If participants had any doubts about who controls life — "Him or Us?" — going into the 2005 Diocesan Respect Life Conference, they should have had no doubts coming out.

Last Saturday’s conference held at St. Leo the Great Parish in Fairfax revolved around two pro-life speakers, one inspirational and one educational. Both spoke in their own ways about the importance of cherishing until natural death every human life that God creates, whether in the form of a human in a persistent vegetative state or the smallest of embryos.

Therese Bermpohl, assistant director of the Office for Family Life, introduced paralysis-survivor Kate Adamson and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Deputy Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities Richard Doerflinger to a gathering at St. Leo’s Parish Hall on a drizzly Saturday morning.

Bermpohl said the conference was "part of a diocesan-wide effort to educate people on medical issues." Adamson led off by relating her experiences with locked-in syndrome and the fierce battle for life that ensued after she suffered a severe double brainstem stroke in 1995 at the age of 33. Adamson was locked inside her body, understanding everything around her, but unable to communicate in any way.

"It’s like being in a glass coffin," she said. "I was screaming in my head, ‘don’t let me die, don’t starve me, I want to live.’"

Her slow road to recovery began with the simple act of blinking her eyes and continues with therapy to this day. Adamson’s miraculous recovery led to her acting as an advocate for others unable to speak for themselves — the most well-known being Terri Schiavo, who died in March after having her feeding tube removed.

Adamson stressed the value of every human being. "People are people regardless of their condition. They’re not dead until God says so," she said.

Adamson’s inspiring talk made way for Doerflinger’s matter-of-fact look at the ethics of stem-cell research. Using an educational approach, Doerflinger flipped through slide after slide of evidence that refuted the controversial — but very popular — method of using embryonic stem cells for research (thereby destroying the embryo in the process). According to the National Institutes of Health Web site, embryonic stem cells typically come from embryos four or five days after fertilization, while they are a "hollow microscopic ball of cells called the blastocyst." Adult stem cells are obtained from sources such as fat, bone marrow, blood, muscle and skin.

Doerflinger touched on cloning and in vitro fertilization — both of which the Catholic Church opposes — but focused mostly on dispelling the myth that embryonic stem cells are more effective at producing cures for diseases than the adult stem cells.

"Adult stem cells and other alternatives are much more promising" for research and the curing of diseases, Doerflinger said. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which disagreed with that statement in 1999, now agrees, saying that there is "new evidence that stem cells are present in far more tissues and organs than once thought, and that these cells are capable of developing into more kinds of cells than previously imagined."

One source rich in adult stem cells, Doerflinger said, is the umbilical cords that are discarded every day after childbirth. Studies show that these adult stem cells are effective in repairing tissue damaged by stroke, spinal cord injury, diabetes, heart damage and Parkinson’s disease, Doerflinger continued.

Also, he said, "there are more drawbacks to the use of embryonic stem cells than people once thought," adding that many of those cells can become cancerous (multiple sources can be found at www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/stemcell/obstacles51004.htm).

Responding to a question about the adoption of frozen embryos, labeled "snowflake babies," Doerflinger said the Church has not yet come out with a definitive stance on the sensitive subject.

"The rule of thumb is to study the issue prayerfully and go with the opinion that you find" to be correct, he said, adding that it is necessary to land on the side of the Church when it makes a decision.

So, if adult stem-cell research is really better than embryonic stem-cell research, why is there such a big push to study embryos?

Doerflinger said that scientists tend to stick together when they are told there is something they cannot do; even scientists who wouldn’t personally use embryonic stem cells for research typically support those who do out of principle. He added that a lot of scientists are also interested in the embryo itself — in studying genetic roots of disease and testing drugs. Thirdly, he said, the idea of embryonic stem-cell research was used to "get political clout." Scientists claimed these cells would be directly used to cure disease, which, Doerflinger said, was always an exaggeration to get political support of the patient groups.

Parishioners from all over the diocese attended the four-hour conference. Diane Miles from St. John Neumann Parish in Reston said she went "to find out where we as a Catholic community stand on all these issues." Dee Artim, a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Arlington, said she wanted to learn more about stem-cell research.

"It’s very important right now for us to know about it and to be able to discuss it," she said. "I think I’m getting the answers I wanted."

For more information go to www.stemcellresearch.org or www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/index.htm.