_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Bush opposes cloning
Seeks bans on all forms
US President George W. Bush has spoken out forcefully against human cloning, backing legislation that would ban the practice.

President Bush recognized that a distinction is frequently made between “reproductive cloning”—in which the goal is to produce a living human being —and “therapeutic cloning”—in which researchers use cloned embryonic unborn children as a source of tissue, but do not allow those embryos to survive. Bush made it clear that he opposes both forms. “I believe all human cloning is wrong, and both forms of cloning ought to be banned,” he said.

“As we seek to improve human life, we must always preserve human dignity,” said Bush.

“Advances in biomedical technology must never come at the expense of human conscience. As we seek what is possible, we must always ask what is right, and we must not forget that even the most noble ends do not justify any means.”

Homosexual group defies Vatican
Bishops join in Dignity conference
Despite objections from the Vatican, a conference of Catholic activists seeking changes in Church teaching regarding homosexuality was held in Kentucky in March, with a retired bishop presiding at the opening liturgy.

The convention in Louisville was sponsored by New Ways Ministry, a group that has clashed with Rome because of its statements on homosexuality. In 1999, the Vatican ordered Father Robert Nugent and Sister Jeannine Gramick, the founders of the organization, to cease their public advocacy for homosexuals. Although the two are no longer officially active in New Ways Ministry, the group’s public statements remain at odds with Church teachings.

Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had written to Louisville’s Archbishop Thomas Kelly, pointing out that New Ways Ministry “does not promote the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.” But the Kentucky archbishop did not discourage participation in the conference.

Archbishop Kelly did tell the conference organizers that they should not celebrate the Eucharist at their conference, because of—as Archbishop Bertone had put it—”the confusion and scandal which will inevitably arise from this event.” But New Ways Ministry ignored that directive. And Bishop Leroy Matthiesen, the retired bishop of Amarillo, Texas, presided at the Mass. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a Detroit auxiliary who has been outspoken in his support for homosexuals, also took part in the New Ways Ministry conference.

Questioned about the group’s defiance of the order not to celebrate Mass, Archbishop Kelly told the Louisville Courier-Journal that “New Ways Ministry is trying to do good work, but it has to do that work within the context of the Church’s teaching.” He added: “That is not always easily achieved.”

US supports families
Bush team brings policy change
At an April meeting of the UN’s Commission on Population and Development, the US delegation declared that the promotion of strong families is necessary to combat the spread of HIV/ AIDS. This stance marked a pronounced change from the positions advanced at the UN by American representatives during the Clinton Administration. It also set the US delegation in opposition to previous documents issued by the UN itself, which have suggested that the AIDS epidemic should be addressed mainly through sexual education and the widespread distribution of condoms to adolescents.

US Ambassador Sichan Siv told the commission, “Abstinence and postponement of initial sexual activity play important roles in the promotion of adolescent health and well-being.” Siv added that “monogamy, fidelity, [and] partner reduction” should also be encouraged.

The US highlighted “the important value of strong and stable families in preventing risky behavior among young people,” and chided the UN Population Division for producing reports on reproductive health that “unfortunately contain(s) only scant references to the influence of family stability, the role of fathers and parent-child communication on ... responsible sexual behavior.”

Some UN operatives complained that the new attitudes among American representatives have been discouraging to veteran activists. Steven Sinding, the director general of International Planned Parenthood, lamented that “the political environment within which global sexual and reproductive health and rights policy is framed is becoming more hostile, with renewed attempts to remove reference to abortion from international consensus documents, global health goals, safe motherhood, and other sexual and reproductive health and rights-based agendas.”