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ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Louis is urging people who take part in the ice bucket challenge to raise funds to fight Lou Gehrig's disease to shift their donations away from the ALS Association.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1ts1jXq ) reports that the archdiocese suggests donating to the John Paul II Medical Research Institute, an organization conducting similar research using only adult stem cells. Chicago ALS Association development director Mary Ilene Blondell says a very small part of ALS Association funding goes to embryonic stem cell research.
The Respect Life Apostolate of the Archdiocese says in a written statement that there's nothing immoral about raising awareness for diseases and that there's no reason Catholics can't participate. The group says the key is to ensure donations are used to support "morally licit research."
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
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