Stem cells: a view from the back of the church

SCIENTISTS are convinced they can develop mechanisms to use stem cells to reverse degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s, CJD, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, pancreatic disorders, arthritis, rheumatism and a range of cancers.

I can’t comprehend why a hierarchical coterie should pressurise the Government to reject well-resourced stem cell research despite the massive medical benefits which will come from it.

The Government should not surrender to the dogma-driven fundamentalists whose hysteria only broadcasts their irrelevance to our secular democracy.

Perhaps they should devote their energies to an understanding of the causes of the virtual collapse of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Empty seminaries and Mass attendance of 35% instead of the 96% of my youth.

But then who is this mere back-of-the-church Catholic to challenge their absolutism?

Edwin Cussen,

Wilton House,

Bishopstown,

Cork.