Madam, – While it is quite legitimate for the Catholic Church, or anyone, to have concerns about certain aspects of IVF (such as the disposal of embryos) its stated position that IVF is intrinsically wrong is ridiculous and is typical of the mental hoops through which the church jumps when commenting on anything remotely connected with sexuality or reproduction.
Fr Sylvester Mary Mann’s statement (October 14th) that IVF is wrong “because the natural conjugal act is replaced by the unnatural use of technology” raises the old chestnut of “natural” being good and “unnatural” being bad. As the father of a gorgeous little IVF boy and the recipient of an organ transplant, I am hugely grateful for the human race’s ability to use its (God-given?) ability occasionally to overcome the hurdles that nature places before it. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Sometimes it is difficult to be an atheist in this country, but then along come letters like that from Fr Sylvester Mary Mann. His delusional views would be hilarious if the issue were not so serious for so many people. His work at the Catholic Voice is the best advert for atheism I have seen for some time. Keep up the good work! – Is mise,