• Collections of Catholic information and documents
  
  
  • Catholic Resources on the Web: Catholic liturgy and worship, Catholic teaching, Catholic culture, Catholic people (saints, etc.), Catholic organizations, and links to other Catholic web sites
    
    
  • The Theology Library: a site with over 8000 links--extensive information on the Catholic Church, Church history and worship, sacraments; saints (a list of patron saints with information on individual saints--see also The Saints Page, which offers brief biographies of individual saints, frequently asked questions about saints, and a calendar of feast days), Mary and Marian apparitions (see also The Mary Page, which features numerous links to most aspects of Marian devotion and theology including The Medjugorje Web), links to justice and peace sites and to most ethical issues considered in this class; descriptions of non-Catholic Christian denominations (including the First Church of Cyberspace, which offers online worship every Sunday evening at 9:00 PM E.S.T.), non-Christian religions, and other religions and belief systems; directories of Catholic resources on the internet; links to a broad spectrum of Catholic views; and a glossary of religious terms (under the "Religion" subheading). See also the religions of the world: from an online text and course by Dr. Philip A. Pecorino.
    
    
  • Web Links: great collection of Catholic links on liturgy, saints, religious orders, Catholic media and organizations, etc.
    
    
  • The Online Catholic Almanac: Catholic news and events, glossary of terms, saints, Church history, the papacy, the college of cardinals and U.S. bishops
    
    
  • DrCatholic: links to information on abortion, angels, Church documents, death penalty, dogmas, euthanasia, evolution, God, Jesus, Mary, sacraments, saints, shroud of Turin, stigmata, suicide and Vatican II.
    
    
  • Catholic Goldmine: an idiosyncratic, but fairly comprehensive collection
    
    
  • Frequently asked questions about the Catholic Church: contains a nice Q & A format on major areas of Catholic belief and practice
    
    
  • The Catholic Internet Directory: a site featuring the top 40 most visited Catholic sites on the internet, Catholic diocesan web sites and e-mail directories, Catholic publications, Catholic organizations on the web, Christian service volunteer organizations, Catholic internet directories, religious orders, and catholic high schools and colleges on the web.
    
    
  • Catholic Online: major gateway to Catholic resources on the internet. This site also features news and current events relating to Catholicism.
    
    
  • The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion: Roman Catholicism Section: syllabi and teaching resources, electronic texts and journals, a guide to internet resources, bibliographies, and liturgical resources. See also the homepage for The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion which contains a great collection of resources.
    
    
  • Catholic-USA.com: This site has links to the Vatican, National Council of Catholic bishops, online dioceses and parishes, all Catholic colleges in the United States and many high schools and grade schools, male and female religious orders, Catholic news agencies and organizations.
    
    
  • Chester's Catholic Index: an extensive (and eclectic) list of Catholic links, arranged alphabetically
    
    
  • Resources for Catholic Educators: over 2300 links in an alphabetic listing of topics geared towards catechists.
    
    
  • Other Catholic Resources on the Net: billed as the largest index of Catholic sites on the web, this site features information on art & architecture, the Bible, online Catholic books and periodicals, Church teachings, reference resources, saints, college student organizations around the country, and traditional sites featuring Latin prayers and the Latin mass
    
    
  • Traditional Catholic Reflections and Reports: News, opinion and information with an emphasis on spirituality and social justice
    
    
  • Catholic Worship: a site devoted to the Catholic liturgy, with information on rites, prayers, sacraments, and music
    
    
  • The Catholic Democracy Project: an organization dedicated to educating Catholics about the fullness of Catholic Social Teaching. Their Catholic Media Report features news relating to social justice issues and a variety of links to particular topics.
    
    
  • ZENIT: an international news agency whose mission is to provide objective coverage of events, documents and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church
    
    
  • The Radical Catholic Page: Catholic views from the left on liberation theology; "The Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Catholic Handbook" (discussions of homosexuality in the Bible and in the Catholic theological tradition, including the 1997 U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Always Our Children--on the topic of the Catholic tradition and homosexuality, see also Hope College Libraries Perspectives on Sexual Orientation, the excellent Homosexuality and Catholicism: A Partially Annotated Bibliography, and "What the Church has to say about homosexuality" in the Summer, 2004 Notre Dame Magazine); women priests; the death penalty; and links to other radical Catholic sources. This site also features extensive links to social justice issues.
    
    
  • The Catholic Worker Homepage: not an online version of The Catholic Worker, but rather an 'unofficial' collection of links to issues relating to this periodical and its heritage Æ ’ 'links to Catholic Worker houses around the world, links to writings by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and other WWW resources for Catholic workers
    
    
  • The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church: a group seeking to promote justice in the Church and an egalitarian understanding of what it means to be the People of God. This site also contains numerous links to sites relating to justice in the Church.
    
    
  • Academic Info: Christianity: meta-indexes and general directories, reference resources, online texts and archives, Christian thinkers and theologians, and a lot more.
    
    
  • Fidens Quarens Internetum: information and online works by notable Christian theologians like Augustine and Aquinas (and many others)
    
    
  • Ask-a-priest: e-mail your questions about the faith
    
    
  • Catholic Answers: questions and discussion about official Church teachings regarding such topics as God, creation, revelation, sin, salvation, eschatology, the Church, saints, sacraments, and morality
  
  
  
• Catholic hierarchy information and writings
  
  
  • The Vatican Home Page: information about the pope, along with online versions of his major writings; and a wealth of other background about the Vatican, including the Roman Curia, the Vatican News Service, the Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Archives.
    
    
  • The Church and the Internet: A 2002 document from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications which assesses the positive and negative contributions of the internet for both Church and world. A companion document entitled Ethics in Internet analyzes the ethical implications of this new form of communication. In his message for the 36th World Communications Day, Pope John Paul referred to the internet as "A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel."
    
    
  • Vatican Radio: news of the Holy See and real-audio hookup in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Swedish
    
    
  • The Sistine Chapel: an extended visual tour
    
    
  • The "Unofficial" Pope John Paul II Web Site: information about the pope, major writings, the doctrine of papal infallibility, links to other Catholic WWW sites. See also the online version of John Paul II's Crossing the Threshold of Hope.
    
    
  • The Complete List of Popes with their dates and a brief biography, and links to many of their important writings
    
    
  • Selected Papal Encyclicals and Pronouncements: organized by pope and by subject. See also Papal Encyclicals Online, which features an especially comprehensive list of writings by John Paul II's predecessors, The Magisterium: Encyclicals, Catechisms, and Papal Documents, and Church documents by subject: an alphabetical list of Latin titles along with the subject of the statement, and usually its author and date.
    
    
    • God is Love: the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI
    
    
    
  • Information on the institution of the Church: the online code of canon law, Catholic teaching on the papacy; a complete list of all the world's cardinals, with links to those with their own home pages; home pages to Catholic religious orders and dioceses in the United States
    
    The cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: a rich source with biographal information on all cardinals since 1900, documents on the origin and evolution of the Roman cardinalate, a photo gallery, and other links
    
    
  • The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church: current and historical information about bishops, cardinals, popes
    
    
  • The National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference Home Page: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) are organizations of the American Catholic hierarchy. This site contains the departments of the NCCB/USCC and recent events and publications from the U.S. Catholic Bishops.
    
    
  • Sexual Abuse Crisis
    
    
    • "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People": approved by the U.S. bishops in their June, 2002 meeting in Dallas
      
      
      • Revised norms: A joint commission of Vatican officials and U.S. Catholic bishops worked to revise the original charter in response to comments about it from Rome.
        
        
      • a side-by-side comparison of the June 2002 norms with the revised norms of October, 2002
        
        
      • Restore Trust: Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse: a comprehensive site from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops featuring history and documents relating to the sexual abuse crisis
      
      
      
    • Pope John Paul II's "Address to the Cardinals of the United States": from April 23, 2002
      
      
    • Voice of the Faithful: a lay-led, lay-initiated group founded in 2002 in response to the sexual abuse crisis, its motto is "Keep the Faith, Change the Church."
      
      
    • Clergy Abuse Tracker: a clearinghouse of stories from newspapers around the country pertaining to the sexual abuse scandal compiled through the Poynter Institute
      
      
    • Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People: the 2003 report on the compliance of the dioceses in the United States with the charter developed by the U.S. bishops at their 2002 meeting in Dallas. See also the reports by the National Review Board, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The former contains a national tally of the victims and abusers. The latter addresses the causes of the crisis. The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend was one of eight dioceses in the country to receive a special commendation for their compliance.
      
      
    • "Church Settlement Goes Beyond the Abused": a report from Louisville, Kentucky where the Church's payouts to victims of sexual abuse are effecting its ability to minister to the poor by depriving various social services of needed funds
  
  
  
• Significant Catholic documents of a general nature
  
  
  • The Documents of Vatican II: The Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II) was a series of meetings between the pope (first, John XXIII, and then Paul VI) and the world's Catholic bishops held from 1962-1965 in Rome which sought to re-evaluate or reappriase all aspects of the Catholic faith as they related to the modern world.
    
    
  • The online version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
  
  
  
  • Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
    
    
  • The Code of Canon Law: the juridical law of the Roman Catholic Church, canon law is the body of regulations made by Catholic ecclesiastical authority for the government of the Church and its members

• America: a weekly magazine published by Jesuits in the United States for thinking Catholics and those who want to know what Catholics are thinking
  
  
• Commonweal: the online version of this independent review of public affairs, religion, literature, and the arts. This site also contains a helpful index of past issues of Commonweal.
  
  
• The National Catholic Reporter: the online version of a weekly independent, lay-edited Catholic newspaper. If you want to keep up with current events in the Church and in the world as they relate to the Church, this is the best place to look.



• The Tablet: a Catholic weekly from the United Kingdom
  
  
• The Thomist: a speculative quarterly review centered around the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas
  
  
• U.S. Catholic: the online version of the monthly Catholic magazine
  
  
• First Things: A Journal of Religion and Public Life
  
  
• Our Sunday Visitor: updates on moral issues, Catholic teaching on a variety of issues, and an online Catholic almanac
  
  
• Today's Catholic: a publication of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend
  
  
• Catholic periodicals and newspapers: assorted links to several periodicals, along with diocesan newspapers

• Crosswalk: Here is the entire Bible online in the Revised Standard Version. Just select book and chapter.

• Search the entire Bible for any word. Every passage where that word appears will show up. Or, just type in a particular citation under "Passage," select "Look Up," and that portion of the Bible will appear.

• All-in-one Biblical Resource: Search the Bible in many versions and languages.

• Biblenotes: a summary of each book of the Bible

• World Wide Study Bible: an attempt to organize all the Bible-related resources on the web. This site features both text and commentary on all the books in the Bible.

• Goshen Net Bible Study: multi-translation concordance, Bible dictionary, dictionary of names in the Bible, Greek and Hebrew lexicon

• The Synoptic Gospels: View the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John side-by-side

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• What is a search engine?: a good introduction with helpful explanations. See also WWW Search Engines, which offers a brief description of (and links to) all of the major search engines, with hints on how to use each one. Meta-Search Engines search more than one search engine at a time. Here is a coll ection of several of the best.
  
  
• The Best Search Engines: descriptions and search tips for operating a wide variety of search engines
  
  
• Variety search engine: Comprehensive search engine, geographical directory with yellow pages and people search
  
  
• Google: probably the best search engine around
  
  
• Alta Vista: an oldie but still a goodie
  
  
  
  
• Wisenut: perhaps a bit more comprehensive than Google, but also a tad slower. It works like Google does by organizing results according to how many other pages are linked to the site you're looking for.
  
  
• alltheweb.com: scours 200 million web pages, most of the time in under a second
  
  
• Ixquick: a metasearch engine with hunts through 14 different search engines at once and ranks the results according to how many times they appear in each one's top 10 results
  
  
• Jux2: another good metasearch engine which pulls together results from Google, Yahoo, etc.
  
  
• Vivisimo: a clustering search engine which automatically groups search results into categories
  
  
• SearchOnline.com: another metasearch engine, and one of the newer ones
  
  
• Northern Light: Northern Light uses artificial intelligence software to divide your results into separate categories to help refine your search.
  
  
• GoTo.Com: searching made simple
  
  
• Ask Jeeves: a very helpful service which allows you to put your question into plain English. You'll receive a response listing places on the web where you can go to find the answer.
  
  
• AskMeHelpDesk: ask real people real questions
  
  
• All-In-One: a meta-search form and collection of an enormous number of search forms
  
  
• All of the known Internet Search Engines collected in one place

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• News and current events
  
  
  • The Catholic News Service: the oldest and largest news wire service specializing in reporting on religion, the Catholic News Service is the the primary source of national and world news that appears in the U.S. Catholic press. It is also a leading source of news for Catholic print and broadcast media throughout the world.
    
    
  • Catholic World News: good, up-to-date source for news relating to Catholicism
    
    
  • Goshen Net: news and current events in the world of religion with excellent archives for searching past news stories
    
    
  • Religion News Service: news from the world of religion culled from a variety of sources
    
    
  • Newshub: the top news stories of the day, updated every 15 minutes
    
    
  • CNN Interactive
    
    
  • ABC News
    
    
    
    • Nightline: complete transcripts of recent shows, along with video clips and other resources
    
    
    
  • CBS News
    
    
  • MSNBC News
    
    
  • PBS Online
    
    
  • Time Magazine Online
    
    
  • Newsweek Online
    
    
  • U.S. News & World Report Online
    
    
  • USA Today Online
    
    
  • New York Times Online: free subscription and "All the News that's Fit to Print"
    
    
  • Washington Post: great national coverage, links to the AP newswire and to online newspapers in each state
    
    
  • Online United States Newspapers
    
    
  • Snap: extensive links to newspapers and other online news sources, arts and humanities, weather, sports, etc.
    
    
  • Broadcast.com: real audio from radio stations around the world; including the BBC World Service, CNN, local TV stations, news & talk radio
  
  
  
• General reference
  
  
  • Miscellaneous Subjects
    
    
    • Reference Desk: billed at "the single best source of facts on the net," it probably is.
      
      
    • The Online Encyclopedia Britannica
      
      
    • The Online Columbia Encyclopedia
      
      
    • The Internet Public Library: reference collection, along with online newspapers, magazines and texts
      
      
    • Information Please: encyclopedia, almanac, and dictionary all in one
      
      
    • 1Up Info - Encyclopedia & Reference Resource: Browse articles in all areas of topics within Earth & Environment, History, Literature & Arts, Health & Medicine, People, Philosophy & Religion, Places, Plants & Animals, Science & Technology, Social Science, Law, Sports, and more.
      
      
    • Homework Central Reference Collection: dozens of dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias
      
      
    • LibrarySpot: designed to help locate library and reference information on the internet. The site is a gateway to other libraries, extensive reference information, and online books and magazines.
      
      
    • Librarian's Index to the Internet: a guide to just about everything online
      
      
    • GovSpot.com: an extremely comprehensive site featuring information on all branches of government at the state and national levels
      
      
    • Firstgov.com: good source of links to most areas of federal, state, and local government
      
      
    • FedStats: all the latest statistics at the federal and state levels
      
      
    • FindLaw.com: This site allows you to find every online state and federal court decision.
      
      
    • ChooseLaw: a wealth of legal information, including general law resources, business law resources, and various resources for law students and those aspiring to study law
    
    
    
  • Religion
    
    
    • The Catholic Encyclopedia: not a recent version, certainly, but still helpful for many entries
      
      
    • Religious and theological glossaries
      
      
      • Glossary of Religious Terms
        
        
      • Online dictionary from Beliefnet.com: a great comprehensive resource
        
        
      • Glossary of Theological Terms
        
        
      • Glossary for the Study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
        
        
      • Glossary of Christian Terms
        
        
      • Foundations: an online glossary for beginning theologians, created by undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame
        
        Glossary to terms in ethics
      
      
      
    • Information on Other Religions and Christian Denominations
      
      
      • Homework Central's Religion Resources: explanations of various faiths and theologies; along with reference sources, religions by location, interreligious studies, religion research tools
        
        
      • The Theology Library on other Christian denominations and non-Christian religions: descriptions of non-Catholic Christian denominations (including the First Church of Cyberspace, which offers online worship every Sunday evening at 9:00 PM E.S.T.), non-Christian religions, and other religions and belief systems
        
        
      • Resources on other religions from the Pluralism Project of Harvard University
        
        
      • Guide to Resources in Theology: Anglican resources, Catholic resources, Evangelical and Ecumenical resources, Orthodox resources, Protestant resources, along with links to various sacred texts and manuscripts
        
        
      • Links to religion resources: information on the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, as well as Eastern traditions
        
        
      • Religion Depot: discussion forums, artwork, quotations from and information on Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism. There's also a good section on the meaning of life.
        
        
      • Beliefnet.com: a site exploring religion, spirituality, and morality, with a good bit of information on other religions as well featuring online versions of different faiths' sacred texts, some interactive quizzes, and information about various forms of spirituality. See also sacred texts of the world's religions.
        
        
      • Brief summaries of world religions: about a paragraph on each major religion
        
        
      • Statistical and geographical information on the religions of the world packed with interesting information
        
        
      • The Religious Movements Homepage at the University of Virginia: a site "dedicated to the study of religious movements on the web and in the world"
        
        
      • Sacred and Religious Texts: excellent resource with links to sacred texts from many world religions
    
    
    
  • Language and Writing
    
    
    • Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus: a wonderful online resource
      
      
    • OneLook Dictionaries: searches 625 online dictionaries at once
      
      
    • Roget's Thesaurus
      
      
    • Grammar Resources: lots of help for writers. This site includes a grammar handbook, an online style checker, rules for punctuation, Strunk's Elements of Style, and many other useful links.
      
      
    • Style Manuals and Citation Guides: MLA, APA, Strunk's
      
      
    • How to Footnote Electronic Sources: See also Citing the Internet, MLA Style of Citation or APA Style of Citation.
    
    
    
  • Resources on computing and the internet
    
    
    • Starting Points for Web Explorers: help in using the web, frequently asked questions about the web, basic tutorial on the Internet and the WWW, other search and indexing resources
    
    
    
    • Tips for Evaluating Internet Resources: extensive bibliography to sources and tips for responsible use of world wide web resources
      
      
    • Computer terms and definitions
      
      
    • The Yale Hypertext Style Guide: excellent resource on creating and maintaining web pages
      
      
    • Web tools
      
      
      • Netscape Communicator
        
        
      • Internet Explorer 4.0
        
        
      • Adobe Acrobat Reader
        
        
      • RealPlayer

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Background on ethics and important ethical concepts
  
  
  
  • Ethics: annotated bibliography and links to notable concepts and writers in the field of ethics
  
  
  
  • What is Ethics?: a brief introduction
    
    
  • Introduction to Ethical Systems: a clever and informative background on different ways of doing ethics and thinking about morality, with lots of examples and illustrations
    
    
  • Ethical theory: good background on various components of contemporary ethical theory. This site is intended to provide updates on current literature, both popular and professional, that relates to ethics.
    
    
  • Glossary of ethical terms
    
    
  • Ethical theory and applied ethics
    
    
  • Relativism: a description of what ethical relativism is and some criticisms
    
    
  • Consequentialism: a good description of consequentialism (or utilitarianism, as it's sometimes called)
    
    
  • Natural Law: a good description and explanation of what natural law is, especially as it relates to sexual matters. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy definition of natural law is also available.
    
    
  • The Principle of Double Effect: This moral concept distinguishes between directly and indirectly intended actions and is significant for many aspects of Catholic teaching, especially that on abortion and other medical issues.
    
    
    • An interesting application of double effect to a tragic case concerns the conjoined twins born in England on August 8, 2000. See especially the comments of Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and the ruling of the court who denied the appeal of the parents not to separate Mary and Jodie. Read about the results of the surgery.
    
    
    
  • Moral Argument and Divine Command Theory: lots of good links to full-text articles about various areas relating to morality and God
    
    Background on religion and morality
    
    
  • Bioethics for Beginners: a site from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics which explains what bioethics is and how it it studied
    
    
  • A site containing excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on morality and moral issues, an annotated list of the 7 deadly sins, a directory to ethics sites on the WWW, morality and conscience
  
  
  
• Background on Christian ethics
  
  
  • "The Indispensability of Theological Meta-ethical Foundations for Morality": a lecture by William L. Craig which very coherently sets out why morality can be nothing more than subjective opinion without the existence of God.
    
    
  • The Nature of Christian Ethics: This excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes ethics from within a Christian worldview and gives special attention to the human vocation to beatitude (heaven) and how the purpose of life affects Christian ethics (see especially #1729ff.).
    
    
  • The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor): a 1993 encyclical by Pope John Paul II, which features a strong critique of ethical relativism from the perspective of a Christian worldview
    
    
  • The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae): a 1995 encyclical by Pope John Paul II, which does an excellent job of showing how ethics becomes Christian when God is brought in as the "definitive goal," the "final end," and the "very purpose of life."
    
    
  • Faith and Reason (Fides et Ratio): a 1998 encyclical by Pope John Paul II in which he affirms the existence of absolute truth and explains the relationship between faith and reason and the need each has for the other

• Catholic teaching and background to it
  
  
  • Birth Control and the Catholic Church: a very complete site on most aspects of this issue. It features a short history of Catholic teachings on birth control, an explanation of Church teaching, natural law and human sexuality, a comparison between natural family planning and artificial contraception, a discussion about whether the present teaching can be changed, letters about the Church's official teaching, and a list of further links and references.
    
    • "What the Church Has to Say" by John Monczunski: a good primer to Catholic teaching on homosexuality
    
    
    
  • "What are the Benefits of Practicing NFP?": a list from the Natural Family Planning information Site
    
    
  • Early Catholic views on birth control: statements on contraception from notable sources in early Christian history
    
    
  • Casti Connubii: the 1930 encyclical by Pope Pius XI, which sets the stage for Humanae Vitae and for approval of natural family planning by affirming the mo rality of sexual intercourse during times of diminished or absent fertility
    
    
  • Humanae Vitae: the 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI on birth control.
    
    
  • "Responses to Questions Proposed Concerning 'Uterine Isolation' and Related Matters": a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which essentially presents the Church's conclusions on the Principle of Double Effect as it relates to abortion
    
    
  • "Ideals Collide as Vatican Rethinks Condom Ban": concerning a forthcoming document in which the Church will address whether condoms are permissible for a married heterosexual couple one of whom is HIV-positive
    
    
  • Marcella Alsan, MD., "The Church and AIDS in Africa": an excellent essay about what really is a culture of life where condom use for AIDS is concerned
    
    
  • the role of religion in the FDA's decision to require a prescription for the Plan B contraceptive
    
    "Catholic Hospitals to Follow Plan B Law": A 2007 state law in Connecticut requires hospitals to administer emergency contraception to all rape victims. The Catholic Bishops of Connecticut and leaders of the Catholic hospitals said in a joint statement "since the teaching authority of the church has not definitively resolved this matter and since there is serious doubt about how Plan B pills work," the hospitals will be allowed to provide Plan B to rape victims without first requiring ovulation tests. Nonetheless, there are concerns that Plan B may be abortifacient.
    
    
  • Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics: a 1975 statement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that reaffirmed the ban on artificial contraception
    
    
  • The Catholic Church and sexuality: a brief background
  
  
  
  • "Ethical Treatment after Rape": an essay by Fr. William Saunders which outlines the Church's moral teaching about the treatment of a woman who has been raped
    
    
  • "It's time to end the hypocrisy on birth control": an essay by Kathy Coffey from the June 1998 issue of U.S. Catholic, which features several useful links to Catholic teaching on birth control
    
    
  • "Pope Paul VI as prophet: Have Humanae Vitae's bold predictions come true?": an essay by Janet Smith
    
    
  • "The Truth of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae" by Karol Wojtyla: a statement from 1969 by the future pope
    
    
  • Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body
  
  
  
• Background on contraception
  
  
  • Natural Family Planning Information Site: introduction to, and effectiveness of methods of natural family planning. See also the Chicago Couple to Couple League for educational information about natural family planning and the Ovulation Calendar Pro, natural family planning software for helping couples chart ovulation. Lady Timer claims to be "your personal menstrual cycle alarm clock" and will send you a notice on your cellphone to track your most fertile days.
    
    
  • How do birth control pills work?
    
    
  • Ultimate Birth Control Links Page
    
    
  • "Contraceptive Confusion": profiles contemporary contraceptive choices, including benefits and risks of different methods
    
    
  • Emergency contraception: a site of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University designed to provide information derived from the medical literature about methods of preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex. See also frequently asked questions about emergency contraception.
    
    
  • Emergency pregnancy counseling centers

  
  
  
  

• Church teaching on conscience and dissent
  
  
  • Vatican II on conscience: This link is to the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Once at this site, see Paragraph #16 for the teaching on conscience.
    
    
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church on moral conscience
    
    
  • What Kind of Catholic are You?: an interactive quiz
    
    
  • Bishop Thomas Gumbleton on the primacy of conscience: He discusses this in relation to homosexuality, but the points he makes are valid for all moral issues.
    
    
  • "An Inconvenient Conscience" by George Cardinal Pell: Disagreement with Catholic teaching, says Cardinal Pell, is a first step and not a last one, because "a Catholic conscience cannot accept a settled position against the Church, at least on a central moral teaching."
    
    
  • Ad Tuendam Fidem: an apostolic letter issued on June 30, 1998 by Pope John Paul II "TO PROTECT THE FAITH of the Catholic Church against errors arising from certain members of the Christian faithful," it revised the Code of Canon Law by adding "new norms which expressly impose the obligation of upholding truths proposed in a definitive way by the Magisterium of the Church, and which also establish related canonical sanctions." This letter was directed primarily towards theologians and teachers of theology.
  
  
  
• Dissent in the Church: background and some cases
  
  
  • Syllabus of Papal & Magisterial Error: a compendium of mistakes, both moral and theological, from popes and official Catholic teaching sources
    
    
  • Can the Teaching [of Humanae Vitae] Be Changed?: a discussion which applies mostly to birth control, but raises the wider issues about how Church teaching can be changed and when it has changed in the past
    
    
  • "Confession of Sins and Asking for Forgiveness": a prayer from Pope John Paul II on March 12, 2000 asking for forgiveness on behalf of those in the Church who have sinned in the service of truth, harmed the unity of the body of Christ, wounded the people of Israel, and violated the dignity of women and the fundamental rights of the person
    
    
  • "Who Says the Church Can't Change?": an article by Christine Gudorf from the July 1998 U.S. Catholic
    
    
  • "Silencing No Safeguard of Truth": excellent essay from July, 2001 National Catholic Reporter by Sr. Jeannine Gramick which brings the aggiornamentio worldview of Vatican II into conversation with modern efforts to silence theologians and religious
    
    
  • 'Can Catholics Disagree with the Pope?': various responses to a heartfelt letter written by someone interested in becoming Catholic
    
    
  • The Virtual Diocese of Partenia: In 1995, outspoken Bishop Jacques Gaillot was exiled by Pope John Paul II from his diocese in Evreux, France to Partenia, Africa, a place with much sand and few people. Since then, he has set up his own 'virtual' diocese over the internet, a place with little sand and many people. As bishop of Evreux, Gaillot openly supported women priests, a married clergy, the acceptance of homosexuals, and greater voice for the laity in church decisions. This site contains Bishop Gaillot's farewell homily to his congregation in France, as well as more recent writings on a variety of subjects. You can even e-mail Bishop Gaillot.
    
    
    
    
  • The excommunication of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya: the text of the 1997 Vatican decree of excommunication of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya, 72, of Sri Lanka because of his views on papal infallibility, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the dogma of original sin, and baptism. In January 1998, this excommunication was rescinded following six days of negotiations.
    
    
  • Fr. Richard McCormick disinvited in New Orleans: Fr. McCormick was to deliver a lecture in New Orleans in January, 1997, having been invited by Notre Dame alumni in that region. The alumni were then warned by New Orleans Archbishop Francis Schulte that some people might be offended if McCormick spoke. The lecture was then precipitously cancelled. This site contains an exchange of letters on this sequence of events.

• Church teaching and Catholic perspectives on abortion
  
  
  • The 1973 Vatican Declaration on Abortion
    
    
    • The Didache: thought to be the oldest surviving piece of non-canonical literature (c. 60-100 AD), it was basically a handbook for new Christian converts. The Vatican Declaration on Abortion draws on the Didache when discussing Church tradition on abortion. The important section from the Didache is 2.2.
    
    
    
  • Papal and episcopal statements about abortion: various collected statements from pope and bishops about abortion
    
    
  • Catholic teachings on abortion: links to an overview, papal encyclicals and statements, and teachings from various Catholic bishops
    
    
  • Canon Law and Abortion: the law of the Church as it relates to abortion
    
    
  • A site containing selected statements on abortion from both Catholic and non-Catholic Christian sources, a brief history of abortion in the Catholic Church's tradition, polling statistics relating to Catholic views on abortion
    
    
  • "The Ultimate Pro-Life Resources List"
    
    
  • Silent No More Awareness Campaign: a campaign whereby Christians seek to make the public aware of the effects of abortion on women and men. The campaign seeks to expose and heal the secrecy and silence surrounding the emotional and physical pain of abortion. The Campaign is a project of Priests for Life.
    
    
  • Abortionfacts.com: a pro-life site with extensive links to national and regional groups who assist those with unwanted pregnancies, and an extensive directory to right to life organizations. See also this related site.
    
    
  • Abortion fact sheet (from 2002). You might also consult, if you wish, U.S. abortion data, which gives information on the timing of abortions; as well as the age, race, and religion of those women receiving them.
    
    
  • Different abortion procedures
    
    
  • "Ethical Treatment after Rape": an essay by Fr. William Saunders which outlines the Church's moral teaching about the treatment of a woman who has been raped
    
    
  • PBS Frontline documentary, The Abortion Clinic. See also the Frontline documentary from 2005, The Last Abortion Clinic. Both of these may be watched online.
    
    
  • Catholics for a Free Choice: the home page of a pro-choice Catholic group. See also the 1993 Statement by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on Catholics for a Free Choice.
    
    
    • The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: an organization based in Washington, D.C. which affirms that it is both pro-faith and pro-choice. A helpful part of this site is its collection of official position statements on choice from U.S. religious groups.
    
    
    
  • "The Theology of Abortion": a brief history of Catholic views of abortion, and how both of the main sides in the abortion debate site Scripture to support their positions
    
    
  • Hope After Abortion: a description of the Church's Project Rachel, articles on the psycho-social consequences of abortion, and first-person accounts from women who have had abortions
    
    
  • Abortion and Catholic Politicians
    
    
    • The Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics: a statement by the U.S. Catholic bishops from November, 1998, in which they discussed the role and responsibilities of the Catholic politician in the issue of abortion
      
      
    • U.S. Catholic Dioceses' positions on pro-choice Catholic politicians: a diocese-by-diocese rundown of positions, public statements, and so on
      
      
    • Catholics in Political Life a 2004 statement from the U.S. conference of Catholic bishops that allows individual bishops to deny communion to politicians who support abortion
      
      
    • Letter from Catholic politicians about denying communion: This letter was sent to Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, D.C. by 48 Catholic House members.
      
      
    • "Doctrinal Note on the Participation of Catholics in Political Life": from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (January, 2003). You can also view a synopsis of this document.
      
      
    • Governor Mario Cuomo, "Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor's Perspective"
      
      
    • "Catholics, Politics & Abortion: My Argument with Mario Cuomo": an essay by Kenneth Woodward from the September 24, 2004 Commonweal. See also Mario Cuomo's "Persuade or Coerce? A Response to Kenneth Woodward".
      
      
    • "Religion on the Stump: Politics and Faith in America": a debate between Mario Cuomo and Mark Souder sponsored by the PEW forum. See also the "One Electorate Under God" talks.
      
      
    • February, 2006 statement by 55 Catholic Democrats in the US House of Representatives expresses the commitment to the dignity of life and belief that government has 'moral purpose.' A United States Council of Catholic Bishops Statement on "Responsibilities of Catholics in Public Life" (March, 2006) responds to this statement by the 55 House Members
      
      
    • Bishop John Myers's (formerly of Peoria, IL; and recently named bishop of Newark, NJ) essay on politicians and abortion. See also Bishop Myers's home page. Myers is also quoted in a story from Commonweal about denying pro-choice Catholic politicians communion. You may read his essay "A Time for Honesty", in which he argues for these eucharistic sanctions.
      
      
    • U.S. Catholic dioceses positions on pro-choice Catholic politicians: gives a run-down of dioceses and any statements made by the local ordinary about pro-choice Catholic politicians
      
      
    • "Catholics in Political Life": a statement from the U.S. conference of Catholic bishops that allows individual bishops to deny communion to politicians who support abortion
      
      
      
• Legal considerations
  
  
  • Roe v. Wade: the complete text of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case. You can also hear oral arguments from the case and read a summary of Roe and other important Supreme Court abortion decisions.
    
    
  • The United States Constitution. See especially the 14th Amendment, which plays a crucial part in the Roe v. Wade decision. You can also search the U.S. Constitution by typing in a word or phrase.
    
    
  • South Dakota outlaws all abortions except those needed to save the life of the mother. Here is the text of the bill, also known as the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act and an interview with South Dakota governor Mike Rounds, a Catholic, who signed it into law in 2006. A repeal initiative sought to overturn that law and was successful in the November 2006 elections. There's a good Q & A page about the South Dakota law.
    
    
  • The Ultimate Abortion Law Home Page: an excellent resource to the background and state of abortion law in America. You'll find U.S. Supreme Court cases here as well as the laws of the different states, federal law, canon (Church) law, etc., as well as abortion-related legal terms
    
    
  • Supreme Court decisions on abortion: from Roe v. Wade (1973) to Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)
    
    
  • Medicaid Funding for Abortion: a site from the American Civil Liberties Union which provides background to the public funding of abortion: information on Medicaid, the Hyde Amendment that limited medicaid funding for abortion, and current state practices relating to medicaid funding for abortion. See also a statement from the National Abortion Rights Action League on actions to restrict abortion coverage for rape and incest victims and a statement from Planned Parenthood on the need to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which it feels discriminates against women and makes abortion more difficult to obtain.
    
    
  • Planned Parenthood's 9 reasons why abortion should be legal
    
    
  • Violence against abortion doctors: a report profiling the case of abortion doctor, Barnett Slepian, who was murdered on October 23, 1998
    
    
  • The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (HR 1833): the complete text of the bill which was vetoed by President Clinton on April 10, 1996
  
  
  
• Background on abortion
  
  
  • Timeline on abortion: notable dates and events in the abortion debate in the United States
    
    
  • Internet links relating to abortion: a survey of and references to some of the more important essays on abortion, a very complete annotated bibliography to essays about significant aspects of the abortion issue, the complete 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, other Supreme Court decisions regarding abortion since 1990, texts of Humanae Vitae and The Gospel of Life, texts of the House bill banning partial-birth abortions, links to both pro-life and pro-choice sites
  
  
  
  • Abortion Questions and Answers: an excellent resource in a very helpful Q & A format. There's a good explanation of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, information on fetal development, abortion facts and figures, abortion procedures, and a thorough exploration of the topic of illegal abortions.
    
    
  • background on ectopic pregnancies
    
    
  • Personhood: a nice discussion of this crucial issue with a good analysis of different views
    
    
    • "Is the Embryo a Person? Arguing with the Catholic Traditions": a good article comparing the immediate hominization views of official Catholic teaching with other views from the Catholic tradition, most notably Thomas Aquinas's view that the fetus doesn't become a person until some time after conception
      
      
    • "Distinctly Human: The When, Where, and How of Life's Beginnings": an essay by John Collins Harvey, M.D., which gets into the biology of developing fetal life
      
      
    • Abortion & Ethics: extensive resources, including a bibliography, to political, theological, and legal issues pertaining to abortion
      
      
    • Prof. Peter Singer of Princeton University
      
      
      • Letter to the Princeton community by President Harold Shapiro explaining Singer's hiring
      • Utilitarian Philosophers
      
      
      
    • "Abuse Laws Cover Fetus, a High Court Rules": the story of Cornelia Whitner who was arrested and jailed for child abuse after her baby was born with traces of cocaine in its system. The Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld the verdict, which was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. This site also has lots of links about the prosecution of women for child abuse against the unborn. See also the story of a woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of her fetus.
      
      
      • The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Whitner's case:
    
    
    
  • Feminists for Life of America: the home page of a pro-life feminist group
    
    
  • Religion and choice: articles defending the woman's right to choose from within a theological perspective. There's also a collection of statements by various religious groups defending the right to choose.
    
    
  • Abortion, Adoption, and Surrogacy: This site from the New York Online Access to Health (= NOAH) has some interesting links on abortion (from a largely pro-choice perspective) along with many resources on adoption. See also About Adoptions for comprehensive access to adoption related news, books and web resources
    
    
  • Reproductive Health and Rights Center: a pro-choice, abortion rights site
  
  
  
  • "Who owns your organs?": The strange case of Peter Lucia raises all sorts of interesting questions about whether we can do whatever we want with our own body.
    
    
  • Abortion Bibliography: good collection of articles on abortion (many of them fairly recent) from a variety of perspectives on abortion
    
    
  • Hard Choices: women tell why they had abortions. This site also features information and statistics on who's having abortions, when women are having them, and why.
    
    
  • Second Look Project has information about fetal development and other statistics on abortion.
    
    
  • Abortion in other countries: the state of abortion law and practice in the United Kingdom, Nambia, Bulgaria, South Korea, Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Columbia. See also abortion in Brazil, China, Germany, India, and Nigeria.
  
  
  
• Recent developments
  
  
  • Partial-Birth Abortion: excellent background on the procedure, why and when it's usually performed, and different views of its morality. See also late-term abortions for more on partial-birth abortions, the legal issues surrounding them, and one woman's personal experience. In October, 1999, the United States Senate by a vote of 63-34 voted to ban the procedure.
    
    
    • Supreme Court strikes down Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortions: In a ruling from late June, 2000, the court by a 5-4 majority overturned a Nebraska law which prohibited partial-birth abortions. Nebraska was one of 30 states which had banned partial-birth abortions, but its law went further than most by not containing an exception for the woman's health. On the side of the majority were Justices Breyer, Stevens, O'Connor, Souter, and Ginsburg. Justices Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy dissented. See a related story through the CNN website. You can also see the text of the Supreme Court's decision. In 2003, the federal partial-birth ban on abortion was enacted.
      
      Gonzalez v. Carhart: from April, 2007, the Court by a 5-4 majority overturned a federal district court's injunction against enforcing the 2003 federal partial-birth ban on abortion. This law was now deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.
      
      
    • The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act: Signed into law on August 5, 2002 by President Bush, this act amends the legal definition of "person" to include "every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive." This site features links to the text of the act, as well as background and reactions.
      
      
    • Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRIP) on partial-birth abortion bans: a good set of links on many of à ¢the legal aspects of partial-birth abortions
      
      
    • President Bush signs ban on partial birth abortion: November 5, 2003
    • U.S. Supreme Court upholds partial birth abortion ban on April 18, 2007
      
      
    • "Regulating Abortion: What Did the Roberts Court Do?": an essay by Cathy Kaveny about the Supreme Court's upholding the law banning partial-birth abortions
    
    
    
  • Fact sheet on RU-486: the French abortion pill. See also frequently asked questions about medical abortions at the website of the Population Council. This contains a description of mifepristone (RU-486) safety, use, and trials.
    
    
  • RU-486 approved by the FDA, September 2000: a Time magazine article from â € °October, 2000
    
    
  • the law's key provisions. On February 26, 2004, the House of Representatives voted in favor of this legislation. On April 6, 2004, President Bush signed it into law.

• Catholic teaching
  
  
  • The 1987 Vatican Declaration on Reproductive Technologies
    
    
  • Helping Childless Couples Conceive: an explanation of the Church's teaching about assisted reproduction, with a good statement of those issues that remain unresolved
    
    
  • "Do Married Couples Have a 'Right' to a Child?": a 1991 article by Prof. William E. May of Catholic University of America
    
    
  • Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Facilities: Part IV is entitled "Issues in Care for the Beginning of Life" and deals with reproductive technologies.
    
    
  • Human Destiny: a very helpful series of articles from the October 22, 1999 National Catholic Reporter
    
    
  • "Unnatural Selection: How biotechnology is redesigning humanity": good article from the January 2000 edition of U.S. Catholic discussing stem-cell research, cloning, and germline therapy in light of Catholic moral principles
    
    
  • The Catholic Church and Surrogate Motherhood: a brief overview of Catholic teaching as it pertains to surrogacy. This article is offered as a service of the American Surrogacy Center of Atlanta, GA, to assist Catholic couples seeking surrogacy arrangements.
  
  
  
• Procedures and background on reproductive technologies
  
  
  • FertileThoughts: Infertility Resources: an extensive site featuring resources developed by infertility patients, websites of reproductive endocrinologists and infertility clinics, descriptions of various assisted reproduction procedures, adoption information, insurance information, and legal resources
    
    
  • Tubal ligation reversal: an outpatient procedure to reverse tubal ligation that would allow women to become pregnant naturally rather than undergo procedures like in vitro fertilization
    
    
  • "Inconceivable: the Spriritual Test of Infertility" by Heidi Schlumpf: discusses the difficulties faced by couples unable to conceive on their own
    
    
  • "Uterus Transplant Faces Technical, Ethical Hurdles
    
    
  • Womb transplants could become reality. The world's first was in 2002 in London.
    
    
  • the story of Kelly Romenskos, a Wisconsin Catholic woman who was fired from her teaching job at a Catholic school after she announced that her child was conceived through in vitro fertilization
    
    
  • Resolve: The National Infertility Association
    
    
  • "The Spiritual Test of Infertility": an article from the January 2006 edition of U.S. Catholic
    
    
  • NaPro Technology uses natural family planning techniques to help diagnose and treat infertility.
    
    
  • Fertility alerts through cell phone
    
    
  • Making Babies: a Frontline special from PBS. This site contains a glossary of procedures, a transcript of the program, interviews with fertility specialists and bioethicists, links and additional readings, and an online quiz to test your knowledge of reproductive technologies.
    
    
  • InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination (INCIID): a nonprofit organization committed to providing the most current information regarding the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infertility. INCIID is the largest infertility advocacy site on the internet. Their home page features fact sheets, directories and the latest news about treatments for infertility.
    
    
  • Reproductive Technologies and Bioethics: internet resources and an annotated bibliography; extensive links on cloning, bioethical institutes, post-menopausal women becoming pregnant, and Pope John Paul II on genetic engineering
    
    
  • A glossary of terms associated with reproductive technologies
    
    
  • Infertility Procedures: a good and concise description of GIFT, ZIFT, ICSI, Artificial Insemination/IUI from the Midwest Fertility Center
    
    
  • In Vitro Fertilization: good background and description of IVF
    
    
    • In Vitro Fertilization Cryopreservation Permit: a form from the Atlanta Reproductive Health Centre that would allow spare embryos from IVF procedures to be frozen for later use
    
    
    
  • G.I.F.T.: background and details on Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer and links to other infertility resources. See also the nice essay by John F. Wagner from January 1999 entitled "Reproductive Technology: A GIFT for Catholics?" which does a good job explaining the G.I.F.T. procedure and providing pro and con views about its morality from a Catholic perspective.
    
    
  • Frozen Eggs: On October 16, 1997, for the first time in the United States, babies were born from eggs that were frozen--and then thawed--before they were fertilized. While it had been routine to freeze entire embryos, eggs had been considered too fragile to survive the freezing and thawing process. See also the story of a baby born from 21-year old frozen sperm.
    
    
  • Bringing eggs to maturity of young cancer patient prior to freezing them
    
    
  • Ovary freezing to help women being treated for cancer
    
    
  • Ovary transplant between non-identical twins
    
    
  • Extend Fertility: a company formed, as the name implies, to extend women's fertility through egg freezing
    
    
  • a 66 year-old Romanian woman gives birth: She was the world's oldest woman to give birth until a 67 year-old Spanish woman gave birth to twins in December, 2006.
    
    
    
    
  • A woman has a baby after receiving a donated ovary from her identical twin.
    
    
  • Ovary transplant between non-identical twins
    
    Triplets born to a women with two wombs
    
    
  • Girl could give birth to her half sibling using eggs donated by her mother.
    
    
  • The family of a dead soldier can have his sperm to allow him to have children with a woman he never met. In another similar case, a woman has a baby with her dead Iraqi war soldier husband.
    
    
  • Genetic engineering: a description of the possibilities and the Pandora's Box attendant upon exploring them
    
    
  • Multiple Births
    
    
    • The McCaughey Septuplets: born to Bobbi McCaughey of Iowa on November 19, 1997. Fertility drugs helped to produce this pregnancy. This site contains a link to a photo album with pictures of each baby, along with the story of their birth.
      
      
    • Identical quadruplets born on May 25, 2005 to a Houston woman with no fertility drugs
      
      
    • The Fetal Reduction Procedure: This procedure, also called selective reduction, is sometimes performed when a woman is carrying too many fetuses for her to bear safely.
      
      
    • The rise in multiple births occasioned by reproductive technologies: a 1997 article from The Salt Lake Tribune
    
    
    
  • Sex Selection
    
    
    
    • "A Quandry That Isn't: Picking a Baby's Sex Won't Lead to Disaster": The author, a genetics professor at Princeton, argues that fears relating to sex selection are overblown. He also addresses the issue that sex selection violates nature.
      
      
    • Sex selection procedures from the Fertility Institutes of Los Angeles
      
      
    • Choose the sex of your baby
      
      
    • Selecting the sex of your child
    
    
    
  • Cloning
    
    
    • What the Church teaches about cloning: from Our Sunday Visitor
      
      
    • What's religion got to do with cloning?
    • "Cloning Human Beings"--Report of the National Bioethics Commission: charge from the president, background on cloning, moral and religious aspects
      
      
    • President Bush's Council on Bioethics rejects a complete ban on cloning but narrowly favors a 4-year moratorium on research cloning.
      
      
    • The Cloning Home Page: the original New York Times report on the cloning of Dolly, an introduction to the ethical issues surrounding cloning, divergent opinions (including one by Daniel Callahan) on cloning experiments, links to other web sites on cloning (including the complete text of the research paper originally published in Nature magazine describing this ground-breaking event). Click here for additional cloning resources.
      
      
    • South Korean researchers report major breakthrough in cloning a human embryo to harvest its stem cells: from February, 2004
      
      
      
      • South Korean University claims Dr. Hwang's research, which was initially billed as a major breakthrough in cloning a human embryo to harvest its stem cells was faked.
      
      
    • "The Perils of Cloning": an assessment from July, 2006 on the 10-year anniversary of the first cloned sheep
      
      
    • How is cloning done?: a brief animated explanation of cloning
      
      
    • Therapeutic cloning: a brief animated explanation of cloning embryos to produce human stem cells to treat other medical problems
      
      
    • Creating babies so that they could serve as stem-cell donors for sick brothers and sisters
      
      
    • "Scientists make human embryo clones": a story from January, 2008, about making cloned human embryos from skin cells in the attempt to derive stem cells
      
      
    • An interactive timeline of developments in cloning
      
      
    • Human cloning: 'One shouldn't do this': ethical objections to cloning
      
      
    • "Ban Stand": a persuasive essay by Leon Kass and Daniel Callahan for why so-called 'therapeutic cloning' would inevitably lead to reproductive cloning
      
      
    • Washington Post coverage of cloning: stories about cloning, the president's proposals about clonging, scenarios in which humans could be cloned, editorials about the ethics of human cloning
      
      
    • Frequently asked questions about human cloning
      
      
    • Interviews with various experts on how soon we will see human cloning
      
      
    • "Cloning is no way to operate a civilized society": an Observer column by Prof. Charles Rice from December 4, 2001
      
      
    • "The Case for Cloning Humans": features an explanation about cloning the dead
      
      
    • Human cloning: supermodels, sheep, genes: recent news and good background on cloning, with some of the possible benefits and applications, along with actual letters from people who want to be cloned
      
      
    • Clonaid: This company, affiliated with the Raelian movement and billing itself as "The First Human Cloning Company," offers to clone you for "as low as $200,000" and claims that "This service offers a fantastic opportunity to parents with fertility problems or homosexual couples to have a child cloned from one of them." In addition, for a $50,000 fee, Clonaid "will provide the sampling and safe storage of cells from a living child or from a beloved person in order to create a clone if the child dies of an incurable disease or through an accident. In the case of a genetic disease, the cells will be preserved until science can genetically repair it before recreating the child (or an adult)." In December, 2002, it issued an as-yet unconfirmed report that it had produced the world's first human clone baby.
      
      
    • "The Wisdom of Repugnance: a criticism of cloning by Dr. Leon Kass
      
      
    • The Potential for Abuse: some concerns about where we're headed, including the possibility of growing human clones for 'spare parts'. See also "Of Headless Mice ... and Men" which speaks of cloning human organ farms as 'the ultimate cloning horror.'
      
      
    • human cloning experiment via parthenogenesis a success
      
      
    • The American AMA opposes human cloning
      
      
    • "Many oppose human cloning": good article from October, 1999 National Catholic Reporter
      
      
    • Human Clones to Help Infertile Couples: In early January 1998, Dr. Richard Seed announced his intention to open up a clinic outside of Chicago with the intention of creating human clones for infertile couples. This site features that story, as well as related stories and links to other sites concerning cloning. There's a nice description of how cloning works, a video report with more on Dr. Seed and his intentions, and audio on President Clinton's reaction to Seed's proposal. Read more on the man who's been called "Cloning's Kevorkian".
      
      
    • Religious and Ethical Aspects of Cloning: includes the history of the developments related to cloning and a brief description of the biology behind it. See also the report of the Pontifical Academy for Life on cloning.
      
      
    • "Many Oppose Human Cloning": an October 22, 1999 article in the National Catholic Reporter that does an excellent job surveying the recent history of cloning while putting its ethical and theological issues in a helpful context
      
      
    • Christians for the Cloning of Jesus: Why wait for the Second Coming when you have the Shroud of Turin and a little DNA from the Savior?
      
      
    • The first cloning of pigs: A story from March 2000 in which 5 pigs were successfully cloned. Dr. Ron James of the lab in Scotland where the pigs were cloned foresees an end to the shortage of human organs for transplant: "We can now work with genetically modified pig cells, and use the cloning technology to make genetically modified pigs, which will ultimately provide organs which are compatible with humans."
      
      
    • State human cloning laws
  • Genetic Savings and Clone: For $50,000, they offered to clone your cat. GSC sponsored efforts to produce the first cat clone, named CopyCat(!). This company closed recently, and its previous website directs one to Viagen, which offers only tissue banking (no cloning) for cats and dogs; but it does clone livestock and horses.
  • "Of Mice and Men": the cloning of adult mice, first reported in July, 1998
  • President Bush presses the Senate to ban all cloning: a report from April, 2002.
    
    
  • State human cloning laws
  
  
  
• Stem Cells
  
  
  
  
  • What the Church teaches about the use of stem cells: from Our Sunday Visitor
    
    
  • Stem cells: Fact sheets and testimonies & letters to Congress: from a United States Council