For couples struggling to conceive a child, in vitro fertilization has been a medical standard for the past 30 years. The Catholic Church has long opposed the process as immoral, because it separates conception from the marital act and it destroys embryos. With the procedure's prevalence in the medical world, some Catholic couples are led to believe they are out of medical options after a doctor recommends it. However, officials from the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Nebraska, say that in vitro fertilization, or IVF, is not a miracle procedure and they report that more effective options exist. Dr. Kristina Pakiz, associate medical consultant, said couples "do not have to feel trapped in a corner where they are told they will never have a child without in vitro fertilization. The truth is that there is superior gynecologic health care available to them." She said IVF has a success rate of about 30 percent and increases the risk of high-risk pregnancy and birth defects. About five in six embryos created in the process will die. IVF does not address root causes of infertility; only a detailed workup that helps doctors diagnose and treat infertility as the product of an underlying condition can do that. When infertility is seen as an underlying medical condition and treated accordingly, success rates for conceiving increase.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...