Hi Michael. Had to look up gastrulation, but your comment makes sense to me, for the Church is tied to outdated science on most matters sexual and indeed on embryology. But I do wonder about the Patristic adoption of the immortal soul from Plato. As I remember the soul appears only in Hebrews, itself influenced by Middle Platonism and its immortal soul. For the rest of the NT the soul, when mentioned at all, is simply the life principle and dies with the death of the body, which is why Paul in 1 Cor 15 has to speak of the risen body as a penumatic body, given as a new creation. As I remember my scholastic philosophy, experience, insight etc. were faculties of the soul, which was adopted because philosophically it assured each person was already immortal and thus had to take care of living with faith and grace. Aquinas' theology of grace was all dependent on that grace moving and permeating the soul. Still, in the gospel and Paul soul (psyche) just means living life.