on stem cells.

The joint pastoral letter - signed by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee, who is also administrator of the Green Bay Diocese, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse, and Bishop Peter Christensen of Superior - is only the second pastoral letter on stem cell research written by a state conference of Catholic bishops.

The bishops of Kansas released a pastoral letter, "The Exorbitant Price of Embryonic Stem-Cell Research," in March 2007. Several individual bishops have also issued pastoral letters on stem cell research dating back to 2001.

What makes this pastoral letter different from others is the accompanying educational material: a four-page question-and-answer sheet and a 14-minute DVD. These materials are designed to help people understand stem cells and the ethical concerns surrounding them.

The educational resources, which discuss embryonic and adult stem cell research, were produced with the assistance of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and other groups. The pastoral letter and the question and answer sheet will be posted as downloadable files on the Wisconsin Catholic Conference Web site, (www.wisconsincatholic.org) allowing greater access to the material. Even the DVD will be reformatted as an online video at the WCC Web site.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are credited with pioneering embryonic stem cell research. Our bishops deserve credit for being among the country's first to offer a unified voice in support of ethical stem cell research. Now it is up to parishes and other church institutions to take advantage of the materials.