Archdiocese of St. Louis warning about the, Ice Bucket Challenge

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) A viral campaign to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS is sweeping the nation. People are posting videos to Facebook or Twitter challenging their friends to donate to the cause.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis says that there is nothing wrong with raising money to fight the disease. They are not discouraging Catholics from participating. But, they want to make sure that the funds are used to support morally just research.

A statement in part reads, Embryonic stem cell research is always morally objectionable because a human person must be destroyed to harvest his or her stem cells. As the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated: The use of embryonic stem cells or differentiated cells derived from them even when these are provided by other researchers through destruction of embryos or when such cells are commercially available presents serious problems from the standpoint of cooperation in evil and scandal.

They are asking Catholics to donate to the John Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa City. Donations can be made online at http://www.jp2mri.org

Read the full statement here: http://archstl.org/node/4330223

View original post here:

Archdiocese of St. Louis warning about the, Ice Bucket Challenge