End of Life Issues
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Articles on this Page (Click on item to go there)
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Pastoral Letter For End of Life Issues Now Available
Comfort and Consolation is a pastoral letter from the Maryland bishops that outlines Church teaching on end of life care and offers a Catholic advance directive.
Topics Include
- Our most basic God-given right is the right to life
- We do not have the right to take our own lives, nor directly to bring about the death of any innocent person
- Christian faith reveals the true meaning of human suffering
- Each of us is obliged to care for the gift of life and health that God has given us
- No patient is obliged to accept or demand useless medical interventions
- There is no moral obligation to employ useful but excessively burdensome medical interventions; however, the meaning of “excessively burdensome” must be properly understood
- The Virtue of Prudence
- Making Decisions for Ourselves
- Making Decisions for Another
- Impact of Burdensome Treatments on Loved Ones
- Imminent Death and Progressive Diseases
- Medically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration
- The Terminal Patient Who Is Not Near Death
- The Terminal Patient Near Death
- The Persistent Vegetative State Patient
. . . and more.
Click here: http://www.mdcathcon.org/library/resources/documents/publications/comfconsinsidefinal.pdf
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Relevant Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
2299
The dying should be given attention and care to help them live their last moments in dignity and peace. They will be helped by the prayer of their relatives, who must see to it that the sick receive at the proper time the sacraments that prepare them to meet the living God.
2279
Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged.
1021
Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul -- a destiny which can be different for some and for others.
2277
Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
2324
Intentional euthanasia, whatever its forms or motives, is murder. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.
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It is not morally possible for any Catholic to support abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, or same-sex marriage. There are no ways around this, no justifications whatever. Why? For the simple reason that the Church holds these things to be intrinsically evil. They are evil in themselves, and no circumstances or subjective conditions can ever change that.
Fr. Corapi
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