Prelate hopes parishioners will write to their members of parliament to express ‘deep concern’
By Jim O’Leary
TORONTO
The Catholic Register
With files from Deborah Gyapong
A statement from Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto to be read in his 225 parishes urges Catholics to oppose a “chilling” parliamentary committee report on assisted suicide that he said “should shock us to the core.”
In an interview, the cardinal said he hopes parishioners will write to their members of parliament and “even the prime minister if they wish” to express “deep concern” about a report that recommends assisted killing be integrated into health care and become available to terminal and non-terminal patients.
The report also said doctors who oppose killing patients should be forced to refer those patients to other doctors, and that hospitals that receive public funding, including Catholic institutions, should be compelled by law to provide assisted suicide and euthanasia.
“I think of those hospitals founded largely by religious sisters,” Cardinal Collins said. “You can be sure they would not be killing their patients.
“It’s a real problem, this attack on people who do nothing but good. To kill patients is terrible. We must unite and express our firm resolve to oppose suppression of the conscience rights of individuals and institutions that serve us so well.”
The statement endorses Coalition for HealthCare and Conscience (CanadiansForConsicence.ca), a new organization comprising several groups and more than 5,000 doctors.
The parliamentary report, titled “Medical Assistance in Dying: A patient-centred approach,” was released Feb. 25 by the special joint Parliamentary Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. It recommends going much further than the supreme court ruled: proposing assisted suicide become available to minors under 18 and psychiatric patients, as well as by advance-directive.
The report will guide the preparation of legislation that must be passed by June 6.
Many other bishops and groups have condemned the report.
“Killing the mentally and physically ill, whether young or aged, is contrary to caring for and loving one’s brother and sister,” said a pastoral letter from Bishop Douglas Crosby of Hamilton, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He urged Catholics to tell MPs that the recommendations are “completely unacceptable.”
“Canadians, especially those dying or suffering from illness, deserve better,” said Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller. “It’s alarming how easily suicide is being offered and respect for life eroded.”
Cardinal Collins calls himself “a man at full tilt” who will be travelling to Ottawa to meet with groups of all faiths to oppose the report. He said people should be wary of the “false language” that tries to portray killing as part of the continuum of health care.
“We should retire from service any language that hides grim realities under a cloak of deception,” he said. “An example of the deadly use of phony language is the very title of the report. I encourage people to call killing killing and not to use terms that hide what it really means.”
Instead of laws to hasten death, parliament should be expanding palliative care and treatment for the mentally ill and providing enhanced suicide-prevention services.
“It’s incredible that we have come to this,” he said. “I encourage people to dispel illusions and see reality. If people see this reality and it sinks in, they will be appalled.”
