Invocation Delivered by Cardinal for American Medical Association Francis Spellman
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The Linacre Quarterly Volume 20 | Number 3 Article 6 8-1-1953 Invocation Delivered by Cardinal for American Medical Association Francis Spellman Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Spellman, Francis (1953) "Invocation Delivered by Cardinal for American Medical Association," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 20 : No. 3 , Article 6. Available at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol20/iss3/6 88 THE LINACRE QUAR'l'ERLY THE LINACRE QUARTERLY 89 temporary sterility in order to amid conception, the action would e,·en then he sinful for them by reason of that sinful direct intent. INVOCATION DELIVERED BY CARDINAL FOR . Hence, fertility control, as it is presently enYisioned, derives its initia I AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION all(l essential malice from its opposition to the fifth commandment in its The following invocation was given by His Eminence Franci Cardinal precept against that form of self-mutilation known as direct sterilization. � Spellman, Archbishop Fat· from confounding Catholic morality, as one prominent educator has of New York, at the inaugmal convocation of. the already implied that they ,,•ould, these antifertility techniques are patently American Medical Association in the Hotel Commodore, Manhattan, on at oc'l<ls with elemental moral principles. Tuesday, June 2: * * * O God of Science! Who framed the laws * * * * * Bless Thy servants Controlling the energies Foregathered in Thy presence, In cell and atom. REFERENCES Thy servants of science Guide the servants of Thy science I. Cf. "A New Antifertility Dedicated to service To use the skills of knowledge Factor''. in Science, Oct. 10, 1952 (pp. 373-85), a preliminary report In the cause of healing, For humanity's help. from which the following clinical data have been extracted. Bless them with light, Guard the servants of Thy science For one rather skeptical reaction. to the doctor's report, The light from Thy mind From misusing the uses of see the newsweekly Time, Oct. 20, 1952, pp. 85-87. In their search .and research knowledge 2. Theologians, it is true, are not unanimously agreed as to the precise Into regions of mysteries To humanity's hurt. extension to be accorded the concept of mutilation. However, as Fr. Of laws and functions Man's happiness is Thy glory. B. J. Cunningham, C. M., demonstrates in the Morality of Organic Of the human body, Transplantation (Washington, God of Science! D. C.: Catholic University of America. So wonderfully ordered Press, 1944, P.P· 1-17), modern Grant Thy servants of science authors, keeping pace with advanced Under the rhythm of health, medical and surgical methods, are generally That they magnify Thy glory agreed that the elements So fearfully disordered included in the above definition represent Through alleviation of pain. the minimum essentials Under the discord of disease. for an adequate definition Bless them with zeal of grave mutilation in the theological sense of that term. Grant them Thy light And unflagging devotion To see by Thy light To meet the challenge 3. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 32 r (1940), p. 73. And wo k by Thy light, Of life's great mysteries: 4. For an excellent exposition True servants of Thy science. The mystery of human illness. of the principle of double effect, cf. Fr. Gerald Kelly, S. · The mystery of human health. J., Medico-Moral Problems, I, pp. 11-13. Two 0 God of Science! other articles in this Bless them with knowledge same volume concern the application of this All science is in Thee; principle to therapies And abiding love, which result in sterility: "Suppression of All science is from Thee, Ovarian Function The love that knows no fear, to Prevent Metastasis," pp. 21-24; "Orchidectomy All science is for Thee, fo r Ca rcinoma of Prostate," The love that brooks no barrie1·s, pp. 25-29. (The Catholic Hospital Asso., For Thee and Thy glory. M38 So. Gran<l The love that bears in patience. Blvd., St. Louis ,J., Mo.) Thou it was, 0 God of Power Bless them with love, 5. Dr. Sieve in his report Who fashioned the universe, mentions 3 couples who, prior to the hesperidin The love from Thine own heart diet, had experienced Stocking it with energies a long period of questionable sterility, and who To love the service of science after terminating From plant to planet. the diet requit-ed but one menstrual cycle before And the science of service, impregnation. The Thou it was, 0 God of Wisdom doctor's own conclusion: "Apparently some correc Amen. tion may have occurreq , which suggests the possibility that phos phorylated hesperidin r may possess fertility-stimulating, as well as Add essing the Catholic doctors and friends who attended the annual antifertility, activity. However, further study is essential before a luncheon sponsored by The Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds, on defini�e explanation can be elicited." o. c., p. 384. Wednesday June 3, Cardinal Spellman exhorted the doctors to plac� their reliance on God. "With this motiva_tion," he said, "knowledge and skill can be brought into proper prospective and focused to bring about the greatest good for the physician and the community." .