Pope's Speech May Prompt Organ Giving In New Mexico

By Paul Logan

Journal Staff Writer

Pope John Paul II's speech this week in favor of organ donations and transplants is expected to have "a positive impact" on Catholics, said Maria Sanders of New Mexico Donor Services.

Addressing an international gathering of 5,000 transplant specialists in Rome on Tuesday, the pope spoke of the need to instill in people's hearts a deep appreciation for brotherly love. The leader of the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics said becoming a donor was "a genuine act of love."

"I especially liked the way he phrased it," Sanders said.

"A lot of times we look just at the medical aspect of donation. But when families have had a loved one die, making a decision to donate their organs is truly an act of love for their fellow men."

Catholicism is the largest denomination in New Mexico, Sanders said. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, one of three dioceses in the state, has about 300,000 faithful.

Sanders said she thinks the pope's statement will reinforce the need for Catholics to be aware of making a decision about organ donations to help people in need.

Currently, about 300 New Mexicans are awaiting organ transplants, she said, with hundreds more that will need tissue transplants by year's end.

Often when a donor services representative talks to family members at the hospital, they don't know how their religion stands on organ donations.

On one occasion, she said, a priest was visiting with a family when a donor representative arrived. The family consulted the priest about organ donation. After he said it was acceptable in the Catholic faith, the family agreed.

"They were in such shock and they didn't know what steps to take when they asked the family priest," Sanders said. "From that one circumstance, the pope coming out with his statement on donations with such a large Catholic community in New Mexico we hope it will make a positive impact on donations."

One organ and tissue donor can help more than 50 people with a heart,liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, corneas, heart valves, tendons, bone and skin.

Tissues meaning skin, bone, tendon, heart valve and cornea can be recovered from a person who dies of cardiac arrest. Organs can be recovered, too, in case of a "unique death" where a person's brain dies first, Sanders said.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan was pleased to see the pope's positive statements on organ donations.

"I certainly join the pope in encouraging people to give organs," he said. "It's a decision that's very personal. No one should feel obliged to ... but I think it's a very beautiful thing to give."

Traditionally, many Catholics have been opposed to both organ transplants and cremation for reasons having to do with keeping the body intact for resurrection.

The archbishop said people now have a better understanding how organ donations can help others. And, he said, transplants have only become successful in recent years.

Copyright © Albuquerque Journal.

This article posted September 26, 2000.