MILWAUKEE, WI, July 25, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Daniel Maguire, a tenured professor at the Jesuit Catholic Marquette University in Milwaukee, who calls himself a ‘Catholic’ theologian has come out with a paper claiming falsely that the Catholic Church endorses embryonic stem cell research. Maguire is one of the few professors at Catholic universities complaining openly about a Vatican plan to have local bishops give Catholic theologians a letter of standing known as a mandatum. Supporters of the mandatum suggest that the requirement for such procedures came from renegades such as Maguire who masquerade their anti-Catholic tirades under the flag of “Catholicism.”
But with his latest publication on stem cell research, Maguire could face more than a refusal for a letter of standing from his local bishop, Archbishop Rembert Weakland. Pro-lifers suggest his latest piece “Abortion Debate Clouds Stem Cell Issue” warrants at least public refutation by his bishop. Maguire pontificates that Catholicism, Judaism, and “other religious traditions recognize that embryonic tissue is human tissue but they do not demean the rest of us by assigning it the dignity of personhood.” Maguire claims “the most ‘pro-life’ use of it (frozen human embryos) would be to use it to seek cures before it is routinely destroyed.” He suggests that those opposing the destructive use of human embryos for research are guilty of “embryo fetishism that is hobbling the current stem cell debate.”
To contact Archbishop Rembert Weakland: [email protected]
See Maguire’s Stem Cell and the AP coverage of his stand: https://www.religiousconsultation.org/stemcell.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010724/aponline155658_000.htm