Day of Recollection on Bioethics and the Human Person

All human beings belong to God who searches them and knows them, who gazes on them when they are tiny embryos and already sees in them the adults of tomorrow whose vocation is even now written in the "book of life." –Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 61

What are we really saying about the human person when society produces embryos technologically?

Come discuss Church teaching, Scripture, Saint John Paul II’s theology and Research on the Embryo.

Participants will:

• Learn why scientific knowledge itself leads us toward the conclusion that every individual human life begins at conception
• Learn the current state of research on the embryo in the United States and abroad
• Reflect on Catholic bioethical teaching and Saint John Paul II’s vision of the human person
• Discuss a range of topics related to research on the embryo
• Have time for prayer and Mass

Schedule

9:30 AM Doors open/Check-in/Refreshments

9:50-10:00 AM – Welcome & Introduction Dr. Ijeoma Uzoma: How the idea for this event series began

10:00–10:45 AM – Maureen Condic “When Does Human Life Begin?”

10:50–11:20 AM – Ijeoma Uzoma, “Scientific Research on the Embryo Today”

11:25-11:55 AM – Conversation Stations

12:00 PM – Mass

12:45 – 1:25PM – Lunch

1:30PM -2:00 PM – Grattan Brown, “The Theology of the Body and the Human Embryo”

2:05-2:45 PM – Conversation Stations

2:50-3:00 PM – Event closing

3:00 PM Optional Hour of Mercy — or explore Exhibit(s)

5:00 PM Shrine closes

About Conversation Stations

In Conversation Stations, participants walk to one or more stations to discuss topics related to research on the human embryo that interest them. The dialogue is respectful but probing, an opportunity to ask and wrestle with difficult questions.

About the Presenters

Maureen Condic, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist, embryologist, and bioethicist whose research focuses on human development, stem cells, and regenerative medicine. She serves as a Professor at The Catholic University of America and previously taught Human Embryology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. A member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and former appointee to the U.S. National Science Board, Dr. Condic is widely recognized for her scholarship on the scientific evidence concerning the beginning of human life.

Ijeoma Uzoma, Ph.D. is a molecular geneticist and an Assistant Professor at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. She has taught biology, bioethics, hematology and immunology for 10 years and has over 18 publications in high impact journals including Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Climate Change and Scientific Data.

Grattan Brown, S.T.D. is a theologian, bioethicist, and the Director of Mission & Ministry at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, where he promotes Catholic mission integration, formation, and dialogue between faith and contemporary culture. He has taught bioethics for 20 years and published in a variety of peer-reviewed and popular journals.

The $10 registration fee includes lunch and refreshments.