New Permanent Exhibit at Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

[StrawberryJam]

I bought tickets to the CMSI for my friend and her boys to go before school is back in session. But, after I gave them to her I realized they are starting up this new exhibit called You! The Experience and they brag they have Real human embryos and fetuses to examine there.

Have I sinned? I think they are going to the Harry Potter thing, but I don’t know. Can a catholic attend such an event? Can they still go to the museum but not attend that exhibit, or is attending the museum also a sin even if one does not go to that exhibit?

I have not heard any outcry against this exhibit from the catholic church. Does anyone know about this?

The exhibit opens October 8.

 

[kristie_m]

huh…yeah, that’s what it says, alright. I take some small consolation in that we don’t actually know where those babies came from, we don’t know if they were aborted, or miscarried or what, and there are other museums that also hold the remains of humans, so I don’t see that there is any sin in it…though I would be reluctant to do so myself.

Here is what the Catechism says:

2300 The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.

2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. **The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious. **The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

The catechism doesn’t specify if we’re talking about organ donation to save the life of another, or for scientific research. I think putting human remains on display at a museum though blurs the line between legitimate science and entertainment, so while it’s a grey area, I don’t think this is something I would encourage my kids to see, nor would I pay to see it myself. If it were in a med school lab, that would be different. I don’t see how putting them on display in a museum is treating them with respect.

 

[lobster]

I bought tickets to the CMSI for my friend and her boys to go before school is back in session. But, after I gave them to her I realized they are starting up this new exhibit called You! The Experience and they brag they have Real human embryos and fetuses to examine there.

Have I sinned? I think they are going to the Harry Potter thing, but I don’t know. Can a catholic attend such an event? Can they still go to the museum but not attend that exhibit, or is attending the museum also a sin even if one does not go to that exhibit?

I have not heard any outcry against this exhibit from the catholic church. Does anyone know about this?

The exhibit opens October 8.

Yes it is immoral as it desecrates their bodies.

 

[lobster]

huh…yeah, that’s what it says, alright. I take some small consolation in that we don’t actually know where those babies came from, we don’t know if they were aborted, or miscarried or what, and there are other museums that also hold the remains of humans, so I don’t see that there is any sin in it…though I would be reluctant to do so myself.

Here is what the Catechism says:

2300 The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.

2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. **The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious. **The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

The unborn do not freely give their bodies or organs for anything. To use them in such manner is wrong for the same reasons that embryonic stem cell research is wrong. Of course embryonic stem cell research involves the purposeful killing of the unborn.

The catechism doesn’t specify if we’re talking about organ donation to save the life of another, or for scientific research. I think putting human remains on display at a museum though blurs the line between legitimate science and entertainment, so while it’s a grey area, I don’t think this is something I would encourage my kids to see, nor would I pay to see it myself. If it were in a med school lab, that would be different. I don’t see how putting them on display in a museum is treating them with respect.

I also cannot see how making public amusement of the dead is respectful nor how it meets the Catechism definition.

 

[upbeatjonm]

I believe I saw this exhibit last year. It shows the embryos in all the various stages, in a progression. My family thought that is was actually a good pro-life exhibit, since at no point in the progression could you say that it was not human. It is the kind of exhibit that would give pro-abortion people second thoughts, since you can see the humanity throughout. Just my opinion.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

I’m 59 years old and a life long Chicago area resident. From the time when I was as young as 5 or 6 and all the rest of my life, the Museum of Science and Industry had an exhibit of embryos during the many stages of development. It was a passive exhibit that you noticed while you were in line to see something else. These of course had been collected as a result of spontaneous miscarriges (being decades before Roe v. Wade). I remember once while we were waiting in line, my mother who had suffered several miscarriages pointed to one of the babies and told me that it was at that point that she had lost her babies and they would have been my big brothers. Looking at the body of the baby, it was clearly a human baby even though it was less than three months of development. As a result of seeing that baby dead and floating in preservative as it was, there was never a point in time when I ever doubted that the unborn were not genuine human beings.

I don’t know what this new exhibit is, but if it is anything like the original exhibit (hopefully it is the original exhibit and not newly murdered infants) perhaps others will walk away knowing as I did that these are people not tissue samples. On one hand, I can see that it would be better if these poor souls were properly buried with Catholic Rites and placed in sacred ground, but on the other think how many unborn lives they could save? If on the third hand these are newly murdered infants, pray God will destroy the museum with fire and brimstone for all to witness.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I guess I did not participate in a sin then? Okay. I see both minds to this, but I also wonder at what age a child can see this kind of thing without some kind of mental damage. If any. Are there any mental health professionals here with an opinion on that? I imagine it depends on the child, but I thought I would ask anyway.

Marsha, I never did see the part of the exhibit you mention but, it could be my parents knew about it and decided to zoom past that one. They may not have wanted to answer the questions I would have had, such as how did the baby end up in the container? Why did the parents let them do it? I was full of questions at an early age. Never stopped actually. A perpetual why is the sky blue type.

 

[kristie_m]

I believe I saw this exhibit last year. It shows the embryos in all the various stages, in a progression. My family thought that is was actually a good pro-life exhibit, since at no point in the progression could you say that it was not human. It is the kind of exhibit that would give pro-abortion people second thoughts, since you can see the humanity throughout. Just my opinion.

Thank you for that perspective…and to you too, Marsha, as I hadn’t considered that particular effect.

As to my bolding of the quote in the catechism…if you had a miscarriage, and agreed to allow your child’s remains to be used in this way, then, as evidenced by the previous posters, it could have merit.

 

[SouthrnCatholic]

I guess I did not participate in a sin then?

I don’t see how this could be a sin on your part as you didn’t even know about it until after you had already given your friend the tickets.

 

[WillieWonka]

huh…yeah, that’s what it says, alright. I take some small consolation in that we don’t actually know where those babies came from, we don’t know if they were aborted, or miscarried or what, and there are other museums that also hold the remains of humans, so I don’t see that there is any sin in it…though I would be reluctant to do so myself.

Here is what the Catechism says:

2300 The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.

2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. **The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious. **The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

The catechism doesn’t specify if we’re talking about organ donation to save the life of another, or for scientific research. I think putting human remains on display at a museum though blurs the line between legitimate science and entertainment, so while it’s a grey area, I don’t think this is something I would encourage my kids to see, nor would I pay to see it myself. If it were in a med school lab, that would be different. I don’t see how putting them on display in a museum is treating them with respect.

Why think there is a line between legitimate science and entertainment? Learning can be very entertaining. In fact, in many ways, the more entertaining one can make learning, the more successful it will be.

 

[StrawberryJam]

StrawberryJam;5531969:

I guess I did not participate in a sin then?

I don’t see how this could be a sin on your part as you didn’t even know about it until after you had already given your friend the tickets.

Thanks! I was worried I SHOULD have checked and known better than to buy stuff for kids without looking into what they could be exposed to there, but I thought hey, it will only make them smarter to go, so why not? Then, I got sick worrying about being guilty of participating in a sin. I usually am better about checking out the details of things before jumping to a decision.
I am glad I did not sin though. That takes a load of worry off. I still wonder about the boys going to this thing. I told my friend about it, matter of factly that there would be an exhibit there with embryos and fetus on display. She did not say anything either way about it, and she is a christian at a rather large megachurch.

 

[Dwyer]

**they brag **they have Real human embryos and fetuses to examine there.

Then, this is a way for the Museum to sell tickets $$.

They don’t need to use real fetuses and embryos.

They could have high quality photographs.

These people who are in control of the Museum are just using them as a prop to sell tickets for $$ and draw crowds.

The fact that they are selling tickets and making $$ off of it is really sick.

Now, I don’t know much about saints’ relics, but I think in Europe, there are some saints’ relics which contain body parts and maybe even full corpses are on display, however, they are on display to be venerated, and the Catholic Church doesn’t charge a fee in order for folks to see them; plus the corpses and parts are treated with respect and charity.

It isn’t** necessary **for the Museum to display actual fetuses and embryos.

The fact that you are asking about the morality about this is clearly a sign that you think somewhere in your conscience that there is something wrong with this Museum display.

IMO, your children should skip the exhibit and go to the Planetarium.

Exhibits like these seem to be showing up more and more around the USA.

At the Detroit Science Center, they had a year or two ago, and exhibit about the Human Body which featured corpses of Chinese people, and they charged something like $25.00 to see it.

Shame!

 

[StrawberryJam]

Why think there is a line between legitimate science and entertainment? Learning can be very entertaining. In fact, in many ways, the more entertaining one can make learning, the more successful it will be.

I had a language arts teacher who dressed in costume for class from time to time. What a guy. Silly, but memorable. Never missed one of his classes.

 

[WillieWonka]

Then, this is a way for the Museum to sell tickets $$.

They don’t need to use real fetuses and embryos.

They could have high quality photographs.

These people who are in control of the Museum are just using them as a prop to sell tickets for $$ and draw crowds.

The fact that they are selling tickets and making $$ off of it is really sick.

Now, I don’t know much about saints’ relics, but I think in Europe, there are some saints’ relics which contain body parts and maybe even full corpses are on display, however, they are on display to be venerated, and the Catholic Church doesn’t charge a fee in order for folks to see them; plus the corpses and parts are treated with respect and charity.

It isn’t** necessary **for the Museum to display actual fetuses and embryos.

The fact that you are asking about the morality about this is clearly a sign that you think somewhere in your conscience that there is something wrong with this Museum display.

IMO, your children should skip the exhibit and go to the Planetarium.

Exhibits like these seem to be showing up more and more around the USA.

At the Detroit Science Center, they had a year or two ago, and exhibit about the Human Body which featured corpses of Chinese people, and they charged something like $25.00 to see it.

Shame!

Is it **necessary **for saints relics to be displayed?

 

[WillieWonka]

I had a language arts teacher who dressed in costume for class from time to time. What a guy. Silly, but memorable. Never missed one of his classes.

Exactly. I bet you learnd a lot, too.

In many cases, the entertainment is necessary to stimulate interest in some folks. As a little kid, I hated reading because all I had were those awful Dick and Jane things and I was bored to death.

When my parents bought me age-level books with real stories I liked, it turned everything around. It became entertainment for me, but the learning was the inevitable result.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Is it **necessary **for saints relics to be displayed?

Whenever possible, people like to kiss relics.

 

[WillieWonka]

Whenever possible, people like to kiss relics.

OK. That’s legitimate. Poeple like to look at real things all the time. It’s a different experience. Same with the cadaver exhibits.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Exactly. I bet you learnd a lot, too.

In many cases, the entertainment is necessary to stimulate interest in some folks. As a little kid, I hated reading because all I had were those awful Dick and Jane things and I was bored to death.

When my parents bought me age-level books with real stories I liked, it turned everything around. It became entertainment for me, but the learning was the inevitable result.

You were probably just too intelligent for Dick and Jane. I loved Dick and Jane and the Nip and Tuck series, but I was four years old when I read them. In second grade, I was reading my sister’s sixth grade reader. You would probably have enjoined Dick and Jane too if you had gotten them a few years earlier.

 

[SouthrnCatholic]

Thanks! I was worried I SHOULD have checked and known better than to buy stuff for kids without looking into what they could be exposed to there, but I thought hey, it will only make them smarter to go, so why not? Then, I got sick worrying about being guilty of participating in a sin. I usually am better about checking out the details of things before jumping to a decision.
I am glad I did not sin though. That takes a load of worry off. I still wonder about the boys going to this thing. I told my friend about it, matter of factly that there would be an exhibit there with embryos and fetus on display. She did not say anything either way about it, and she is a christian at a rather large megachurch.

I suppose if it was a place that had a record of showing things with questionable morality it would be something you could be held accountable for. But this is such a bizarre exhibit that I don’t know how you could be held accountable for not realizing it was there.
I think your friend could avoid the exhibit if she wanted to (there’s so much going on there that I can’t imagine it would be hard to distract someone from one exhibit) and she could probably also use it to educate them about the dignity of the human person and right to life if that was something she felt strongly about.

 

[twopekinguys]

I’m 59 years old and a life long Chicago area resident. From the time when I was as young as 5 or 6 and all the rest of my life, the Museum of Science and Industry had an exhibit of embryos during the many stages of development. It was a passive exhibit that you noticed while you were in line to see something else. These of course had been collected as a result of spontaneous miscarriges (being decades before Roe v. Wade). I remember once while we were waiting in line, my mother who had suffered several miscarriages pointed to one of the babies and told me that it was at that point that she had lost her babies and they would have been my big brothers. Looking at the body of the baby, it was clearly a human baby even though it was less than three months of development. As a result of seeing that baby dead and floating in preservative as it was, there was never a point in time when I ever doubted that the unborn were not genuine human beings.

I don’t know what this new exhibit is, but if it is anything like the original exhibit (hopefully it is the original exhibit and not newly murdered infants) perhaps others will walk away knowing as I did that these are people not tissue samples. On one hand, I can see that it would be better if these poor souls were properly buried with Catholic Rites and placed in sacred ground, but on the other think how many unborn lives they could save? If on the third hand these are newly murdered infants, pray God will destroy the museum with fire and brimstone for all to witness.

I was born and raissed in Chicago (52 years old), and remember that exhibit from my childhood. The last time I was at MSI, I remember the exhibit being on the lower level near the Fairy Castle/doll house.(which has the worlds tiniest complete Bible) I don’t remember them charging for this exhibit, but merely the admission cost to the museum itself.

I think it was tastefully done, and was quite educational. If you watch people, like I do, you could see it had a definite impact on many people who viewed it.

I also remember an exhibit that is in one of the stairwells of the person that was sliced into multiple verticle sections. Again, a passive exhibit, but quite informative.

Heres is some information from their website, which sounds like it is the original presentation, put in a new setting.

“YOU! The Experience will also showcase the return of the Museum’s historic prenatal exhibit, which illustrates the wonders of human development. Original media presentations will depict the development of the fetus in the womb, as well as how the mother’s body adapts with pregnancy. Nearly 30 other authentic human specimens and body slices, located throughout the exhibit space, will showcase the extraordinary nature of the human body’s interconnected parts and systems.”

msichicago.org/about-the-museum/press/upcoming/you-the-experience/