According to court documents obtained by the New York Post, Emma and Isabella are suing their Columbian-born actress mother, Sofia Vergara.
In an increasingly cynical and secular world, such a headline no longer surprises or shocks.
But add this bizarre piece to the story: Emma and Isabella are Vergara’s own frozen embryos.
In 2013, Vergara created and froze the embryos with her then-fiancé Nick Loeb, a businessman, in a California clinic through in-vitro fertilization. A contract between Vegara, then 40, and Loeb, then 37, stipulated that nothing could be done with the embryos without the consent of the other. The contract did not specify what would happen should the couple separate.
The recent lawsuit, filed in the State of Louisiana, argues that the embryos are being denied their inheritance of a trust in the state of Louisiana by not being allowed to be born. The State of Louisiana legally recognizes a fertilized egg as a "juridical person".
The lawsuit was brought forth on behalf of the unborn embryos. It does not name the father as Petitioner directly, but rather a trustee acting on behalf of the embryos as the plaintiff. The suit asks that the father receive full custody of the embryos so that they may be brought to term and allowed to receive their inheritance, which would cover health care and education expenses, among other things.
This is not the first time the couple have sued to determine the fate of their embryos.
In August 2014, Loeb unsuccessfully sued for full custody of the embryos under a pseudonym, hoping to keep the case private. At that time, he argued that his two frozen children had a right to live as he sought custody of the embryos in order to implant them in a surrogate mother.
Vergara, who profess that she is Catholic, has said that while she does not want to destroy the embryos, rather she wants them to remain frozen indefinitely, which Loeb wrote would be “tantamount to killing them.”
Stories such as this provide the Church with an opportunity to restate fundamental moral teaching regarding the sanctity of life and the dignity of the individual human person which it is the duty of the state to protect from the moment of creation until the time of natural death.
Yet, where is the teaching voice of the Church. Why not an op-ed piece in the New York Post (which broke the story)? Why not a news conference by Cardinal Dolan to address the moral issues this story raises?
Thousands of people, many of them Catholic, will read or hear about this lawsuit and the issues surrounding it in the context of secular news reports.
But, they will hear nothing from Church leaders, who much too comfortable and prone to stand as mute witnesses to the undoing of the very fabric of Catholic orthodoxy and moral doctrine.
Even H.G. Wells at his best could not have envisioned such scenarios as those taking place with the advance of modern genetic engineering and experimentation.
Bishops, individually and collectively, need to be reminded that they are endowed with the sacred trust of teaching, as well as governing and sanctifying the People of God entrusted to their care.
They need reminding that the vast majority of people's opinions are formed by stories reported in secular and social media. Bishops need to be equally present on these same secular and social media sites. Bishops need to engage such reports and respond to them with insight and sensitivity.
Lengthy statements from USCCB committees and agencies never reach the eyes and eyes of average Catholics, of people in general really.
Bishops need to personally stand before their dioceses and address these stories and their moral implications to the people entrusted to their care. Yet, when stories such as this one are reported, Bishops are nowhere to be seen or heard.
Bishops, likewise, need to encourage their Priests to speak to these issues from the pulpit and offer their parishioners the enlightenment which the Gospels and the teachings of the Church afford them.
Sadly, however, the response of our Bishops and Pastors is silence. In the vacuum of that silence, Catholics are abandoned to the opinions and agendas of secularists who are ready and willing to offer their view that stories such as this represent the “new normal” of life in the technological world of today.
How unfortunate!
It isn't easy being a Bishop or a Priest these days. Life is increasingly complex. Challenges to the Gospel come in various shapes and guises at a mind-numbing pace, to be sure. So many circumstances demand our Church's Sacred Pastors attention and energy. They need to be aware of these demands and have the courage to speak the truth of the Word of God boldly and compassionately.
May the Holy Spirit give our Bishops and Pastors strong voices to speak the truth and beauty of Gospel values at moments such as these. May they have the wit and wisdom to exercise their teaching office at every opportunity afforded them to proclaim the dignity and sanctity of every human life.
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