Handbook on the Moral Arguments in the Embryo Adoption Debate

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Handbook on the Moral Arguments in the Embryo Adoption Debate

by Elizabeth B. Rex, PhD, and Charles Robertson, PhD

The possibility of embryo adoption has existed for over two decades and raises some questions that people really do not know how to answer. Over half a century ago, when the first in vitro fertilization child was born, Albino Luciani, who within days would become Pope John Paul I, immediately issued a statement welcoming the child into the world that recognized the full humanity of the child without endorsing the in vitro procedure. Today there are over one million frozen embryos in cryostorage and the question in Dignitas personae 19 about “what to do with them” is still unresolved. The legal status of the embryo should be a person – and some states have passed laws pertaining to embryo adoption – but there is still a great deal of confusion going on. This book was written in the hope of clarifying some of the ethical issues in the search for a moral solution.

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TESTIMONIALS

“What to do with the live human beings who are being warehoused as frozen embryos is one of the most important questions of our time. Embryos deserve to be treated as children, and not as property. They are the last group of humans being treated as property. Dr Elizabeth Rex is a world-class expert on this subject. I would urge everyone to consider her ideas deeply.” –Allan Parker, President, The Justice Foundation

“Although my perspective is heavily biased, I recommend this book as a thoughtful and provocative review of the moral and ethical issues involved in Embryo donation and adoption. These 2 experts have provided thorough and compelling information on both sides of this controversial issue, and anyone with an interest in, or who works with couples involved with infertility should benefit from this work.” –Jeffrey A. Keenan, M.D., HCLD, Professor, Dept. of OB/GYN, Division of Reproductive, Endocrinology and Infertility, Univ. of Tennessee Medical Center, and Director, National Embryo Donation Center, Knoxville, TN

“Hannah Strege, the World’s First Adopted Frozen Embryo, offered the Opening Prayer for the ITEST Webinar that was devoted to the subject of this book. This very vividly shows us that the ethical debate embraced in this book, about whether or not it is morally right to adopt a frozen embryo, is about real people. Hannah went from being a frozen embryo who was placed for adoption, to being transferred to her adopted mother’s womb, to personally witnessing to the reality of being a human person. Let us prayerfully study Embryo Adoption, remembering that this is about helping children, like Hannah, to live to the full the gift of life we have all received.” – Francis Etheredge, Senior Fellow of The Donum Vitae institute, and author of 16 books including The Human Person: A Bioethical Word and Conception: An Icon of the Beginning

“A highly important read not only for those interested in embryo adoption but everyone concerned with the ethical issues involved.” – Ronda Chervin, Ph.D. Emerita Professor of Philosophy, Holy Apostles College and Seminary.

“This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the embryo adoption debate. The essays present a clear and comprehensive look at both sides of this difficult issue. Highly recommended as the first point of reference on this subject.” – Richard A. Spinello, Professor, St. John’s Seminary and Boston College

“The embryo adoption debate is a crucial issue that concerns not only the fate of abandoned and frozen embryonic human beings but also the public credibility of Roman Catholic bioethical doctrine, pitting the charitable and sacrificial object of adoptive parents against complex, deductive arguments for the sinfulness of such action. Dr. Elizabeth Rex and Dr. Charles Robertson are two of the most recognizable voices in this debate. The pages of this book contain a lucid presentation of both sides in a rare attempt at finding points of agreement while clarifying the differences.” – Christopher Reilly, candidate for Th.D., M.A. theology, M.A. philosophy, M.P.I.A. public and international affairs

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Elizabeth Rex is the President of the The Children First Foundation, a charitable and educational organization dedicated to promoting Adoption as a positive and loving choice for unwanted unborn children, including unwanted frozen embryos. Dr. Rex has taught Bioethics at Holy Apostles College & Seminary and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University. Dr. Rex has spoken at major conferences and is a frequent contributor to National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly regarding the moral arguments in the embryo adoption debate.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Charles Robertson earned his MA in History at the University of Saskatchewan and his MA and Ph.D. in Philosophy at the Center for Thomistic Studies in Houston, Texas. His research on embryo adoption/rescue has been published in The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Thomist, The Linacre Quarterly, and the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. He has also published research on the history of the Thomist commentary tradition in Nova et Vetera and The Oxford Handbook of the Recption of Aquinas. He currently resides in Saskatoon, Canada, with his wife and eight children.

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The Social Encyclicals and Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Social Encyclicals and Saint Thomas Aquinas

by Dr. Donald G. Boland

The social encyclicals of the Catholic Church provide an opportunity to treat human behavior from a practical moral philosophical point of view grounded in Aristotle as interpreted by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Because any attempt to remedy the social disorder by the efforts of reason alone will not only fail but will also result in a worse condition even for the oppressed, the author acknowledges that Christ and his Church have the true and only answer. The social encyclicals are intended, after all, to shift our focus from the philosophical (natural) to the theological (supernatural) level of human life and association, restoring the relationship between the two orders of Faith and Reason. This book was written to explain the philosophical foundation of that relationship, which modernity has threatened, in the hope that it will help heal the widening breach.

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TESTIMONIALS

“Dr Don Boland has given a most thorough and well-organised exposition and discussion of the Social Doctrine of the Church and the place of justice therein. His study starts with Pope Leo XIII and finishes with Pope Francis. The number and quality of his papal quotations (often providing his own translations of the original Latin to correct bad official English translations) is a true work of service in its own right. He brings to bear on his discussion of these texts the moral philosophical teaching of St Thomas Aquinas. Readers will soon see that much of the Social Doctrine of the Church is thoroughly grounded in Aquinas from the perspective of human reason alone. Modern day social, political, ethical and theological education in Catholic Institutions would benefit substantially from the philosophical exposition and wisdom that Dr Boland has provided in abundance. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.” – Frank Calneggia, author of Assertions and Refutations: An Assessment of Dr Tracey Rowland’s Natural Law: From Neo Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donald G Boland Ll. B. Ph. D. is a founding member of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc. in Sydney Australia and is one of its former Presidents. He practiced for a number of years as a lawyer having a degree in law from the University of Sydney. Over much the same time, having obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Rome, he has taught philosophy and law in both Catholic and secular educational institutions, such as the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Newcastle, the Aquinas Academy, the Centre for Thomistic Studies Inc., now operating under the name of the Centre for Catholic Studies Inc., and various Catholic seminaries, such as those of the Marists and the Vincentians. His doctoral thesis was on the concepts of utility and value in economics as found in the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.

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The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution: Key Concepts, Operational Mechanisms by Marguerite A. Peeters

Waking Up To The Quiet Revolution by Rod Dreher

The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution: Key Concepts, Operational Mechanisms

by Marguerite A. Peeters, Ph.D.

A new ethic, secularist in its radical aspects, has spread like wildfire all over the world since the end of the cold war. This ethic is the fruit of the Western feminist, sexual and cultural revolutions and of the long march of the West towards post-modernity. In the West, the revolution is achieving its chief objectives and even seems to have reached the point of self-destruction. But for a generation, the battle line has moved to the non-Western world. This manual aims to provide educators with the information they need to acquire, in the light of the eternal law written by God himself in the heart of all men and women, the knowledge and the discernment of the key concepts and operational mechanisms of the globalization of the western cultural revolution. It also seeks to encourage our friends in the non-Western world to be faithful to who they are and, by remaining themselves, to offer the world a leadership that is specific to them and that is already awaited by all those who wish to go back to reality, truth and love.

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Photo by The European Conservative during book launch in Hungary, January 26, 2023

REVIEW

Dr. Ted Baehr, Founder and Publisher of Movie Guide. The full review page may be found here.

The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution is the most compelling, important, profound, readable analysis of the destructive influence of postmodernism on the world at large. Postmodernism is a loose term applied to a group of left-wing theories attacking conventional notions of reality and social structures. Author Marguerite A. Peeters does an incredible job of helping the reader understand the roots of postmodernism, the impact of postmodernism, the players in the postmodern revolution, and the social devastation it’s caused. First, she details the influence of feminists like Margaret Sanger and Simone de Beauvoir, the fraud of Alfred Kinsey and his new science of “sexology”, and the Cultural Marxism of Herbert Marcuse in a fruitful, compelling way. Having studied most of these influences for years, I was surprised to find myself educated in a way that could produce a zeal for reclaiming the territory post-modernism has taken. If you want to know why governments have been powerless to stop post-modernism, this is the book. If you want to know how post-modernism undermined religion, this is the book. If you want to understand the destruction of democracy and capitalism by post-modernism, this is the book. The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution shows the dictatorship of the post-modern groups as they work within the United Nations, NGOs (or non-governmental organizations), and governing bodies in society to refute the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. If there’s one book that you read, The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution is the book. The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution is highly recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marguerite A. Peeters directs Dialogue Dynamics, a Brussels-based institute specializing in the analysis of political and cultural developments at the level of global governance. She has authored several books on the globalization of the Western cultural revolution, the gender revolution and postmodernity.

See the EWTN interview with Jesús Colina entitled “In the Wake of Cultural Revolution” (June 18, 2008).

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Conscience and Power: The Contest for Civilization in the West

Conscience and Power: The Contest for Civilization in the West

by Dr. Richard Bishirjian

Conscience and Power examines how civilization in “the West” arose after the fall of the Roman Empire and has grappled ever after with a desire of citizens of nations of Western civilization for justice and the necessities of political order. This contest between Western man’s sense of justice and the rule of nation states has had consequences for democracy in America and in the centers of Western Europe, and the reason is that Roman religion was replaced by a new truth of social order–the order of Christendom. Consciousness of that new Christian faith defined a new era, from the 5th century to the 14th century, which historians call “First Europe,” during which period Christian monastics and theologians celebrated faith in Christ and replaced the old order with a new tradition. Their “conscience” contested with monarchs who resisted their claim to dominance and gave us insight into the truths of Christendom. What we in the West inherited from ancient Israel, the ancient Greeks and Romans and an enduring Christendom formed during the Middle Ages, however, is no longer central to the lives of citizens of Western nation states. Because the death of everything living is preceded by a natural process of birth, growth and senescence, death is an end point for all “being things.” Conscience and Power asks, therefore, how much longer can democracies in the West live before they, too, meet their end?

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“One of the most significant books of our age.” –Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard J. Bishirjian was Founding President and Professor of Government at Yorktown University from 2000-2016. He earned a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Bishirjian was Gerhart Niemeyer’s teaching assistant at Notre Dame. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Dallas in Texas, chairman of the Political Science Department at the College of New Rochelle in New York and founder of Yorktown University where he served as President and Professor of government from 2000-2016.

He served as a political appointee in the Reagan Administration and in the Administration of George H. W. Bush.

He is the editor of A Public Philosophy Reader and author of three books, The Development of Political Theory, The Conservative Rebellion and The Coming Death and Future Resurrection of American Higher Education. His most recent work, “Coda,” is a novel published by En Route Books. His most recent three scholarly studies are Ennobling Encounters, Rise and Fall of the American Empire, and Conscience and Power. Ennobling Encounters was published by En Route Books in September, 2021.

Dr. Bishirjian’s essays have been published in Forbes, The Political Science Reviewer, Modern Age, Review of Politics, Chronicles, the American Spectator and The Imaginative Conservative.

For the full story, see Dick’s website.

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Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol. 2: A Foundational Conversation

Click here for Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol. 1, An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol 2: A Foundational Conversation

Editors — Jane F. Adolphe and Robert L. Fastiggi

The abuse, harassment, or devaluation of women, in any form by Catholic priests and bishops, raises concerns about:

whether clerics have a healthy understanding of their own inherent dignity as male persons and spiritual fathers;
whether clerics have a healthy understanding of the inherent dignity of women as female persons and spiritual mothers; and
whether seminary formation is adequately preparing future priests to interact with women in a healthy, mature, and holy manner.

This volume commences a foundational conversation about certain deficiencies in light of God’s plan for men and women, redeemed by His grace. The essays examine the scriptural, theological, anthropological, and psychological dimensions of the Catholic view of men and women and related issues.

Understanding that the Church has norms and practices in place to protect girls and women from clerical sexual abuse, this volume offers an opportunity to deepen the conversation about remaining psychological, spiritual, and theological matters.

Like the first volume, Clerical Sexual Misconduct: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, this second volume, subtitled A Foundational Conversation, is an answer to the call of Pope Francis for assistance from members of the faithful engaged in higher learning to serve the Church through study of the culture of abuse in its midst.

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“What is truly remarkable about this book is the breadth and depth of the analysis of the entire sex abuse crisis from men and women possessed of deep Catholic identity and firmly committed to authentic Catholic renewal.” -Jeffrey Mirus, CatholicCulture.org

This book “belongs on the shelf of every chancery, seminary library and rectory.” It “examines the causes of the crisis, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, such as the role that cultural Marxism has played in undermining the family and sexual morality; the impact of the now-debunked Kinsey reports on human sexuality; and the pernicious theories of Wilhelm Reich that undergirded the sexual revolution of the 1960s…. While comprehensive and packed with scholarly footnotes, Clerical Sexual Misconduct offers an engrossing read, accessible to anyone who cares about cleansing the scourge of clerical sexual abuse from the church and in preventing its resurgence.”-Deborah Gyapong, Catholic News Service

“Over the last decade I have read several books on the subject, often written by disgruntled Catholics or liberals who loathe the Church and who exploit this very real issue to further their own agenda. What I felt was required was an in-depth analysis in order to bring about an authentic Catholic renewal. I believe that this is the book that was needed…. In summary, this is by far the best book on the subject.” -Dr. Pravin Thevathasan, Catholic Medical Quarterly

This book “is valued not only because of its scholarship, but also for the commitment to Catholic orthodoxy of its contributors, who realize that any remedies must be faithful to the liberating truths Jesus has revealed to his Church in particular and to mankind in general…. Clerical Sexual Misconduct serves as a reference work to understand better the key factors that enabled the scandal to develop over time, and also proposes measures to ensure it never happens again.” -Thomas J. Nash, The Catholic World Report

Jane F. Adolphe

Dr. Jane F. Adolphe is called to practice law in the State of New York, USA and Province of Alberta, Canada with degrees in civil law (LL.B/B.C.L) and canon law (J.C.L/J.C.D). As a Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law (AMSL), in Naples, Florida (2001 – present), with an expertise in international human rights law, from 2003 she worked for the Holy See (Pope), Secretariat of State, Section for Relations for States, first as an outside legal advisor for Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, then in 2011, during the final years of Pope Benedict VI’s papacy, as an inside expert on international human rights issues within the United Nations System in Vatican City State, and continued into the papacy of Pope Francis, until her resignation in 2020.

While working for the Holy See, in her capacity as Professor of Law, Adolphe established the International Center on Law, Life, Faith and Family (ICOLF), in 2014, as a forum for Catholic jurists guided by the Holy See’s Charter on the Rights of the Family. It was renamed the International Catholic Jurists Forum (ICJF), in 2021. Under the auspices of this forum, Adolphe has organized multiple international conferences on topics of relevance for the Holy See, some of which have resulted in the publication of books that she has co-edited: Clerical Sexual Misconduct: An Interdisciplinary Analysis (Cluny: 2020); Equality and Non-discrimination: Catholic Roots, Current Challenges (Pickwick: 2019); The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East: Prevention, Prohibition, Prosecution (Angelico Press: 2018).

Robert L. Fastiggi

Dr. Robert L. Fastiggi, Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology, has been at Sacred Heart Major Seminary since 1999. Prior to coming to Detroit, he taught at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas from 1985-1999. Dr. Fastiggi received an A.B. in Religion (summa cum laude) from Dartmouth College in 1974; a M.A. in Theology from Fordham University in 1976; and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Fordham in 1987. During his time at Sacred Heart, Dr. Fastiggi has taught courses in Ecclesiology, Christology, Mariology, church history, sacramental theology, and moral theology. He is a member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, the Mariological Society of America, the International Marian Association, and a member of the Pontifical Marian Academy International (P.A.M.I).

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The Necessity of Knowledge for Love and its Application

Jesus Christ: A Man of Prayer

The Necessity of Knowledge for Love and Its Application

by Fr. Paul Ezinando

In this work, Fr. Paul Ezinando not only demonstrates that knowledge is a necessity for love, but he also shows that proper knowledge promotes love. Following the argument of St. Augustine, who wrote, “you cannot love what you don’t know,” and using St. Thomas Aquinas’ philosophical proofs of the existence of God, Fr. Ezinando demonstrates that knowledge of God, self-knowledge, and knowledge of neighbour are the gateways to the love of God, proper self-love, and the love of neighbour, respectively. In this way, this book provides a clear demonstration of the connection between knowledge and love.

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TBA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fr. Paul Ezinando is a priest of the Archdiocese of Bertoua. He has his first degree in philosophy from Bigard memorial Seminary Enugu Nigeria and his master’s degree in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, USA. Presently, he is a formator and a spiritual director at St. John Baptist spiritual year seminary Doume, East Cameroon.

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