Europe

Vienna, Austria, Apr 5, 2018 / 03:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Muslim community in Austria is calling for more dialogue surrounding the government’s recent proposal to ban headscarves, or hijabs, for young girls in schools.

The proposal, which is being dubbed a “child protection law,” will be drafted later this year and could affect girls up to the age of 10. Austria’s new coalition government has said this new measure would protect the nation’s culture from Islamic influences and the infiltration of parallel societies, according to the BBC.

“Our goal is to confront any development of parallel societies in Austria,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, of the Austrian People’s Party, to the local ORF Radio.

Kurz additionally noted concern that the headscarves worn by young girls in schools was becoming a problem, calling it a “growing phenomenon,” although he did not give further details.
 
The Muslim community in Austria voiced concerns over the measure, calling the proposal “counterproductive.” They also remarked that “very few” girls under the age of 10 wear headscarves to school and have requested more dialogue on the issue.

A ban on wearing in public burqas or niqabs, which cover the face, was implemented last year, though hijabs are allowed.

Kurz formed last year a coalition government with the Freedom Party of Austria, following an October 2017 legislative election. The Austrian People’s Party has championed issues such as stricter immigration regulations after Austria absorbed a number of refugees, who make up around 2 percent of the nation’s 8.7 million population.

Austria is not the only European country which has considered measures to ban religious headscarves. The Court of Justice of the European Union has allowed a qualified ban on headscarves in the workplace. The ban additionally forbade other religious garb, including crucifixes, skullcaps, and turbans, from being worn while at work, depending on internal company rules.

The EU ruling came under fire from critics concerned about religious freedom, including Adina Portaru, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels.

In a previous interview with CNA, Portaru called the measure “highly problematic,” since it “ultimately allows private businesses to implement rules which violate the fundamental right to freedom of religion.”

“Nobody should be forced to choose between their religion and their profession,” she continued.

[…]

Cologne, Germany, Apr 4, 2018 / 03:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Seven German bishops have written to the Vatican, asking for clarification on the question of Protestant spouses of Catholics receiving Holy Communion.

The letter was sent to Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Archbishop Luis Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The signatories, among them the Archbishop of Cologne and five Bavarian bishops, did not beforehand consult with the president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

Marx, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising in turn has published his own response to the unusual move.

In a written statement provided to CNA Deutsch, the Archdiocese of Cologne stated that the letter, dated March 22, 2018, seeks clarification as to whether the question of Holy Communion for Protestant spouses in interdenominational marriages can be decided on the level of a national bishops’ conference, or if rather, “a decision of the Universal Church” is required in the matter.

“From the view of the signatories, the goal in a question of such centrality to the Faith and the unity of the Church must be to avoid separate national paths and arrive at a globally unified, workable solution by way of an ecumenical dialogue,” the April 4 statement explained.

The request for clarification from Rome follows a February announcement that the German bishops’ conference will publish a pastoral handout for married couples that allows Protestant spouses of Catholics “in individual cases” and “under certain conditions” to receive Holy Communion, provided they “affirm the Catholic faith in the Eucharist.”

The announcement was made “after intensive debate” at the conclusion of the general assembly of the German bishops’ conference, held Feb. 19 – 22.

It would appear that the debate did not achieve clarity for the signatories, namely Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg, as well as Bishops Konrad Zdarsa of Augsburg, Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstätt, Stefan Oster of Passau and Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg – and Bishop Wolfgang Ipolt of Görlitz.

Notably, five of the seven bishops are based in Bavaria – where Cardinal Marx is Archbishop of Munich and Freising.

Responding with his own letter April 4, the head of the German Bishops’ Conference notes that his fellow bishops clearly “have such grave doubts as to whether the proposed solution in Pastoral Guidance on denominational marriages and participation in the Eucharist ‘is consistent with the Faith and unity of the Church’, that you should ask the President of the [Pontifical] Council for [Promoting] Christian Unity ‘for assistance.'”

How the Vatican will answer to the letter is now the decisive question; sources in Rome have told CNA Deutsch that a response is being formulated.

There are practically no historical precedents for the move of the seven bishops, although local media in Germany today drew a comparison to a 1999 debate, when Cardinal Joachim Meisner – then Archbishop of Cologne – wrote directly to the pope, after the majority of German bishops had voted in favor of providing pregnant women with a form of mandated counseling required by the German government in order to legally have an abortion. Ultimately, Pope Saint John Paul II instructed the German bishops to change tack and end their involvement.

[…]

Dublin, Ireland, Apr 3, 2018 / 10:58 pm (CNA).- A proposed policy in Ireland that would ban Catholic schools from prioritizing Catholic students on wait lists is being criticized as discriminatory, since it would not apply to other religious schools.

… […]

Krakow, Poland, Apr 3, 2018 / 10:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Thirteen years after the death of St. John Paul II, a close friend and colleague of the beloved Polish pope said the pontiff’s vast legacy and influence can still be felt, and is a source of inspiration for the world.

“Thirteen years have passed since the death of this Holy Shepherd, yet he unceasingly continues to speak, inspiring, showing the way, and encouraging,” said Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz April 2.

In looking at the “book of life” for John Paul, Dziwisz said it is clear that the Polish pope’s life and ministry were a reflection of Jesus Christ, and were built on the “rock” of his personal relationship with God.

Dziwisz, archbishop emeritus of Krakow, was a close friend of Pope Saint John Paul II and served as his personal secretary for 40 years – both in Poland before the pontiff was elected to the papacy, and afterward for the entirety of his pontificate.

Cardinal Dziwisz spoke during a special Mass inside the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Krakow commemorating the 13th anniversary of the John Paul II’s death April 2, 2005.

In his homily, the cardinal said that John Paul II’s attitude throughout his life was one of “respect and readiness for service.”

This was demonstrated particularly in John Paul’s attention to the pastoral care of the faithful, from the family, to youth, the unborn, the sick, disabled and elderly, he said: John Paul II “was convinced that man is the way of the Church and that this is why he constantly urged the Church to serve man.”

Dziwisz also pointed to John Paul II’s influence in the wider, international community, and specifically his role in helping bring down communism in Europe during the 1980s.

John Paul, Dziwisz said, “was a realist. He saw good and evil in the world. He saw selfishness, tensions, and conflicts,” and tried to reach everyone, “especially those responsible for the fate of nations but not always guided by the same values and motivations as he was.”

The Polish pope was not only able to bring together leaders from the world’s different religions to pray for and promote peace, but he “contributed in a decisive way to freeing the Central and Eastern European nations from the shackles of a totalitarian system.”

Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who would later choose the name John Paul II upon his election to the papacy, was born the youngest of three children in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920.

In 1942, at the height of World War II, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, and was eventually ordained in 1946. He took part in Vatican Council II (1962-1965), being appointed archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and contributed to drafting the Constitution Gaudium et spes.

Wojtyla was elected pope Oct. 16, 1978, at the age of 58, and took the papal name John Paul II. Over the course of his 27 year pontificate – one of the longest in Church history – he traveled to 129 countries, and was instrumental in the fall of Communism in Europe.

He died at 9:37 p.m. April 2, 2005, the day before Divine Mercy Sunday – a feast he established during his pontificate – after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011, Divine Mercy Sunday, at a ceremony which saw an estimated 2 million pilgrims flock to Rome. He was canonized April 27, 2014, in Saint Peter’s Square by Pope Francis on the same feast day.

In his homily commemorating the anniversary of John Paul II’s death, Cardinal Dziwisz said he had a great love for the Church, with all of her strengths and weaknesses.

The Church John Paul II loved, he said, was not “an ideal Church that does not exist,” but was rather “the Church of weak and sinful people, people who are converting, returning to the paths indicated in the Gospel.”

“John Paul II wisely and patiently guided the great community of a very diversified Church which speaks different languages and expresses the faith in different cultural contexts and traditions,” he said, adding that “there was a place for everyone in his pastoral heart.”

In leading the Church into the third millennium of the Christian faith, John Paul encouraged Christians to “look at the face of Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world, and to go out into the depths of faith, hope, and love, and so become a leaven of good in our turbulent world.”

Dziwisz closed his homily calling John Paul II a gift to the Church and to the world, and prayed that everyone would be inspired “by the desire that he realized to the very end: to make a gift of himself to others and ultimately to God.”

[…]

Dublin, Ireland, Apr 2, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest whose father was executed following Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising has died at the age of 104, after a lifetime of mission work.
 
Father Joseph Mallin, S.J., passed away early… […]

Rome, Italy, Mar 31, 2018 / 01:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ Holy Thursday Mass at a prison in Rome was more than just another event for the inmates who participated – it was a sign that while invisible to the world outside, they had not been forgotten.

“Yesterday is a moment that I think is going to resonate through the prison for at least the whole next entire year. I think it’s a moment that touched every single guard and every single prisoner who was there,” seminarian Alex Nevitt told CNA March 30.

A seminarian in his third year of theology studying at the Pontifical North American College, Nevitt does prison ministry at Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, where Pope Francis celebrated yesterday’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper for Holy Thursday.

The pope washed the feet of 12 inmates and visited the infirmary, as well as “Section VIII” of the facility, where prisoners who have committed serious crimes or who have certain mental illness live.

After the pope’s Mass, which commemorated the night Jesus himself was arrested, Nevitt said many of the inmates were moved, because “this is their lived experience that they know.”

“These are men that are easily forgotten,” he said, noting that at one point a representative from the prison spoke to the pope and thanked him “for making sure we’re not forgotten.”

“Sometimes it’s very easy to forget those who are in prison because we don’t see them,” Nevitt said, explaining that as seminarians, “it’s a privilege” to serve the inmates because it helps them to better understand “where the fringes of society are.”

Nevitt, who is from the Diocese of Patterson, NJ, has been working in the prison apostolate for two and a half years. He is in charge of the other eight seminarians who are involved in the ministry, five of whom are currently working inside the prison, and three of whom will start in September when they finish training.

As part of their ministry, the seminarians lead bible studies and catechesis. They work most directly with English-speaking inmates, the majority of whom are migrants from Africa. Since the prison does not provide a list of English-speakers, the seminarians will often walk around looking for people.

The people they work with, Nevitt said, are there for a variety of reasons – anything from illegal immigration to petty street crimes, such as selling merchandise like toys or purses on the street illegally.

Although there are not many life sentences, they actual time a person has to spend in prison is not well-defined, Nevitt said, explaining that some people are from Europe or have gained Italian citizenship legally, but have no family, making it harder to access bail or be released without a support system.

“You hear some backstories of prisoners who don’t want to write back home because they’re ashamed of being in prison,” he said. “So I think the pope’s message of forgiveness probably spoke very much to those types of prisoners, to not be ashamed, and they can be forgiven and move forward.”

A total of three popes have visited Regina Coeli, the most recent being St. John Paul II in 2000. Pope Francis’ visit meant a lot, Nevitt said.

When people heard that the pope was coming, they “were extremely excited…Regardless of whatever religion they were from, [they] were excited that the pope was coming, so there was a huge amount of energy in the prison for it.”

During the Mass, the pope washed the feet of 12 prisoners from different religions – including Catholics, Muslims, an Orthodox Christian and a Buddhist. The inmates were from various countries, including the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Moldova, and Italy.

Nevitt said they work with a many non-Catholics, Protestants and Muslims, in their bible studies. At one point they had prepared a man for baptism, and after being transferred to another prison, he came into the Catholic Church.

Another of these non-Catholics is a Nigerian man named Oladipupo, who has been in their bible study for two years and whose feet the pope washed on Holy Thursday.

Oladipupo is a Pentecostal Christian, but has come to the bible study regularly, and even wrote a letter to Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Liturgy and the Discipline of the Sacraments, after reading Sarah’s recent book “God or Nothing.” And he got a response back.

“We’re hoping that Oladipupo will soon be called to the Catholic faith once he’s ready for it,” Nevitt said, explaining that after yesterday’s liturgy, he spoke to Oladipupo, who was amazed to see “the humanity of the pope, to see this man who is the leader of the Catholic Church in such a human way.”

Similarly, Nevitt said he also spoke with a Muslim man after the Holy Thursday Mass, though he didn’t know the man was a Muslim at the time. The man had been so moved by the liturgy that he had wanted to receive communion, and is now going to start coming to the bible study led by the seminarians.

Many people were moved by the pope’s homily Mass, Nevitt said, during which Francis emphasized forgiveness, condemned the death penalty, and told prisoners that Jesus would never abandon them, but would “take a chance” on them.

“Throughout the whole homily everyone was quite captivated at every word the pope was saying, and you could see even from a couple of the guards who were standing around me, there were a lot of head nods,” Nevitt said.

The space itself was very intimate, he said, noting that the rotunda where the Mass took place was small and only a limited number of guards and prisoners were able to sit inside the area, while the rest watched from different wings.

“There were certain moments, especially when the pope was kneeling down to wash the prisoners’ feet, you could see people crying,” Nevitt said. “There was a very humanness to seeing the pope kneeling down at his age, sometimes he would have difficulty…getting back up, and people [were] just crying at his example of humble leadership.”

[…]

Paris, France, Mar 31, 2018 / 12:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid a push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in parts of Europe, 118 French bishops signed a declaration this week promoting end-of-life care and explaining the Church’s opposition to… […]

Rome, Italy, Mar 30, 2018 / 12:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For American seminarians at the Pontifical North American college in Rome, Holy Week liturgies take on new life and dimension, as the history of ancient traditions comes alive through the city’s remembrance of Christ’s Passion and death.

The seminarians alternate each year between having Holy Week liturgical celebrations “in house,” or having the week free to celebrate wherever they wish.

This year is an in-house year, meaning all liturgies related to Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday through the Easter Vigil Saturday night, are celebrated in the seminary chapel with seminarians, deacons and priests carrying out the key roles including serving, singing and chanting the Gospels.

Justin Boff, a seminarian from the Archdiocese of Baltimore in his third year of theology at the NAC, said the ambiance of the seminary during the in-house years takes on a notably calm dynamic, as the frenzied rush of coursework and exams gives way to a slower, more prayerful pace focused on the liturgy.

“We’re really blessed here to have so many resources to be able to pull from and to be able to put together really, really nice liturgies with all the smells and bells and those sorts of things,” he told CNA, adding that the NAC is “a privileged place” with few distractions from entering into the meaning of the week’s events.

As far as the run-down of the schedule for this week, after Palm Sunday Mass March 25, seminarians have largely been focused on prayer and preparing for the major liturgies.

To kick off the Triduum, seminarians on Wednesday went on the historic “church walk” started by Saint Philip Neri in the late 16th century. On Wednesday of every Holy Week, Neri would set out with his companions on foot to visit each of the four major basilicas in Rome, as well as the three minor basilicas, stopping at each for a time of prayer.

Seminarians at the NAC have kept the tradition as part of their wider observance of the ancient “Roman stational liturgy,” in which Mass is celebrated at 7 a.m. at a different Roman parish each of the 40 days during Lent, beginning Ash Wednesday and ending the Wednesday of Holy Week.

At the end of Lent, the final station Mass is typically celebrated at the papal basilica of St. Mary Major, and after this Mass seminarians and other pilgrims will set off on the seven-church walk, finishing in the evening.

For Holy Thursday at the NAC, there was the usual Mass of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated by Cardinal Edwin O’Brien. Afterward, seminarians were welcome to go out and join the hundreds of other people in Rome praying at different chapels of repose throughout the city.

After Mass is celebrated on Holy Thursday, the Eucharist is removed from the tabernacle of churches as a sign that Jesus has been taken away, and placed in a side chapel where faithful can stay to pray, sometimes all night depending on the parish.

In Rome, locals, priests, pilgrims from abroad, and members of the Curia all turn out in droves for the event, stopping to pray at different churches around the city as a way of accompanying Jesus the night before his crucifixion and death.

“It’s really an impressive sight,” Boff said, explaining that most seminarians go out for this event, and are able to take students and peers from their apostolates along with them.

“So it’s a lot of religion these weeks, but it’s a lot of fun. You really get to see the universal Church and the local Church here in Rome, which is just beautiful.”

On Good Friday, the Veneration of the Cross service at the NAC will be celebrated at 3 p.m. by the college rector, Fr. Peter Harman. The Easter vigil Saturday night this year will be celebrated by Cardinal James Harvey. Events for Holy Week and the Easter Triduum will close Sunday morning, with Mass and evening prayer later in the afternoon.

Apart from the main liturgies, there has been daily morning prayer and Mass, and lots of preparation and rehearsals for the major events. Boff, who is playing the organ during the celebrations, has had a particularly busy week practicing with the 40-member seminary choir.

“It’s really not that much playing in the end as far as the Triduum goes, because the organ is totally silent from the Gloria on Holy Thursday to the Gloria on the Easter Vigil,” he said. “So the organ goes into the tomb a bit with the Lord.”

But the music at the vigil has to be “very triumphant and joyful,” which takes a lot of preparation to make sure the music matches the magnitude of the celebration, he said.

Deacon Colin Jones, who is from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and is in his fourth year of theology at the NAC, said that for him, the station churches have played a major role in how he has lived Lent.

Though attending all the station Masses, some of which are an hour-long walk to get to, is not required, Jones said this year he tried to make it to as many as possible.

“It’s nice to be reminded about how many beautiful churches there are in the city and all the different parts of the city and a different, unique walk every morning,” he said, explaining that on any given day there are usually around 20-30 seminarians at the Masses in addition to the pilgrims and locals who come.

Jones said the long walk to get to some of the churches is “demanding,” but it allows time for prayer, and “it’s nice to have the morning for prayer and to have this pilgrimage…with our Lord through Lent.”

The churches and readings are generally the same for every year, and some were selected based on historical significance, so after awhile, he said, “the readings and the church become intertwined,” and it helps give context to the scripture passage being read.

Jones will also be chanting the part of Christ in the Gospel narrative of Jesus Passion on Good Friday, which is taken from the Gospel of John.

While the Palm Sunday Gospel reading was chanted by three priests, the Good Friday Gospel narrative will be chanted by three deacons, including Jones, who said the opportunity and the hours of practice are “a pretty big blessing, very powerful and very moving.”

Though it’s been hard to get the right pitch and tempo for the lines, Jones said being able to sing the lines of Jesus has helped him to go deeper into the events of Holy Week, specifically Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

“It just hits you in a different way and strikes more deeply,” he said. “Now we’ve sung through it a dozen times or so, so the words just get deeper every time, and you let them resonate a little bit more. And the more comfortable we become with it…we’re able to make it more of a prayer and those lines really hit you.”

Jones, who will be ordained a priest May 26, in just under a month, said he hopes that when he has a parish, he is able to impart to his parishioners the excitement and depth he’s gained about Holy Week from living and celebrating the liturgies in Rome.

And while it’s nice to have time to celebrate Holy Week elsewhere or participate in papal liturgies, Jones said he prefers the in-house years, because “you can enjoy more of a restful environment and enjoy hanging out with the guys.”

There are also more opportunities for prayer, he said, adding that “even the preparations are kind of exciting, there’s a certain excitement that’s in the house, so that’s definitely fun having all of that here this week.”

[…]

Rome, Italy, Mar 29, 2018 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the night of Holy Thursday Christians in Rome and around the world will take part in a tradition from the early Church, obeying Christ’s command to “keep watch” by making a pilgrimage to churches to adore Christ in the Eucharist together.

In Rome, this tradition takes the form of walking to seven churches, or more, to visit and pray before the Eucharist at what is called an “altar of repose,” where the hosts consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper are preserved for use on Good Friday.

“In each church, the altar of repose is decorated with beautiful, fragrant spring flowers and surrounded by flickering candlelight, that breaks the darkness in the rest of the church. Praying at these altars brings our hearts and minds right to the garden, as we pray there with Jesus,” Ashley and John Noronha, Catholic tour guides, told CNA.
 
The Noronhas, a married couple, have led a group of people on the Holy Thursday church walk each of the 10 years they have lived in Rome. They have also led groups in the United States.

Each year they gather a group of friends of all ages, they said, made up of both locals and pilgrims, to take part in the church walk together, enjoying “the fellowship that comes from praying together.”

They said that “the idea of visiting different churches on Holy Thursday provides an opportunity for local communities to encourage and strengthen each other in the faith.”

John and Ashley noted that one particular blessing of being in Rome – a city with more than 900 churches – is that it is easy to visit the many beautiful and historic churches by foot since they are in such proximity to one another.

The tradition of the seven churches walk is believed to have begun in Rome during the first centuries of the Church. The idea was born out of trying to keep vigil in the same spirit as the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, John said, even though they failed to stay up and pray as Christ asked.

The pilgrimage emphasizes two things: One is the actual act of prayer, following Christ’s plea to keep “vigil” with him, so that we do not “fall into temptation, since our spirit is willing, and flesh is weak.”

The other is the building of community, since people throughout the city gather together to pray, Ashley said. “We are already united through our Catholic faith, but the fact that we all get to be in close proximity as well… is just really powerful.”

“There’s something special that happens when people pray together; friendships can really be born from that,” she continued.

“The flowers of course bring us to the garden, that idea that we’re there with Jesus, praying, trying to keep our eyes open, to fight our weaknesses,” Ashley said.

“I certainly like the aesthetic part of it, in the sense that here we are getting to be with Christ in this incredible atmosphere: the fragrant flowers, the beautiful flickering candlelight. It’s a feast for the senses.”

The couple encouraged others to consider beginning the tradition in their own communities if they do not have a group to join. They advised to begin by reading about the tradition to really understand what it is first; both the spiritual significance and the historical symbolism.

The walk is “a beautiful opportunity to have not only a spiritual experience, but also one of fellowship with people,” John said. He added that people should not worry about the size of the group at first, but just to invite their family, or three or four people, as a starting point.

Those few people “will have such an amazing experience they will bring others” the next year, and “it will just grow,” he said.

From a logistical perspective, Ashley encouraged calling local parishes ahead of time to find out which will be open and what hours. Then to plan a route to share ahead of time so that people can join in at any point in the evening.

Traditionally, churches remain open until midnight, when they are closed to symbolize Christ’s abandonment by his apostles the night of his imprisonment.

They also said that while the tradition in Rome is to visit seven churches (influenced by St. Philip Neri’s pilgrimage to the seven major basilicas, which started in the 1500s), places around the world have their own tradition of what number to visit.

“According to tradition, the number of churches visited would vary depending on the location in the world and proximity of churches,” John said. Therefore, the tradition can be adapted to fit what is possible in each community.

John said, for example, that in the Eastern Orthodox Church the tradition is to visit eight churches, and in some places in India, there are prayer groups who will keep vigil all night long on Holy Thursday.

[…]

Portsmouth, England, Mar 26, 2018 / 06:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Legalizing assisted suicide is a false solution to the sufferings of the terminally ill, an English bishop has said in a Palm Sunday letter addressed to the faithful of the Channel Island of Guernsey.

“Someone near the end of life needs emotional support, comfort and care, good pain control, respect and loving communication – not suicide on prescription,” said Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth. “Let us redouble our efforts to offer this support, not least to anyone tempted to suicide or a hurried death.”

“I appeal to Catholics to mobilize,” he added in his Palm Sunday letter to the Parish of Our Lady and the Saints of Guernsey. “Speak out against this proposal. It is never permissible to do good by an evil means.” He asked everyone in Guernsey to overturn this “grim proposal” and to “redouble the compassionate care of those who are frail and terminally ill.”

Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy, is a Crown dependency for which the U.K. is responsible. It is part of the Diocese of Portsmouth.

Its chief minister, Gavin St. Pier, has proposed allowing terminally ill patients to commit suicide in a state-funded program with what he says are strict guidelines, the U.K. newspaper The Sunday Express reports. Those eligible under the proposal would include those who are mentally competent, diagnosed with a terminal illness, and given less than six months to live.

St. Pier cited his father’s death at age 77 after heart disease left him bedridden and unable to move, speak, eat, or drink. The minister said his father would have wanted an assisted suicide two to three weeks before his death.

The proposed change aims to give people choice and a sense of control over their death, St. Pier said. The Suicide Act 1961 bars euthanasia, with a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>As we prepare for the Palm Sunday Mass, let’s pray for the people of Guernsey that, along with their doctors and other civilised people, they will robustly reject the push from secularists and liberals for assisted suicide and death-clinics.</p>&mdash; Bishop Philip Egan (@BishopEgan) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BishopEgan/status/977819241712939008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Bishop Egan wrote that assisted suicide is “fundamentally incompatible with a doctor’s role as healer.”

“It would be difficult or impossible to control and it would pose serious societal risks,” he said. “Let there be no death-clinics in Guernsey.”

Bishop Egan said the proposal to legalize assisted suicide is “fundamentally subversive, horrific and dangerous, however well-intentioned.” Invoking the expansion of Belgium’s legal assisted suicide to include children, he said “the right to die would soon become the duty to die.”

“It would be an intolerable and utterly immoral demand to ask medical staff, doctors and nurses dedicated to preserving life, to extinguish the life of another human person,” the bishop added. “However carefully crafted the laws might be, assisted suicide would place medics in an impossible dilemma.”

Dr. Brian Parkin, a Guernsey representative of the British Medical Society, told The Sunday Express he was concerned about the proposal.

“Safeguarding the vulnerable is paramount in such a debate,” Parkin said. “The continued investment and development of the high-quality palliative care services in Guernsey involves all health care professionals – and their focus on end of life care plans should be prioritized.”

The local branch of the British Medical Society said that support for aid in dying could have an impact on recruiting and retaining doctors to the island, home to about 63,000 people.

The national organization has opposed assisted suicide since 2006 and supports the current law. The U.K.’s General Medical Council is also clear that encouraging or assisting in a suicide is illegal.

Because the council registers doctors to practice medicine, it is unclear how legal assisted suicide in Guernsey could be carried out by registered doctors, the Jersey Evening Post said.

For Bishop Egan, the proposal was an opportunity to reflect on the hardships at the end of life and what Christians believe about suffering and death.

“Frailty, pain and infirmity are a difficult trial for anyone,” he said. “Those who are mentally ill may experience despair and gloom at the problems they face. Others, the terminally ill, become anguished at the loss of function and mobility, feeling keenly a sense of burden on family and even a financial burden on society.”

“Yet let us thank God for the amazing advances that medical science has made and the level of true loving care that can now be given,” Egan added, noting advances in palliative care and pain management.

Further, the bishop said Christians believe in “assisted living, not assisted dying.”

“Death is not pain relief but the beginning of a new, resurrected life with God our Father and Creator,” he said. “This future depends on the state of our soul when we die and this perspective rightly affects our decisions on end of life care and how best to uphold a patient’s personal dignity.”

To help someone to commit suicide or to die prematurely, even when they request it, “can never ever be a compassionate action,” he emphasized. “It is a grave sin.”

Egan’s Holy Week letter stressed the importance of uniting one’s suffering with Christ and finding in him “all the strength, patience and energy we need to sustain our suffering – to ‘carry the cross’ and to turn it to a positive good for others. That is the meaning of Holy Week, when Jesus Christ willingly underwent death at the hands of those who had decided it was better for society for Him to be extinguished.”

“We must not yield to the temptation to apply rapid or drastic solutions, moved by a false compassion or by criteria of efficiency and cost-effectiveness,” he said.

The seriously ill deserve respect, understanding and tenderness “so that the sacred value of their life can shine forth with splendor in their suffering.”

[…]