CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2020 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- A California priest who was excommunicated after denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis has been laicized, according to a Nov. 2 letter from his bishop. The priest has also been accused of sexual coercion and m… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2020 / 12:03 pm (CNA).- Death. It’s a subject seen as sad, morbid and fearful, something that people would rather not think about, and certainly not discuss.
Yet for Catholics, death is an essential part of the faith.
“For those who die in Christ’s grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can also share his Resurrection,” reads the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The celebration of the sacraments hearken for a kind of death: death to self, death as a consequence of sin, a remembrance of Christ’s death and entrance into eternal life.
As the 20th century priest Fr. Henri Nouwen remarked, “Dying is the most general human event, something we all have to do.”
The question, he asks, is “Do we do it well?”
Hiding from death
Advances in medicine and technology have drastically increased life expectancies in the past century. In 1915, most people would not expect to live past age 55. A child born in the US in 2017 is expected to see their 85th birthday.
As a result, death has become something distant and even foreign, argues Julie Masters, a professor and chair of the Department of Gerontology at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.
“We get lulled into thinking death doesn’t hit us very often, because it waits until people are very old,” she told CNA. “We know that younger people do die, that middle aged people do die, but in this country, the majority of people who die are going to be older people.”
The average American in the 21st century simply doesn’t have the experience with death that previous generations had, she said. And this lack of experience can lend itself to fear and a tendency to ignore the uncomfortable unknown of the future.
“So we’ll put it off until we have to talk about it, and when we do talk about it, then we get in a pickle because we’re not sure what people want,” Masters said.
Hiding from death can have other consequences, as well. Cultural unease and inexperience with death can affect how we approach loved ones as they die.
“If we’re uncomfortable with death, if someone is dying, we may be unwilling to visit them because we don’t know what to say, when in reality we don’t need to say anything,” Masters said. “We may be less available to comfort them.”
Avoidance of death can also impact vulnerable members of society who are not actively dying, Masters warned.
“Our uncomfortableness with dying may be symptomatic of our desire to control dying and death,” she said. When that control or the fear of becoming a “burden” gives way to conversations about physician-assisted suicide, she continued, “we look at the most vulnerable and say ‘are they really worthy of living, think of all the resources they’re taking up?’”
“Each step in that slope, it gets easier to get rid of people who are no longer valuable or are vulnerable. Yet don’t we learn from the vulnerable?” she questioned. “They’re the ones who teach the strong what’s most valuable in life.”
But Masters also sees a desire to move towards a broader discussion of how to die well. She pointed to the spread of Death Cafes and other guided discussion groups that encourage conversations about death, dying and preparation for the end of life.
Churches can offer a similar kinds of programming, she suggested: “People want to talk about it, they just need the place to do that.”
What does it mean to have a ‘happy death’?
While a person may plan for their death, ultimately the circumstances of one’s passing will be out of their control. However, everyone can aspire to a “good” or “happy” death, said Fr. Michael Witczak, an associate professor of liturgical studies at The Catholic University of America.
He told CNA that the essential qualities of a happy death are being in a state of grace and having a good relationship with God.
The idea of a happy death, or at the very least the aspiration of it, gained popular consideration in the Ars Moriendi – a collection of 15th Century Catholic works laying out the “Art of Dying,” he noted.
The texts elaborate on the temptations – such as despair – that face the dying, questions to ask the dying, advice for families and friends, how to imitate Christ’s life, and prayers for the bedside.
Resources such as these, from ages of the Church that had a more daily experience of death, Fr. Witczak suggested, can be a good resource for beginning to live “intentionally” and to think more about death and how to die well.
Masters agreed that intentionality is key in shifting the cultural mindset on death and dying.
“What if people approached death with the same joy that they greet the birth of a new baby?” she asked.
It’s a fitting analogue, she argues. Both processes – birth and death – are the defining markers of human life, and natural processes that all the living will experience. Both processes also open the door to a similar set of unknowns: What comes next? What will it be like afterwards? How will we cope?
She added that the modern tendency to view death with suspicion and trepidation – or to ignore it altogether – reflects something about the culture.
“If we’re so afraid of death and dying, I have to wonder if we’re also afraid of life and living.”
Last wishes
Discussing death is the first step in making practical preparations for it.
Without planning, Masters said, loved ones may not know a person’s preferences for treatment, finances, or funeral preparations, which can lead to sometimes sharp divides between friends and family.
“When we get comfortable talking about death,” she noted, “we can let people know what our wishes are, so that hopefully our wishes are followed.”
Thorough planning includes setting advanced directives and establishing a power of attorney who can make medical decisions on one’s behalf if one is unable to do so.
It is also important to be aware of different care options in an individual’s geographic location. These include palliative care, which focuses on improving quality and length of life while decreasing the need for additional hospital visits. Not just limited to end-of-life situations, palliative care is available for a range of long-term illnesses, and seeks to relieve pain rather than cure an underlying condition.
Hospice care is also an option when the end of life approaches. At this point, the goal is no longer to extend the length of life, but to alleviate pain and offer comfort, while also helping mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to prepare for death.
Funeral planning and creating a will are also important steps in the preparation process. Even for the young or those without material possessions, planning for one’s death can be useful for grieving friends and family members, Masters said. She explained that the idea of creating an “ethical will” is a Jewish tradition in which a person writes a letter or spiritual autobiography, leaving behind the values and morals they found important in their life to pass on to the next generation.
The practice, which is growing in popularity, is available to anyone “to put down into words what’s given their life meaning,” and can have special meaning for those who “feel, because they don’t have a lot of wealth or a lot of possessions, that they have nothing to leave their family.”
Masters pointed to a student of hers who wrote an ethical will shortly before passing away in college and the example of her own grandparents instilling the recitation of the Rosary as people who left behind some of their most meaningful gifts to their loved ones.
“It’s a testament to what that person believed in. What a gift that is!”
Paul Malley, president of the non-profit group Aging with Dignity, stressed that planning the more specific details of end-of-life care can help respect a person’s dignity during illness or on the deathbed.
“Those who are at the end of life, whether they may be suffering with a serious illness or disability, tend to have their dignity questioned,” he told CNA.
The sick and dying are often isolated, receiving care from medical professionals, he explained. And while advanced care planning often focuses on decisions regarding feeding tubes, ventilators, and other medical treatment options, that discussion “doesn’t tell your family anything about what dignified care means to you.”
“It’s important not to just talk about caregiving in terms of medical issues,” Malley stressed. “That’s a small fraction of a day – the rest of the day plays out at the bedside.”
Aging with Dignity promotes planning for acts of comfort, spiritual issues and family relationships in order to make the time surrounding death easier and more dignified for all involved.
“These issues were never talked about when it came to end-of-life care or advanced care planning.” Among some of the requests participants make, he elaborated, are small acts of comfort like cool cloths on a forehead, pictures of loved ones in a hospital room, favorite blankets on a bed, or requests for specific family or friends to come visit.
Planning to incorporate what Malley calls “the lost art of caregiving,” was important to his own family when his grandmother died. “One of the most important things for her was that she always wanted to have her feet poking out of the blanket because her feet were hot,” he recalled.
Although nurses and care providers would often bundle her feet up to try to keep her warm, her family was able to untuck her feet afterwards so she could stay comfortable.
“That might be something that sounds very trivial, very small, but for her, for my grandmother, laying in that bed where she couldn’t get up and couldn’t reach down to pull up her own blanket, having her feet stick out at the edge of the blanket was probably the most important thing to her all day long,” Malley said.
The end of the earthly pilgrimage
For Catholics, spiritual preparation for death should always include the sacraments, Fr. Witczak said.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation, important for all the faithful throughout their lives, is a particularly important spiritual medicine for those nearing death.
Additionally, Anointing of the Sick should be sought for those who have begun to be in danger of death due to sickness or old age, and it can be repeated if the sick person recovers and again becomes gravely ill, or if their condition becomes more grave.
“The Church wants people to celebrate the sacrament as often as they need to,” Fr. Witczak said.
The Eucharist can also be received at the end of life as “viaticum,” which means “with you on the way.”
“It’s receiving the Lord who will be with you on the way to the other side,” said Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P., vice president and academic dean at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies.
He added that the Eucharist can be received as viaticum more than once, should a person recover, and can also be given even if someone has already received the Eucharist earlier during the day.
A good death is a gift
Prayer, reception of the sacraments, and seeking forgiveness from God and one another can mark death as a time of peace, Fr. Petri said. Death can also be a time of surprise, as it “either amplifies the way a person has lived their life or it causes a complete reversal,” with some people undergoing profound conversions or surprising hardenings of the heart during their last days.
“Much of it really does rely on the will of God,” he reflected, adding that we should all pray for the grace of a holy death.
Dying a happy death is not only a blessing for the person dying, but can be a gift to others as well, Fr. Petri said, noting that family and friends can be drawn closer to one another and to God as the result of a holy death.
Masters agreed, adding that “the dying can serve as examples or role models,” by teaching others how to die without fear.
Ultimately, Fr. Witczak said, Christians “do” death differently because Christians “do” life differently.
“I think as human beings, death is a topic we’re afraid of and we’re told not to think about, and the Christian tradition keeps trying to bring it before people, not to scare people, but rather to remind people of their ultimate destiny,” he said.
“This is not simple and it’s something people ultimately have to learn for themselves, but it’s the important task of life. I think what the Church tries to do is to help people live their life fully and even live their death as an entryway into the life that is promised to us by Jesus Christ.”
Looking toward death and the vulnerability that surrounds it can be a vital way of encountering death – and overcoming the fear of it, he said.
Masters agreed, noting that those who have had encounters with death or profound suffering often “look at life differently.”
“They understand it is so fleeting. But because they know how close death is they look at life in a different way.”
For many people, this different approach to life includes an increased focus on family, friends and service, she said. “That’s how you’re remembered at the end of the day: what did you do for other people?”
Starting with even the most basic conversations about death, she added, can be beneficial for those wanting to confront mortality.
“When you can acknowledge that you’re going to die, you can begin to live your life.”
This article was originally published on CNA November 28, 2018.
CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).- Joe Biden has released a video insisting that his personal politics remain in line with Catholic social teaching. In the video, released on the eve of the general election, Biden asserts that he has the “… […]
CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2020 / 07:51 am (CNA).-
Andrew Thomas Walther, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, died Sunday evening in New Haven, Connecticut. Remembered foremost as a loving husband and father, in his life’s work he … […]
CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2020 / 04:11 pm (CNA).- Washington state voters have a chance to reject a new “comprehensive” sex education law this Election Day, and the state’s Catholic bishops say they should.
Meanwhile, Nevada voters can decide whether to preserve constitutional language recognizing marriage as a union of one man and one woman, although the state is required by a 2015 Supreme Court decision to recognize same-sex marriage.
Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg of Seattle, speaking on behalf of the Washington State Catholic Conference, sought to rally voters to reject a comprehensive sexual health bill presented in measure R 90. “The bishops of Washington state strongly recommend that you check ‘reject’ on Referendum 90,” he said in an Oct. 12 video.
“This new law opposes Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person, on human sexuality, and the proper role of parents in forming their children,” he said. “The sexual health education law is not only in opposition to Catholic Church teaching. We also believe it is detrimental to the formation of our youth.”
“It does not adequately address the complex moral issues tied to human sexuality and the development of the human person,” Mueggenborg continued. “Neither does the law properly discuss sexual relationships in the context of marriage, but rather it leaves such encounters up to a host of settings, even to children.”
The proposal “does not adequately address complex moral issues tied to human sexuality nor properly discuss sex in the context of marriage,” the Washington State Catholic Conference said in a flier. Its requirements on teaching consent, for instance, do not address Catholic teaching that sexual activity should take place only between married spouses.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has said public school districts would be able to choose from a variety of full sex ed curricula and supplemental curricula for grades K-5, grades 6-8, and high schoolers, respectively. According to Seattle Weekly, the office said that grades K-3 curricula focus on “social-emotional learning.”
The state superintendent’s office says it is appropriate for fourth-graders to learn how to define sexual orientation and gender identity. Later grades would learn about healthy relationships, consent, developmental growth, the functions of reproductive systems, how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs. They are also supposed to understand the influences of family, peers, community and the media on healthy sexual relationships.
The state superintendent office’s sexual health education program supervisor Laurie Dils told Seattle Weekly that many schools that already teach sexual education likely already cover some or all of the requirements, especially in grades 4-12. An estimated 60% of the state’s 295 school districts teach what is considered comprehensive sex education, and the state law is aimed to address those that teach no sex education or partial sex education.
Bishop Mueggenborg, however, warned that the measure “does not allow local communities to protect their own values.”
The Catholic conference’s flier added: “The Catholic principle of subsidiarity holds that certain issues are best dealt with locally. The sensitive matter of sex education is one such example of the appropriateness of handling some governmental issues at the local level.”
While defenders of the sex education mandate have rejected claims that one curriculum will be mandated for the whole state, the Catholic conference argued that this does not reflect the full truth.
“Locally elected school boards cannot fully determine their own policy in this sensitive area,” the conference said. It explained that although school districts are permitted to create their own curriculum based on the state’s 2005 health standards, the sex education mandate is not funded and so school districts are more likely to rely on the existing state curriculum than to create their own without funds.
The Catholic conference warned that such sex education can have an effect on the school’s general atmosphere.
“Parents can opt their children out of classroom instruction, but they cannot opt them out of schoolyard discussions and the culture change that may take place at school as the result of (comprehensive sexual health education),” warned the flier.
The flier cited the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium et Spes, which stressed the need to safeguard the right of parents to “educate their children in the bosom of the family.”
In Nevada, voters can decide whether to change the state constitution’s definition of marriage.
In 2002, over 67% of Nevada voters voted in favor of a marriage amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman in the state constitution.
On this year’s state ballot is Question 2, titled “Marriage Regardless of Gender,” which would repeal the 2002 measure. It would require the State of Nevada and its political subdivisions to recognize marriages and issue licenses to “couples, regardless of gender.”
Regardless of the state constitution, the state now follows the definition of marriage mandated by the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court required that all states allow same-sex unions legally recognized as marriages.
Backers of Question 2 have said there have still been legal challenges against legally recognized same-sex marriage based on state constitutional definitions, such as an effort earlier this year in Tennessee which argued county clerks were wrong to distribute licenses to same-sex couples.
While Nevada’s 2020 ballot measure recognizes the rights of clergy and religious organizations to refuse to perform a marriage, this is an area rarely contested in the courts. Rather, the legal redefinition of marriage has posed significant religious freedom problems for religious organizations, schools, social services, adoption agencies, businesses and individuals that do not recognize same-sex unions as marriages.
Question 2 was placed on the 2020 Nevada ballot after two consecutive sessions of the state legislature voted to place it there.
The Nevada Catholic Conference was not available for comment. The Diocese of Carson City did not respond to CNA’s request for comment. The Diocese of Las Vegas did not have comment on Question 2 specifically, but a spokesperson noted that Bishop George Leo Thomas of Las Vegas recently said Pope Francis has been consistent in his belief that “marriage is a union between a man and a woman… It’s the nature of things.”
Thomas’ remarks came in the context of clarification after confusion regarding a video including footage of the pope’s remarks on civil unions for same-sex couples.
Denver Newsroom, Nov 1, 2020 / 01:45 pm (CNA).-
At the Nov. 1 Mass of Thanksgiving for newly beatified Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said McGivney provides a model for both priests and laypeople of how to “live the Beatitudes.”
“Anyone aspiring to holiness will exhibit those luminous qualities that Jesus perfectly exemplified…having lived the Beatitudes so consistently and thoroughly, Father McGivney led his parishioners to holiness,” Lori said in his homily.
Pope Francis, via apostolic letter, beatified McGivney Oct. 31, making him the fourth U.S.-born man to be beatified, joining Bl. Stanley Rother, Bl. James Miller, and Bl. Solanus Casey.
Archbishop Lori, who serves as Supreme Chaplain for the Knights of Columbus, was the principal celebrant at the Nov. 1 Mass of Thanksgiving.
McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882. Initially, the organization was intended to assist widows and their families upon the deaths of their husbands. It has grown into a worldwide Catholic fraternal order, with more than 2 million members carrying out works of charity and evangelization across the globe. The Knights also offer life insurance policies to their members.
The Thanksgiving Mass was held at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, the church where McGivney first founded the fraternal organization.
Several other archbishops and bishops, including representatives from the Ukrainian Catholic Church, were also present, along with Michael McGivney Schacle, the child who McGivney’s intercession saved in utero from a fatal condition.
Lori noted that the “men and women of outstanding holiness from every race and culture” that the Church celebrates on the Solemnity of All Saints include not only those canonized, but also those who never receive earthly recognition.
“They represent every conceivable vocation and state of life, but all these holy men and women have one thing in common: they lived the Beatitudes,” Lori said.
Describing McGivney as “the quintessential parish priest,” Lori in his homily offered a reflection on the ways that McGivney lived the Beatitudes.
McGivney was “poor in spirit” because he gave up his time, energy, and resources to those in need, taking little in return. He mourned alongside poor families— many of whom were helped by the Knights— who had lost fathers and breadwinners.
He exhibited meekness; Lori noted that McGivney shunned the limelight, largely stepping away from leadership of the Knights as the organization grew and became successful, preferring instead to serve out of the spotlight, as chaplain.
McGivney helped others, especially the young, to “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” as he did; he was a “peacemaker,” responding to challenges and disputes in the community with disarming humility and wisdom.
The date selected for McGivney’s feast, August 13, is the day between his birth, which was August 12, 1852, and his death, which was August 14, 1890.
Supreme Knight Carl Anderson offered a reflection on Father McGivney following the Mass, noting that during the late 19th century when McGivney founded the Knights, the United States was still considered “mission territory” for the Church.
The 1880s and the decades after were a time of virulent anti-Catholicism in much of the U.S., Anderson noted. The late 19th century was a time of prosperity for many Americans, but of abject poverty for many others. Priests in America’s urban centers knew this well, and confronted these challenges on a “daily basis.”
“McGivney was determined that the social evils of his day would not overwhelm his parishioners. He strove tirelessly to overcome evil with good, by putting a Catholic ethic of charity at the center of their lives.”
Anderson said it is worth reflecting on how “innovative and extraordinary” was McGivney’s vision of a fraternity of Catholic laymen, based on charity, especially in such a difficult time to be Catholic in the US.
By founding the Knights, McGivney created a “practical path for millions of men” to put their faith into action, anticipating by nearly a century the Second Vatican Council’s call for laypeople to “transform society in the light of the Gospel.”
“Blessed Michael McGivney’s great achievement was to find a practical means to strengthen the [Church’s] center, while extending its reach into the peripheries,” he said.
“His greatest charity was the gift of himself.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, the appointed representative of Pope Francis, was principal celebrant of the beatification Mass at Hartford’s cathedral Oct. 31.
While the Church has recognized three women born in the United States as saints— St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Katharine Drexel, and St. Kateri Tekawitha— there have not yet been any U.S.-born canonized men.
After his Nov. 1 Angelus address, Pope Francis noted McGivney’s beatification the day before.
“Dedicated to evangelization, he did everything possible to provide for the needs of those in need, promoting reciprocal aid. May his example be an impetus for us to always be witnesses of the Gospel of charity,” he said, asking for a round of applause for the new blessed.
McGivney’s sainthood cause officially opened in 1997 in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI declared the American-born priest a Venerable Servant of God in recognition of his life of heroic virtue.
In 2000, an investigation into a miracle attributed to McGivney’s intercession was completed. But in 2011, the Vatican ruled that the event was not miraculous in nature.
In 2012, another possible miracle was reported and placed under investigation.
Pope Francis announced May 27 an approved miracle credited to McGiveney’s intercession. A child who was diagnosed as terminally ill in the womb was in 2015 miraculously healed following prayers for McGivney’s intercession.
Now that he has been beatified, McGivney’s cause will require one more authenticated miracle before he can be considered for canonization.
He would not be the first member of the Knights of Columbus to be canonized. A group of six Mexican members of the organization were martyred during the Cristero War of 1926-29 and its aftermath.
In 2018, the Knights’ 16,000 councils worldwide donated more than $185 million to charity and gave over 76 million hours of hands-on service in 2018, worth over $1.9 billion according to a valuation of volunteer work by the Independent Sector. Their volunteer work included support for the Special Olympics, coat drives, and food drives for needy families.
Between 2017 and 2018, the Knights raised and delivered $2 million for the Iraqi town of Karamlesh; the Knights have helped Christian survivors of the ISIS genocide in the town resettle in their homes and rebuild for the future.
Hartford, Conn., Oct 31, 2020 / 12:30 pm (CNA).-
Fr. Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, was beatified October 31, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut. He will now be known as “Blessed Michael McGivne… […]
CNA Staff, Oct 30, 2020 / 04:43 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Brooklyn announced Friday the retirement of Octavio Cisneros from the office of auxiliary bishop. The Cuban-born bishop will remain in ministry as pastor at a local parish.
Cisneros had turned 75 in July. Diocesan bishops are required by canon law to submit their resignation to the pope upon reaching age 75. Pope Francis accepted Cisneros’ resignation Friday.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn voiced gratitude for Cisneros.
“I am grateful to Bishop Cisneros for his willingness to serve and was honored to ordain him and consecrate him as an auxiliary Bishop on June 6, 2006,” said DiMarzio in a statement.
“He will remain as pastor at the Church of the Holy Child Jesus & St. Benedict Joseph Labre in Richmond Hill, Queens, and will continue to serve as Vicar for Hispanic Concerns. We thank Bishop Cisneros for his years of Diocesan leadership and are grateful he will continue to serve the Diocese in Brooklyn and Queens.”
In an Oct. 30 statement, Cisneros expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve as a bishop and for the dedication of Pope Francis to the clergy.
“I am most grateful to Pope Benedict and Bishop DiMarzio for giving me the fullness of the priesthood in 2006 so that I can help minister as auxiliary bishop, which has been rewarding and fulfilling for me,” he said.
“I am thankful to Pope Francis for his continued support of our bishops. He is an inspiration for all of us. I have lived a very happy priesthood in the Diocese of Brooklyn for 49 years and look forward to continuing my priestly ministry.”
Cisneros was born in 1945 in Las Villas, Cuba. During high school in 1961, he moved to the United States as part of Operation Peter Pan, an undercover Catholic program that brought 14,000 unaccompanied minors to the U.S. from Cuba as political refugees during the rise of Fidel Castro.
In 1971, he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn. He served at several local parishes before being appointed as the rector of Cathedral Seminary Residence in Douglaston and the Episcopal Vicar in the Brooklyn East Vicariate. Pope John Paul II named Cisneros a Prelate of Honor in 1988.
Cisneros worked with the Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy and the Pastors’ Advisory Committee, the Northeast Catholic Center for Hispanics, and the “Instituto Nacional Hispano de Liturgia.” He has served as the president of the Conference of Diocesan Directors for the Spanish Apostolate and on the board of governors for the Immaculate Conception Seminary.
On October 30, Cisneros celebrated a special Mass with the Cuban-American community at Our Lady of Sorrows parish. There, he presented a statue of Our Lady of Charity to Pastor Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez.
CNA Staff, Oct 30, 2020 / 04:21 pm (CNA).- A strong majority of New Zealand voters approved the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia for the terminally ill Oct. 30. Foes of legalization said many voters appeared confused about the measure’s far-reaching effects and warned that the move will have consequences for the vulnerable.
The nationwide referendum passed with support from 65% of voters on Friday. It allows terminally ill persons who are believed to have six months or fewer to live to be euthanized or to take a lethal dose of prescribed drugs themselves, on the condition that two doctors agree the person is well-informed. Patients are eligible if they show significant, ongoing decline in physical ability and experience “unbearable suffering that cannot be eased.” The law will take effect Nov. 6, 2021.
Legalization opponent Euthanasia-Free NZ said some 80% of adult New Zealanders appeared to misunderstand the referendum. Only 20% knew the act would not make it legal to turn off life support machines. Such a practice is not illegal under current law.
“It seems that most New Zealanders voted for an end-of-life choice that is in fact already legal,” Renée Joubert, executive officer of Euthanasia-Free NZ, said Oct. 30.
Surveys indicated similar confusion about eligibility criteria. Only 29% knew that terminally ill people who have depression or another mental illness would be allowed to seek euthanasia. Only 13% of adults knew that the act does not require an independent witness.
The New Zealand law does not require a waiting period before a lethal dose is prescribed, nor does it require a competency test.
In November 2019 the New Zealand Parliament approved the bill, officially called “The End of Life Choice Bill,” by a vote of 69-51. The bill had the backing of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of the ruling New Zealand Labour Party and her main rival, Judith Collins of the center-right National Party, the New York Times reports. Voters had to approve the act in referendum in order for it to become law.
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed those with severe or incurable conditions who were not terminally ill to seek euthanasia or assisted suicide as well.
Joubert objected that parliament voted down more than 100 amendments that “could have made this law safer” and said the law lacks safeguards that have been standard in U.S. law.
“It’s disappointing that the New Zealand public were generally uninformed about the details of the End of Life Choice Act,” she said.
When New Zealand’s National Party was governing the country, a parliamentary study on assisted suicide and euthanasia proposals concluded that “the public would be endangered” by legalization of the practices.
In 2017, the National Party-controlled Parliament’s health committee said submissions on the proposal “cited concern for vulnerable people, such as the elderly and the disabled, those with mental illnesses, and those susceptible to coercion.”
“Others argued that life has an innate value and that introducing assisted dying and euthanasia would explicitly undermine that idea. To do so would suggest that some lives are worth more than others. There were also concerns that, once introduced, eligibility for assisted dying would rapidly expand well beyond what was first intended,” the committee said.
In 2018 the Catholic bishops of New Zealand published resources against assisted suicide legislation and encouraged Catholics to oppose legalization. The Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand bishops-founded Catholic bioethics center, posted resources on Church teaching on euthanasia and assisted suicide to their website and social media pages ahead of the referendum.
Ahead of the election, the Nathaniel Centre said the act is “badly drafted and seriously flawed.”
“It will expose many New Zealanders to the risk of a premature death at a time when they are most vulnerable. Whatever one’s views about the idea of euthanasia, it is not compassion to vote for a dangerous law,” the center said. “The group most at risk if we legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide are those vulnerable to the suggestion they would be ‘better off dead’ – our elders, disabled people, and people with depression and mental illness who find themselves fitting the eligibility criteria.”
The center cited the Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders, a group of over 200 lawyers, including some supporters of euthanasia, opposed the act on the grounds it is too broadly drafted, “dangerous,” and “broader in its scope and riskier than comparable laws overseas.”
Other opponents of the act included the New Zealand Medical Association, Hospice New Zealand, Palliative Care Nurses and Palliative Medicine Doctors.
David Seymour, the lawmaker who sponsored the act, praised its passage as “a great day,” the New York Times reports. In his view, the vote made New Zealand “a kinder, more compassionate, more humane society.”
Pope Francis has on multiple occasions spoken out against assisted suicide and euthanasia, both of which are “morally unacceptable” according to Church teaching. In 2016, Pope Francis told medical professionals that assisted suicide and euthanasia are part of the “throwaway culture” that offers people “false compassion” and treats human persons like a problem.
Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada and Colombia. Doctor-assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland. Some U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide.
Also on New Zealand’s ballot was a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana use, allow adults age 20 and over to buy cannabis from licensed outlets, and allow adults to grow the plant at home. Advertising and smoking the drug in public would be banned. That proposal failed by a vote of 53% to 46%, according to preliminary results.
The country already has legalized medical marijuana.
Critics of the recreational use legalization warned that it would make the drug more accessible to children, Bloomberg News reports. They said cannabis is a serious drug harmful to mental health, especially among adolescents.
For their part, advocates said legalization would weaken the power of drug trafficking gangs, regulate quality and raise awareness of health risk through the use of warning labels. They said indigenous Maori people are disproportionately arrested and convicted for the drug.
Some figures suggest that New Zealanders are among the biggest users of marijuana in the world, with 80% having tried the drug by age 20 and 12% reporting use of the drug in the past year.
Pope Francis criticized drug use and legalization in a 2014 address to the International Drug Enforcement Conference in Rome.
“Let me state this in the clearest terms possible: the problem of drug use is not solved with drugs! Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise,” the pope said. “To think that harm can be reduced by permitting drug addicts to use narcotics in no way resolves the problem. Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects.”
CNA Staff, Oct 30, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- A Catholic elementary school in Michigan is suing the state’s health department over a mandate that masks be worn continually during the school day, calling the requirement unnecessary, and harmful to it… […]
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