Documentary highlights life of religious sister who died in Ecuador earthquake

April 17, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Apr 17, 2018 / 06:40 pm (ACI Prensa).- A new documentary film entitled “All or Nothing” tells the story of Sister Clare Crockett, a religious sister who died in the earthquake that took place in 2016 in Ecuador.

The film which is available in Spanish, English and Italian, is “the true story of a sister who gave everything to God, holding nothing back,” her community says.

April 16 marked the second anniversary of the earthquake that struck Manabí Province in Ecuador, in which 262 people died and more than 2,500 were injured.

Sister Clare Crockett of the Siervas del Hogar de la Madre (Sisters of the Home of the Mother) was killed when the community’s building in Playa Prieta, Ecuador, collapsed in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Four aspirants and one resident youth also died in the quake.

The Siervas del Hogar de la Madre have now released the film “All or Nothing: Sister Clare Crockett,” which tells the story of the 33-year-old religious sister, who had been a rising actress when she left her career to pursue God’s calling.

This documentary film shows more than 15 years of Sister Clare's life – a life which the sisters say “goes straight to our hearts as a call, to ask ourselves what are we ourselves giving or not giving to God.”

Originally from Ireland, Sister Clare wanted to be an actress. By age 18, she lived a life of partying and alcohol.

One day, a friend asked if she wanted to go on a free trip to Spain. The trip turned out to be a 10-day pilgrimage.

“I tried to get out of it, but my name was already on the ticket, so I had to go. I now see that it was Our Lady’s way of bringing me back home, back to her and her Son,” she said, according to EWTN. “I was not a very happy camper. Nevertheless, it was on that pilgrimage that Our Lord gave me the grace to see how He had died for me on the Cross. After I had received that grace, I knew that I had to change.”

“I knew that I had to leave everything and follow Him. I knew with great clarity that He was asking me to trust in Him, to put my life in His hands and to have faith,” she said. “It never ceases to amaze me how Our Lord works in the souls, how He can totally transform one’s life and capture one’s heart.”
Sister Clare went on to become the voice of Lucy on the long-running EWTN children’s television series “Hi Lucy.”

The distribution of the documentary film “All or Nothing” is free and is scheduled to be shown in Ireland, Canada, the United States, England, Italy, Singapore, the Philippines, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Uruguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Chile, Latvia, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Viewers interested in scheduling a screening can visit https://www.sisterclare.com/multimedia/film/request?view=form

 

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Perform euthanasia or lose government funding, Canadian hospice told

January 22, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Vancouver, Canada, Jan 22, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- A Canadian hospice is at risk of losing its government funding over its refusal to euthanize patients who request an “assisted death.” 

Fraser Health Authority, a publicly-funded organization responsible for administering healthcare for 1.6 million people in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, is ordering the Irene Thomas Hospice, a 10-bed hospice facility, to offer euthanasia to its patients. 

The hospice is operated by the non-profit organization the Delta Hospice Society, which is opposed to Canada’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” (“MAiD”) laws. 

In September 2016, about three months after euthanasia became legal in Canada, Fraser Health introduced a new policy which required all hospices receiving more than 50% of provincial funding for their beds to offer euthanasia to their residents. The hospice receives $1.4 million of its $3 million operating budget from the Fraser Health Authority, and Fraser Health funds all 10 of the beds at Irene Thomas Hospice. 

Faith-based healthcare organizations, as well as medical professionals opposed to MAiD, are not required to euthanize patients in Canada. Doctors, however, must refer patients seeking an “assisted death” to a healthcare provider who is willing to euthanize them. The Delta Hospice Society is not affiliated with a religion, but is opposed to euthanasia as a matter of principle. 

Euthanasia is readily available at Delta Hospital, which is a one-minute drive or four-minute walk away from the Irene Thomas Hospice. 

Dr. Leonie Herx, a palliative physician and the president of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians, told CNA that less than 30% of Canadians have access to palliative care. 

Unlike other healthcare services, including MAiD, which are fully funded and accessible to all by the Canada Health Act, disability care, palliative care, and homecare services are not guaranteed or accessible everywhere. 

“So while MAiD needs to be funded provincially and accessible to all Canadians, the same does not apply to palliative care,” said Herx. 

“The rights of individuals to autonomy and their ‘right to die’ therefore seems to trump the right to assistance in living,” she added.

Herx said that presently, palliative care organizations throughout Canada are pushing for more funding for palliative care, to better assist patients in need. 

“MAiD was legalized before we had broad uptake of and access to palliative care,” she said. 

“The government missed an opportunity when crafting the Canadian MAiD legislation and could have made these important safeguards of ‘care’ (which we know mitigates desire for hastened death in many cases) also part of the Canada Health Act.” 

In Canada, unlike assisted suicide laws in the United States, those who opt for an “assisted death” are not required to self-administer the lethal medication. The vast majority of Canadians who have an “assisted death” do so by euthanasia and do not self-administer. 

Herx said that misconceptions about the purpose of palliative care can push people away from pursuing hospice care. The addition of MAiD into hospice settings makes the confusion worse. 

“Some patients are already afraid that palliative care will shorten their life and these worries can be intensified when MAiD is provided in that same palliative care centre,” she said. Considering that less than 2% of deaths in Canada each year are from MAiD, the “vast majority” of the remaining, “natural” deaths could serve to benefit from palliative care. 

The number of Canadians who chose MAiD during the first 10 months of 2018–2,613 people–is four times the total number of homicides in Canada in 2018. That year, 651 people were the victims of homicide.

Herx told CNA that “the healthcare authority in British Columbia is not recognizing the unique approach to care that is at the core of hospice palliative care.”

Speeding up death, she said, is never the aim of palliative care. Herx said there was “no reason” to mandate that hospices perform euthanasia, as it is already widely available at hospitals and in patient homes. 

Herx pointed to “strong lobbies” which are backing this new effort to expand MAiD into additional institutions which receive provincial funding, including faith-based hospitals or hospices. She warned that the pressure on all such institutions to offer assisted dying would continue.

“This current case in Delta Hospice may set the precedent for other non-religious hospices,” said Herx. 

“But then, faith-based institutions may be next.”

[…]

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*