PRESS RELEASE

The Global Consultation entitled Stem Cell Research in the service of human life?: Ethical and Theological Reflection, organized by the World Council of Churches (Project on Faith, Science, Technology and Ethics)  and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies has started today, Monday 9 November 2009. Twenty five participants from all over the world and various Christian and religious Traditions have gathered to discuss and reflect on this crucial and ambivalent issue.

At the opening ceremony, the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of the Consultation as it serves the dialogue between faith and science, spirituality and technology, medical and ethical imperatives, as well as the mutual understanding and respect of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds.

 Rev. Pr. Vasilios Kalliakmanis (Greece), Representative of the Special Synodical Commission of Church of Greece, noticed that the Consultation is a great chance for the Churches to understand and discuss the new scientific challenges and to offer an honest and right answer and information to their faithful.   

Then, an introduction to the Project, its philosophy and its aims made by Dr. Maria van Heemstra (WCC/Geneva) and Packia Asirvathan (WCC/Geneva).

Dr. Vassilios Fanaras, who is a project consultant on behalf of the Volos Academy, presented an Orthodox reflection on the theme. According to him: “Orthodox are expected not only to present our aspects, but also to listen to the scientists and theologians of other denominations and religions”. He stressed that: “The use of somatic stem cell in research and therapies would be a welcome alternative choice and ethically acceptable practice... The importance of human life demands a “spiritual therapy” that is necessary for each illness... Our bodies are part of the main Body of Christ, the Church. We should accept that our bodies are finite with respect to flesh, but eternal in the Body of Christ”.

Pr. James Rusthoven (Canada) offered a detailed analysis of the developments and achievements on stem cell research, referring to certain experiments and methods of analysis without avoiding exposing their ethical challenges and concerns.

Finally, papers given by Dr. Donald Bruce (U.K.) and Pr. Theocharis Patargias (Greece), who they both presented the huge ethical dilemmas and questions on stem cell research and they proposed issues and themes still open, where further research is needed.

The participants went into small groups to discuss about bio-ethics, bio-politics and Churches/religious institutions response on stem cell research.

Finally, the participants were invited to share a ‘table of  love’ in a local parish, where they had the opportunity to experience Greek hospitality and be informed about the initiatives, activities and actions that they take place in Holy Metropolis of Demetrias on spiritual and social level. 

 

PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 was the concluding day of the Global Consultation entitled Stem-Cell Research in the service of human life?: Ethical and Theological Reflections, organized by the World Council of Churches (Project on Faith, Science, Technology and Ethics) and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies. The Consultation took place in the Academy’s grounds in Melissatika, Volos, from 9-11 November 2009.

In the morning session, participants discussed the crucial moral and theological issues and questions raised both during the presentations and in the ensuing discussions among the small groups.

Following the discussion, Mr. Jaydee Hanson (USA) offered a detailed review of a number of important legal issues and facts arising in various countries around the globe where stem-cell research takes place, all directly related to bioethical matters. Mr. Hanson asked his audience to consider which of these issues would be a cause of agreement or disagreement on the level of ethics, as well as how we ought to approach and delineate the notion of otherness and the need to respect otherness in our present context.

Among the afternoon speakers were Mrs. Maryam Pazooki (Iran/Canada), who stressed the question of gender in stem-cell research; Mr. Fabian Salazar Guerrero (Colombia), who summarized the basic questions raised in Latin America with regard to economic and social justice, with particular attention to bioethics; and Dr. Japhet Ndhovu (Kenya), who stressed that the single, most important concern for Africa is justice to the weak and the poor – in the sense of an equal distribution of the benefits of medicine and biotechnology to everyone, regardless of economic and social status.

The final session announced the conclusions of the Consultation, as well as a list of suggestions to the Churches and to society at large, in the form of a request to continue supporting dialogical enquiries on the important moral and theological dilemmas, as these ensue from developments in the bio-sciences.  

Near the end of the Consultation, thanks were offered to the organizing members, both international and local (the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias, the Prefecture of Magnesia) as well as to everyone who contributed to the Consultation’s success. The Consultation concluded with the Byzantine Choir of the “St. John Koukouzelis” chanting association of Volos.