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Ontario bishops come out swinging in defence of aged, disabled and ill |
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Written by Catholic Register Staff
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Wednesday, 25 April 2007 |
TORONTO - The Ontario Catholic bishops have released a ringing defence of the right to life of the elderly, the disabled and chronically ill.
In a statement released April 15, Divine Mercy Sunday, the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops call on all Canadians to defend the current laws that ban euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Called “Going to the House of the Father,” the pastoral statement offers Catholic teaching on the end of life along with an appeal beyond the Catholic population to resist efforts to change the criminal code provisions.
“The right to life is not a matter for Christians only. It is a human right,” the statement argues. “Our criminal law recognizes this, and both euthanasia and assisted suicide are currently criminal offences. They should remain so. To permit the killing of the disabled, frail, sick or suffering, even if motivated by a misplaced compassion, requires a prior judgment that such lives are not worth living. No life lacks value. No life should be unprotected by the law. No one forfeits the right to life because of illness or disability.”
The bishops were prodded into issuing the statement by the increasingly powerful lobby campaign in favour of legalizing euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. In the statement, the bishops note that a member of Parliament, Bloc Quebecois member Francine Lalonde, had introduced a private members’ bill to legalize the practice. Though the bill died when the Liberal government fell in 2005, the bishops worry that it won’t be long before another politician resurrects the plan.
“While the issue has an important political dimension, the question of euthanasia and assisted suicide is even more fundamental than politics. We are dealing here with the great gift of life itself. Unless the right to life is secure, there can be no sure foundation for any human rights.”
The bishops argue that those who favour euthanasia and assisted suicide to release the sick and dying from their suffering are operating under a false compassion. Human life on earth is always good, they say, and human beings should not take it upon themselves to decide when it should end. This does not mean that life should be prolonged at any cost.
“It is important to understand that as long as nothing is done with the deliberate intention of causing death, the moral law does not require that life be prolonged if the means of doing so are judged unduly burdensome or are no longer effective. Although advanced medical technology has developed many new methods of treatment, it is perfectly permissible to refuse any medical treatment that is unduly burdensome, or which would cause additional suffering and when there is little hope of recovery.”
The bishops point out that even suffering has meaning in God’s plan. Though it should be relieved as much as possible, it can also be understood in light of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Those who are dying deserve to be surrounded by family and friends, along with their prayers.
The bishops also urge Catholics to resort to the sacraments at the time of dying, especially the Anointing of the Sick, Reconciliation and Viaticum (Holy Communion for the last time).
The bishops urge doctors and other health-care workers to not succumb to pressure to support euthanasia. Instead, they call on them to defend life.
“They are the ones who would make the critical decisions; they are the ones who would administer the fatal doses, the lethal injections. Patients place their trust in the medical professions. We should not create, or permit, situations which will undermine that trust,” the bishops say in their statement.
The bishops call upon all Catholics to exercise their democratic right to urge their politicians to defend the current law. And politicians of all stripes are pushed to defend the right to life of “those who are disabled, frail, sick or suffering.”
Protecting this right, say the bishops, “no more depends upon strictly religious arguments than do our laws against theft, fraud and assault.”
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