The Catholic Leader - 21 April 2019 - Issue 5548

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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
Protecting life
The current Inquiry into aged care,
end-of-life and palliative care and
voluntary assisted dying by the
Queensland government is an oppor-
tunity for us to consider the kind of
society we want to be.
As Gandhi once said, “the true measure of
any society can be found in how it treats its most
vulnerable members”.
Those in aged care and end of life care are
among the most vulnerable, and care for them
goes to the heart of the Gospel, which is why the
Church – you and me – has something to say on
these issues.
We are very much in favour of high quality
aged care and palliative care, and we would urge
the government to allocate more resourcing to
these.
But the proposal of voluntary assisted dying
(VAD) raises troubling questions, especially
when suicide rates have become as alarming
as they now are. Legislation which condones
suicide and even provides assistance for it will
not lower those levels; it will make things worse,
Love is stronger than death
LIFE
Protecting
Every human person is intrinsically
valuable, endowed with an inviolable
dignity and a gift to us all, Archbishop
Mark Coleridge writes
not better.
Euthanasia isn’t simply ceasing treatment of a
terminally ill patient.
It’s not a matter of removing life support after
all possible treatments have been explored.
It’s the intentional killing by act or omission
of a person whose life is judged not worth living.
It raises questions about the dignity of the hu-
man person, the meaning of suffering, and what
we should do to relieve the suffering that leads
someone to think that death may be preferable
to life.
Every human person is intrinsically valuable,
endowed with an inviolable dignity and a gift to
us all.
This dignity doesn’t depend on gender, race,
sexuality, ethnicity, age or physical and intellec-
tual capacity.
Nor is it something that can be revoked by any
individual or government.
That’s why the decision to kill intentionally –
to euthanise – is an attempt by the human being
to play God, and that always ends up badly.
In saying no when God says yes, we end up
saying no to ourselves.
In saying death when God says life, we end
up signing our own death warrant in one way or
another.
Anyone who has personally known intense
physical suffering understands how pain can be
depressing and lead to thoughts of escape, even
by death.
There is another pain that can lead to thoughts
of death, and that is loneliness, which often goes
hand in hand with depression.
Loneliness, depression and acute physical pain
are a powerful cocktail that’s fuelling the call for
euthanasia.
But there is a power stronger than pain, which
can give meaning to suffering and make it pos-
sible to endure pain, and the name of that power
is love.
A person in immense pain can continue to love
and be loved: in fact that’s the true palliation of
pain.
In moments of deepest suffering love finds its
deepest expression.
It’s the faithful wife at the bedside, the daugh-
ter or son holding the hand of the sick mother,
the lifelong friend staying in the hospital room
while the sick friend sleeps, the priest who minis-
ters the grace of anointing and viaticum.
In accompanying intense suffering self-
sacrificing love comes into its own and shows
humanity at its best.
It also reveals the embrace of God.
In these moments we become most human,
looking upon the face of the Crucified.
It’s this love that inspires the sufferer to
endure pain in order to be with the beloved for a
moment longer.
It’s only when this love has vanished that the
desire to die becomes all consuming.
Only a society where love has been sidelined
could accept that someone’s life is not worth liv-
ing and provide the means to end it.
What kind of society do I want to live in?
A society that values every person no matter
what their condition; a society that cares deeply
for the vulnerable; a society that accompanies
those who suffer; a society that says to every per-
son, “Your life is worth living. You are always
a gift”.
That’s a society which says yes to life, and no
to voluntary assisted dying.
It’s a truly human society which knows that
love is stronger than death.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge is the archbishop
of Brisbane and president of the Australian
Catholic Bishops Conference
Submissions to the State Parliamentary
Inquiry into Aged, Palliative and End of Life
Care and possible VAD legislation closed on
April 15.
To still make your feelings known, please
contact your state MP.
Humanity at its best: “In moments of deepest suffering love finds its deepest expression. It’s the faithful wife at the bedside, the daughter or son holding the hand of the sick mother, the lifelong
friend staying in the hospital room while the sick friend sleeps, the priest who ministers the grace of anointing and viaticum.”
Loneliness,
depression and
acute physical pain
are a powerful
cocktail that’s
fuelling the call for
euthanasia.