Exhibit offends archbishop

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati's Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk has barred Catholic schools from visiting a controversial science exhibit on the human body, saying that it "fails to respect the persons involved."

"Bodies ... The Exhibition," which displays preserved human cadavers and organs posed to demonstrate how the body works, began a seven-month run at Cincinnati's Museum Center Feb. 1.

"The public exhibition of plasticized bodies, unclaimed, unreferenced and unidentified ... is unseemly and inappropriate," he said.

The traveling exhibit, currently on view in 10 cities around the world, has drawn 4 million viewers, according to its organizers. The cadavers are unclaimed or unidentified bodies from a university in China, according to organizer Premier Exhibitions Inc.

The exhibit's director of education, Cheryl Mure, told reporters that the exhibition "has been seen by more than 350,000 schoolchildren, including those of Catholic schools. This is the first time a diocese has taken this stance."

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