The debate over embryonic stem cell research is connected to one much less volatile debate, the morality of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and to another likely to explode in the future, cloning. IVF and cloning are currently the two sources of research embryos. Is there some way to make sense of these three interconnected issues? Catholic Church has consistently looked at the treatment of embryos in relation to the "source of embryos" in marriage. Yet the Church has presented arguments against embryo-destructive research, IVF, and cloning that are consistent with, but do not all depend upon Christian faith. This lecture explores some of those arguments in light of current developments in the embryonic stem cell debate. 

Dr. Grattan Brown is a professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. He received his STD and STL, both Summa Cum Laude, from the Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome, Italy. He also serves as a consultant for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Dr. Brown previously taught moral theology at the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. 

Dr. Brown previously received bachelors' degrees from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy, and Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in Sacred Theology and English, respectively. Dr. Brown also received an MA from the University of Memphis, Tennessee, in English. He is an expert in Catholic social doctrine, moral theology, bioethics, and the theology of marriage. 

 

Speaker(s): Dr. Grattan Brown

Date: April 28, 2011
Location: Anderson Hall
Length: 43 mins

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