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Organ donation is not only OK by most religious faiths, it also is considered a selfless act worthy of praise, several religious leaders said Wednesday, the first day of National Donate Life Month.

Catholic, LDS, Jewish and Baptist pastors and leaders spoke during a panel discussion hosted by Intermountain Donor Services, the nonprofit that is federally designated to recover organs and tissues in the Intermountain region.

They also paused for a prayer at the Celebration of Life Monument in Library Square, where the names of 5,000 organ and tissue donors are etched into a wall.

When families are asked to consider donating the organs of a loved one who has died, "Many times the question of faith comes up," said Alex McDonald, director of public education and relations for Intermountain Donor Services. People ask, he said, "What does our faith feel about it?"

Jeff Homer said his family "will forever be grateful that someone made the decision to say 'Yes,' so that my son could live." Homer is a member of a West Jordan stake presidency, which oversees a group of congregations in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His son Alex was born with half a heart — hypoplastic left heart syndrome — and endured four surgeries and had to wear a backpack for constant intravenous drugs before being put on the transplant list last year.

Finally, in January, the 7-year-old got a new heart.

He's still somewhat quarantined at home, although he does play outside and goes in the car with his parents. He just can't go to school or church or other places he could be exposed to germs for the first six months of his transplant, his father said.

The LDS Church tells its members that donating is a selfless act, but the decision to donate is up to each person or family, and they should consult competent medical advisers, fast and pray as they decide, Homer said.

The Rev. France Davis, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, stretched out his arms to show skin that had been grafted onto his hands years ago, and said his daughter received a stem cell transplant to cure her leukemia 20 years ago.

Just last weekend, he was at the hospital bedside of a young woman in his congregation who finally was getting a new heart.

"We suggest to people they think about how much difference they can make in the lives of others," Davis said.

"We encourage our people to remember ... the real person is spiritual and the body is the house," Davis said. "We also believe and teach people that if the parts of the body are scattered, God in the resurrection can gather those."

Rabbi Ilana Schwartzman of Congregation Kol Ami said Jews disagree about many things, but "When it comes to organ donation, we're a fairly united front."

Even those who believe the body must be intact agree that "anything we can do to further life is a mitzvah, a commandment," she said.

While Judaism doesn't have any one answer to the question of what happens after death, Schwartzman said, Jews agree people live on in the memories and the good acts they have done. "Judaism unequivocally encourages people to donate their organs and to continue to do good," Schwartzman said.

The Rev. Martin Diaz, pastor of The Cathedral of the Madeleine, said a diocesan priest, the Rev. Javier Virgen, is alive because of the donation of a kidney last summer by a fellow Utah Catholic. Virgen is pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Magna.

Diaz said the families he has counseled don't seem to worry too much about violating religious precepts. But they do wonder if they are violating their loved one.

"It's a hard decision on top of letting go. It seems not right in some way, like you are taking something away from the person dying," Diaz said. "It's important for people to see they are giving. It is the gift of life we are talking about."

McDonald said 800 people in Utah are awaiting lifesaving transplants, and 75 percent to 80 percent are awaiting kidneys.

The panel discussion, he said, was designed to ensure people aren't complacent about the need for donation because so many are on the registry.

"What we're trying to get people to do is talk about organ donation at the dinner table and not the ER."

kmoulton@sltrib.com Twitter: @KristenMoulton —

Organ donation in Utah

• Three-quarters of Utahns 16 and older are on the Yes Utah Donor Registry

• Only 1 percent to 2 percent of those who die can be organ donors. "People have to die under very specific circumstances" — in a hospital, on a ventilator and from brain injury, according to Alex McDonald, director of public education and relations for Intermountain Donor Services

• Eyes, tissue, skin, tendons and bone can be donated up to 12 to 20 hours after death, as long as the death is witnessed by another person

• 800 people in Utah are awaiting life-saving transplants, and 75 percent to 80 percent are awaiting kidneys

Find out more › http://www.idslife.org