In Memoriam - Dr. Jérôme Lejeune
In our culture where the moral status of the embryo is being questioned and where Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) can now be diagnosed as early as the 9th or 10th week of pregnancy the threat to unborn children is tremendous. For Dr. Lejeune, however, the issue was clear. "Life begins at the instant that all the required and sufficient information is combined in order to define the new being. It therefore begins exactly at the instant that all the information brought by the spermatozoon is combined with the information contained in the ovum. As soon as the spermatozoon penetrates, the new entity begins its existence. Not as a theoretical human, but already an entity who we shall later call Peter, Paul or Mary." Dr. Lejeune was appointed the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life by Pope John Paul II in 1994. His cause for beatification has been suggested by Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, the President Emeritus of Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, who said of him that "he was a man of science who lived his Christian faith in his professional work heroically, showing his faith with a simplicity and joy, serving life with a full devotion and complete disinterest." Dr. Lejeune spoke at our Dallas Bishop's Workshop in 1987. His paper was titled "To Heal or to Kill - That is the Question." His legacy continues in the work of the Institut Jérôme Lejeune in Paris and through the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. Both remain committed to the mission of research, care and defense of those with genetic diseases, especially Down syndrome. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. |
