In this webinar sponsored by the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology, Randal Mandock and Francis Etheredge present on Why the Unborn Matter. Our presentersRandal Mandock, PhDA Rational Case for Life Dr. Randal Mandock balanced careers in science and religious education. With a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, he worked as a geophysicist, professor, and researcher. Simultaneously, he served over 40 years as a Catholic catechist and apologist. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he remains active in parish ministry and faith formation. Abstract As a free agent (i.e., not officially representing any Church, ecclesial body, or religion), I choose to propose a method of revising definitions and terminology in the area of human pregnancy. I believe the changes inspired by this method will better serve the pro-life cause than the continued adoption of and acquiescence to popular notions about certain definitions and terminology used in popular accounts. My only authority in proposing these changes rests on reason and a desire to assist medical personnel, lawyers, judges, legislators, and the devoutly religious to better position themselves to defend mothers and their unborn children. It is evident that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church has charted for two millennia a masterful path between authority and reason in pursuit of expanding the Kingdom of God on earth. This is evident very recently in its recognition, once again, of the virtue of prudence in assessment of the start of an individual person’s life.Francis EtheredgeThe Catholic Faith’s Contribution to Understanding the Moment of Human ConceptionFrancis Etheredge is a Catholic married layman, with eleven children, three of whom he hopes are in heaven and the rest of whom are alive and well and stepping through life’s stages of school, university, and career. In the last ten years, he has returned to being a self-employed writer. Find some of his books listed in the resources section below. Abstract On the one hand it would seem that Faith has no contribution to make to an investigation of the beginning of human personhood in that it is a matter of what embryologists can discover, although embryologists do not necessarily recognize that the beginning of the human person transcends the biological action of sperm and egg-cell. On the other hand, then, while Scripture is ordered to our salvation in Christ, we cannot overlook that the question of conception is not without salvific significance. Thus the Scripture speaks of conception, while the dogma of the Immaculate Conception speaks of both the conception of Mary and implicates us. At the same time, the Second Vatican Council, in Gaudium et spes, speaks of both the unity of the human person (14) and the mystery that “For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man” (22). What, then, are we to make of these contributions to understanding the beginning of human life? https://faithscience.org/why-unborn-matter/

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