Earlier this fall, the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories released guidelines to help priests offer pastoral care to individuals and families contemplating voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. The guidelines were fully Catholic, comprehensive, compassionate and courageous, as detailed then by Peter Stockland in these pages.

PRETORIA, South Africa – While countries around the world such as Canada, Germany and Japan have passed legislation to legalize physician assisted suicide, one has ruled to reject it: South Africa.

MELBOURNE, Australia – The government of the Australian state of Victoria is looking to legalize euthanasia in 2017, but physicians have warned of the risk of diminishing palliative care, already under-utilized and underfunded.

CHUR, Switzerland – A Swiss bishop has instructed Catholic priests not to give last rites to people suspected of seeking assisted suicide, following a sharp rise in the practice in his country.

OTTAWA – New guidelines issued by the bishops of Atlantic Canada emphasize pastoral accompaniment for those who chose assisted suicide or euthanasia and seem to leave open the possibility of receiving the Sacraments and a Catholic funeral.

LONDON, England - Physician-assisted suicide has been a subject of controversy for several years, but Liz Carr is taking the issue somewhere it has never been before: the musical theatre.

EDMONTON –The onset of state-sanctioned euthanasia represents a “seismic shift” in values that the world will someday regret, said one of Canada’s pre-eminent bioethicists.

One obvious failing of legalized assisted suicide is that Canada now recognizes a person’s right to receive a quick exit but fails to grant terminally ill people an offsetting right to humane care until their natural death.

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities has called for increased efforts and "renewed vigor" to stop legalized physician-assisted suicide after the practice was approved by voters in Colorado and the District of Columbia City Council.

A “culture of death” is threatening the lives of our elderly, warns Bishop Noel Simard.

OTTAWA – With euthanasia occurring in Quebec at triple government predictions, obtaining accurate statistics on medically assisted deaths across Canada is almost impossible and could lead to abuse, according to anti-euthanasia advocates.

WINDSOR, Ont. – Opponents of assisted suicide face “significant challenges” following the Canadian government’s official endorsement of medically-aided death in legislation enacted last June, a symposium was told.

TORONTO – It’s rare for an hour-long, academic lecture to get a standing ovation, but Dr. Ewan Goligher earned thunderous applause from about 100 people who turned up on a cold, rainy night to hear his defence of medical conscience.

Serving the sick and the dying has always been central to the mission of the Church. However, in light of recent legislation that legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in some cases, dioceses across Canada are giving renewed focus to pastoral care.

TORONTO – Dr. Luigi Castagna doesn’t think of practicing medicine as a protest movement. But a stalemate over conscience rights for doctors who object to physician-assisted dying may change that.