Scientists have created a gel that changes the speed of sperm. It slows down sperm with an X chromosome, increasing the possibility of a male child from about 50% to about 90%. I know this sounds like science fiction but it is real. It has mainly been tested in IVF but there is nothing stopping its use in natural intercourse. I’ll explain what this is and attempt an initial moral evaluation. New Sperm-Sorting Gel It is called “sperm-sorting,” but it... Read more
A string of recent cold cases have been solved by DNA. However, these cases are different. Instead of having a suspect and asking him for a sample, or even running the sample against a government database, they are taking it to ancestry sites to find relatives and narrow down the search. At first glance, this seems like a good thing. I think we were all glad when the Golden State Killer was put behind bars 30 years after he finished... Read more
I’m surprised I need to say that autism is not due to parental sin. However, a Catholic priest from India has started preaching about this publicly and I think some people might be confused. I’m going to quote a bit of Fr. Valanmanal, then show that both Church teaching and science say parental sin does not cause autism. Fr. Dominic Valanmanal Preaching Recently the Archbishop of Dublin forbade Fr. Dominic Valanmanal from coming to Ireland. The Irish Times covered the... Read more
A few weeks back I was visiting my family in Calgary and helped out with a special needs Mass. They call it “special needs,” as it can serve a few conditions but I can say that a large percent were autistic. This seems like a great initiative from the diocese and I hope other dioceses can organize similar things. The diocese of Calgary ran a story later on their website: “Father, can I tell you a question?” Nervous giggles whisper... Read more
Last week, the National Catholic Reporter came out with a story about a parish they see as a model parish. However, the story exaggerated the parish reach and it misunderstood the sacrament of orders. St. William Catholic Church is a parish in Louisville run by a layperson. The archdiocesan website lists a lay “Pastoral Administrator,” and a retired priest as the “Sacramental Moderator.” The parish’s Facebook page lists a bunch of events with a focus on protests for immigrants and... Read more
Dr. Leana Wen became the CEO of Planned Parenthood less than a year ago. This afternoon, the board met and kicked her out. She wanted to diversify the healthcare offerings of the abortion giant, but the board wanted to double-down on abortion. PP often claims that abortion is only 3% of what they do: this has never really been honest, but today’s action reminds us that abortion is their focus. If abortion really was only 3% of what they did,... Read more
A few months back, The Catholic Herald asked me to interview about an article on “conservative” defenders of Pope Francis. I objected to using political labels like “conservative” and for Catholicism but I did the interview. (I have written before about why we should not use these labels.) Today the article was published and including a few paragraphs on my comments: For the Legionary priest and blogger Fr Matthew Schneider, defending Pope Francis is part and parcel of his priestly... Read more
Last Sunday, Dr. Paul Rimmer took his autistic son to Evensong at King’s College at Cambridge. They were asked to leave when his son made noise. Let me cover his letter and the apology then talk about autistic inclusion. Dr. Rimmer’s Letter The main point Dr. Rimmer makes is that Evensong, although a choral – not congregational – action is liturgical. Thus, it should be open to all trying their best to participate. However, he felt it was treated as a secular... Read more
As I’ve noted before, companies like 23andMe or AncestryDNA use probability not precise science to determine where your DNA is from. This is why different companies might give you different results. Despite this, in their promotions, they seem to promote its certainty. Recently an article on STAT pointed out a further issue about the psychological stress of changing DNA Ancestry. Companies change their charts as they get a larger index of samples of people they know are from different places.... Read more
Ian Hutchinson recently wrote, Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?: An MIT Professor Answers Questions about God and Science. Most of the book is a set of questions and answers he’s taken up in various presentations on faith and science. Having read his book, I find most of it is good but a few of the questions could be better explained with some Catholic presentations like John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio. The first chapter is a spiritual biography tracing... Read more
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