The level of knowledge of the majority of Catholic laity would have to rise to reach the level of abysmal. And that's a commentary on the level of teaching and preaching.
Exactly so. You ask the laity what it means to follow "Catholic teaching," and chances are real good that it means (a) don't have an abortion and (b) be nice to other people. End of story.
This article hits home because we have teenage twins in our parish who were conceived in a petri dish. I know this because their story was featured in a big article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution written to promote in-vitro fertilization. Not a word in the story about the Church's opposition to the whole business. I wonder if the parents even know.
"I think out "teachers and pastors" bear some of the blame for this. Has anybody ever, EVER heard a substantive sermon on Catholic sexual ethics? Even in passing? I figure I've got to about 5,000 Masses in my lifetime. I've heard NOTHING about John Paul II's magnificent "Theology of the Body," about 3 sermons which even mentioned abortion in passing (like a sentence or two: no real development or in-depth explanation), zero mention of contraception, and of course zero mention of IVF."
I have heard a few sermons mentioning abortion. I have heard NONE about in vitro.
Many embryos die in the in vitro process. Several are implanted with the understanding that some of them will not "take". Others are frozen and stored in case none of the embryos implant properly.
I know a couple who lost one embryo in the process and now they have more on ice. Since they don't intend to have more children - what is to become of the frozen embryos?
People think their right to have children supercedes the embryos' right to be born.