Some thoughts about assisted suicide

On Friday of this week, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the long-standing prohibition in this country against physician-assisted suicide.  Here are some thoughts on this subject, inspired by this weekend's readings and the statement issued by the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

An expression of Christian mercy

On Friday of this week, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the long-standing prohibition in this country against physician-assisted suicide.  The debate about the right of individuals to choose what has become known as death with dignity has been simmering in this country for a number of years now, and many people may see this week’s decision as a long-awaited victory, but the teachings of the Church have always called Catholics to assist all people who are in need: especially the poor, the suffering and the dying.

A concrete example of this call is expressed in the gospel passage we have just heard.  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and Simon, Andrew, James and John told Jesus about her at once  (Mk 1:30).  When he heard this news, Jesus could have continued along the road, ignoring her plight, yet he took her by the hand and lifted her up (Mk 1:31).  Following the example that Jesus gives, the Church has always placed great importance on comforting the sick and the dying, and accompanying them in their moments of trial.  We do this with love and solidarity as an expression of Christian mercy.

The Supreme Court’s decision, which each provincial government has been given a year to implement, applies to competent adults with enduring, intolerable suffering who clearly consent to ending their own lives.  While we may find it very difficult to watch someone suffer, I can’t help thinking that the words of today’s first reading would place Job as well into this category of consenting adults: Does not the human being have a hard service on earth … (Job 7:1), as though he truly were wondering about whether death would ever come.  Job had been stripped of everything he held dear: his wife, his children, his cattle ... in a sense, we might be tempted to think that he would be right to long for death!

Ten years ago, the world watched as Pope John Paul II lay in a similar situation: dying.  How many times did people say that he should have considered retiring from active service, and yet never once did he consider this possibility, and never once did he consider the possibility of ending his own life.  Instead, he used the gift of his suffering from the increasing debilitation of Parkinson’s disease to show the world that even in our suffering, we can be witnesses to love and mercy.

Saint Paul reminds us today that an obligation has been laid upon us by virtue of our baptism: an obligation to proclaim the gospel (1 Cor 9:16).  We have no choice but to tell others about the good news that we have come to know: that Jesus came to the earth, that he suffered and died out of love for us (not by his own choosing), and that he was raised again to the fullness of life.  Each of these three chapters must be proclaimed; none of them can be separated from the others, for they are all part of the same story.

The Supreme Court’s ruling might remove the legal prohibition against physician-assisted suicide, but it does not change the Church’s teaching.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that: An act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, our Creator (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2277).

In a statement published on Friday of this past week, Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops invited Canadians, especially Catholics, to do all we can to bring comfort and support to all those who are dying and to their loved ones, so that no one feels that they have no choice but to commit suicide because of loneliness, vulnerability, loss of autonomy or fear of pain and suffering.  Instead, we should continue to promote palliative and home care, and to encourage all people to work for the betterment of the elderly, the disabled, the ill and those who are socially isolated … with love and solidarity as an expression of Christian mercy.