A while ago, the mother of an acquaintance died by MAiD surrounded by her family in her hospital room. The mother had been ill and did not want to end up in a care home.
It seems everyone agreed that a person has the right to decide the hour of death. It has become normal.
Even in Europe, where euthanasia is not so easily available, people have made plans to go to Switzerland when they no longer want to live.
We do not want to be a burden, feel useless, alone, neglected, in pain.
And still, Viktor Frankl, who suffered in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, maintained that to bear suffering that can not be avoided brings the greatest level of meaning in a person’s life.
On the other hand, family members who can make health decisions on behalf of elders must be assured that the Catholic Church teaches that controlling pain, even if it hastens death, is acceptable and meaningful.
There are many wonderful people who fulfill the works of mercy: A parishioner drives daily from Vancouver to Ladner to visit a priest in a care home. Another parishioner has been helping with praying the Rosary, assisting at Mass and giving Communion to elders at a care centre for over 35 years, week by week.
They would never want recognition or their names published, but they are the ones who give us hope.
Marianne Werner
Vancouver
I enjoy reading The B.C. Catholic’s pro-life articles and would like to invite your staff and readers to a B.C. pro-life conference in Chilliwack on Saturday, May 25.
It’s a free event and includes two meals. We have pro-life speakers from around Canada joining us, including one of your contributors, Terry O’Neil.
We just opened it to the general pro-life public and are still accepting registrations. Please let your readers know about this event.
To register, visit chilliwackprolife.com and go to the conference link.
Marian Neels
Chilliwack Pro-Life
In the debate about climate change, we often overlook the fact that there is a great deal of agreement between alarmists and deniers.
Both agree that the climate changes over time and always has been changing, that climate change can be for the better or for the worse, that the villain of the story, carbon dioxide, is essential for plant life, and that if we eliminated it from the atmosphere all plant life would die and so would we, while increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase crop production.
Both sides agree that, despite prophecies to the contrary, the Arctic ice cap has not disappeared, ski slopes still have snow, Manhattan is not underwater, the Maldive Islands are not disappearing, and the Great Barrier Reef has recovered from a period of decline.
Both sides want clean air and pure water. In this period of Easter celebration, we should be thankful and celebrate these and many more good news facts.
“Climate the Movie – The Real Truth” is a new film that helps assess the various climate prophecies still circulating. It is produced by CLINTEL, short for Climate Intelligence, an independent foundation that focuses on climate change and policy and sponsor of the climate declaration “There Is No Climate Emergency,” endorsed by 1,900 primarily scientific signatories. The movie is easily accessible on CLINTEL’s website clintel.org.
As Catholics and stewards of the earth, we are obligated to educate ourselves, as time, abilities, and current science allow, about the earth and its environment. In particular, we must constantly scrutinize our actions to ensure, as a first step, that we do no harm. Watching the movie Climate The Movie is a good introduction to the science for those who are not familiar with it, and also to the pride and greed involved in the promotion of alarmism.
Norman Reilly
Coquitlam
