I have bored all of you enough with stories - homilies- about my diabetes. Sometimes I think I may talk too much on that issue. But let me bore you one more time with a story about diabetes. And trust me, there is a point to this story.

As a child, every time that I would go back to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital for a diabetic check-up, Dr. Peden - a diabetic specialist - would always tell me the same thing. "It will not be long before there is a cure for this, so just hang in there."

Every 6 months, it seemed, when I would see her, she would tell me to, "just hang in there, a cure is just around the comer." She said this to give me hope, to give my mom hope that someday diabetes would be eradicated. But, after a while, though, she would say, "Just hang in there," and I would listen but not really believe her. I never thought a cure would be coming.

Like any chronic disease, like any disease, diabetes is a pain.

There are days when I do not feel well

There have been weekdays, when not feeling well, I have not been able to get up for weekday Mass; I am embarrassed at those days, even though the faithful at the Mass tell me they understand and not to worry about it. I am always grateful for their patience.

Having had diabetes for so long now, every time I go to the eye doctor, I worry, "Is this the visit when he tells me my eyes are bleeding and are not in good shape."

Every time I go to general practitioner, I worry, "Is this the visit when he tells me my kidneys are beginning to fail, my liver is in bad shape, my heart is showing signs of disease."

Occasionally, my foot will fall asleep and I worry if neuropathy is beginning

Fortunately, I have no diabetic complications in my life

Every time I get into the car to drive, I have to make sure I am feeling okay. There has been 2 times when I was involved in serious car accidents because of my health. Luckily, no one has ever been hurt.

I remember the pain that this disease caused my family. My brothers, when we were growing up, would ask my dad to drive to Dairy Queen for a malt or a sundae and we would not go because, at the time, I could not eat anything served at Dairy Queen. I felt bad for my brothers and I felt like I had done something to hurt them.

I recount the times when I did not feel well growing up and my mom saying that she wished she could have the disease and that I be free from it.

I do not bring this issue up to play a "martyr's role."

Would I love a cure for this disease? Absolutely! Would all of you love cures for diseases that either affect you directly or have pained your loved ones, pained your families. Absolutely! The pain of cancer, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, organ failure, Parkinson's Disease. Huntington's Disease, M.S., Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy. Who would not want a cure for these and many other diseases?

This brings me to a grave moral issue, which our society is faced with right now, and has become a political battleground. The moral issue is stem-cell research.

With President Reagan's death, and the highlight of his Alzheimer's disease, stem-cell research has become a national issue.

What is stem-cell research?

Every human body contains stem cells; they develop into the different kinds of cells that make up the organs of the human body. Stem cells are the basic building blocks for the cellular development of our bodies. Scientists believe, with harvesting these stem cells from humans, therapies can be developed for most of the diseases and debilities that afflict us. There are reports that in 10-15 years, stem cell therapies will be available. This is wonderful.

The Church is not opposed to stem cell research. Let me say this again! The Church is not opposed to stem cell research.

However, there are 2 ways for these important cellular building blocks call stem cells to be harvested:

1. Adult stem cell research: stem cells taken from the placenta and the umbilical cord at the birth of a child, from the adult brain, from bone marrow, from blood, from skin, from skeletal muscle. This is considered ethical practice.
2. Embryonic stem cell research: stem cells taken from human embryo's created, nurtured, and murdered to harvest the stem cells.

There is some thought that embryonic stem cells are believed to be easier to reproduce and manipulate in the laboratory. The moral and ethical problem with embryonic stem cell harvesting is that the human embryo must be destroyed. A human embryo - a living human being in its earliest stages of formation - would be intentionally killed for the sake of scientific experimentation.

And in each case, the church teaches that the destruction of human life is wrong, not matter its stage of development!

I have a cross. It is diabetes. The experience of disease - and I would think that all of us, in some way, have been touched by disease - is a heavy cross.

But I compare that cross with the weight of embracing a cure at the cost of an innocent life. That is a burden I am not willing to carry, that is a cross I am not willing to embrace. To know that my healing was at the expense of an innocent human life whose sole purpose in being created and nurtured was to be destroyed to have the stem-cells harvested, that is unacceptable to the Church. Life is then reduced to a commodity to be bought and sold.

A society must have some moral absolutes. Otherwise, everything becomes relative to the person's individual prejudice. The moral issues of our society: the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of the unborn, the sanctity of the aged, the sanctity of the poor. Their relevance is to be negotiated without those moral absolutes that must guide a society. Otherwise, society loses its high ground.

I have a tough time believing those who say they are so for enhancing the quality of life of any individual from AIDS or Alzheimer's or cancer or diabetes or whatever, when they are so unwilling the safeguard the quality of the life of an innocent being! Rather, I think this is all an attempt to keep that money train called abortion - and related fields - chugging along!

Stem cells can be obtained through abortion. Recently, I have been presented with the argument that if we are going to have abortion, at least some good can come from it in stem cell research. This argument reduces people to their usefulness.

Suppose someone kills a rich man for his money and invites you to share it. Should you do that?

You certainly could find uses for that money - paying your bills, rescuing your grandmother from poverty, and putting your kids through school.

Besides, the man already is dead and you had nothing to do with the killing. But, the morally correct answer still is clear. If you take the money, you approve the killing. That is why you refuse.

I would ask that this issue and so many others like it for which the Church is called, "out of touch with society." I would ask that we all review the Church's position. Let us not remain vincibly ignorant on this and other issues, like the marriage issue.

Finally, I refer to the end of the passage from Luke's Gospel for this weekend. Jesus reminds us all that actions that do not take into account the common good, respect for all, and love for life will result in death. Listen to Jesus' words:

But God said to him, "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?" Thus it will be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.