To Request Commission on Theology and Church Relations Report on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation

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1. 18To Request Commission on Theology and Church Relations Report
2. 19on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation
3. 20RESOLUTION 5-10
4. 21Overture 5-23 (CW, 350)
5. 22WHEREAS, The 1981 Synod convention adopted Resolution 8-05, “To Encourage Donation of Kidneys and Other
6. 23Organs” (Proc., 204), which encouraged organ donation; and
7. 24WHEREAS, Both medical technology and its academic, peer-reviewed, and published theological assessment have
8. 25changed significantly since 1981 and raised complex and morally weighty questions about human organ donation and
9. 26transplantation and the implications of its encouragement and routinization; and
10. 27WHEREAS, The encouragement given by the Synod in 1981 may, even unintentionally, burden the consciences of
11. 28church workers and laity who hold informed and serious concerns about the practice and moral implications of routinized
12. 29human organ donation and transplantation; therefore be it
13. 30Resolved, That the Synod in convention ask the Commission on Theology and Church Relations to produce a
14. 31document that considers and evaluates the theological and moral implications of human organ donation and
15. 32transplantation.
16. 33The Chief Financial Officer and LCMS Accounting and Financial Services staff, in consultation with the Finance
17. 34Committee, anticipate no significant incremental costs as the activity is understood to be within the existing scope and
18. 35budget of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (estimate required by Bylaw 3.1.7 [g]).