Last week David March was spared a prison sentence for helping his seriously ill wife commit suicide. The BBC reported this in their usual biased way, introducing Mr. March as a "devoted husband." Their website doesn't seem to carry a full story (it's passing local news now), but the picture I have included is from their site.
It is not for me to comment on what sort of relationship these two had, but I can comment on what was reported to have emerged from the court case; Mr. March's motive was his wife's desire for her to die before he was too old to "find someone else." This is an incredibly sad and pitiful excuse to assist in your wife's suicide (as far as I'm concerned). Clearly this is a sensitive issue, and I have to be cautious to approach this subject with the sensitivity and compassion which is due for all sick and suffering individuals. But the plea of this physically disabled lady strikes me as the plea of insecurity, which is common, and likely to do with feelings of being a burden to family and carers. If I was in Mr. March's situation, though, I would do my utmost to reassure my wife, and treat her with the love and dignity which a promise of marriage entails. Perhaps Mr. March did, and failed, but an act of euthanasia (or assisted suicide, which is morally just as wrong) is the ultimate sign of failure. We as a society should never condone these acts, which is exactly what is happening in the courts.
Mrs. March had been ill with MS since 1984. Interestingly this is not one of the conditions which would come under the recently proposed legislation by Lord Joffe, under his Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill bill, because MS is not a terminal condition (which is defined as a prognosis of 6 months, as judged by the medical doctors. Which means nothing!). Not long ago there was a huge campaign by Care Not Killing to counter this bill, which seemed to have been successful (although notice how the BBC blame fringe groups like religions and disability groups rather than focusing on the huge alliance of multi-professional bodies opposing the bill).
We must always have our guard up, and constantly be opposing this culture of death mentality. It is my conviction, as we approach the great feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas, that the evils we see in our modern society are a direct result of the failure of governments to submit to the authority of Christ. We have a democracy where power resides in the people, and is expressed through the government in such a way that man is set up as a god. Ultimate authority and control (or effectively autonomy) seperated from God results in evils such as contraception, abortion, and now euthanasia. All an attempt to place the godship of ourselves over all other considerations.
These powers and decisions reside with God alone, and we do not have the moral liberty (or 'right') to try and artificially implement them ourselves. I also see the quest for legalised euthanasia as a desperate apprehension and fear of suffering and death on the part of society in general. In my time at a hospice I noticed it was not necessarily the patients who were the ones scared of death; it was those around them. Outside Faith in Christ, it is very difficult to find a true purpose and benefit in suffering (especially when that suffering will culminate in death). We know, as Catholics, that it was through the most inexplicable suffering that Christ redeemed the world. St. Paul exhorts us in his letter to the Colossians (1:22-25):
It is not for me to comment on what sort of relationship these two had, but I can comment on what was reported to have emerged from the court case; Mr. March's motive was his wife's desire for her to die before he was too old to "find someone else." This is an incredibly sad and pitiful excuse to assist in your wife's suicide (as far as I'm concerned). Clearly this is a sensitive issue, and I have to be cautious to approach this subject with the sensitivity and compassion which is due for all sick and suffering individuals. But the plea of this physically disabled lady strikes me as the plea of insecurity, which is common, and likely to do with feelings of being a burden to family and carers. If I was in Mr. March's situation, though, I would do my utmost to reassure my wife, and treat her with the love and dignity which a promise of marriage entails. Perhaps Mr. March did, and failed, but an act of euthanasia (or assisted suicide, which is morally just as wrong) is the ultimate sign of failure. We as a society should never condone these acts, which is exactly what is happening in the courts.
Mrs. March had been ill with MS since 1984. Interestingly this is not one of the conditions which would come under the recently proposed legislation by Lord Joffe, under his Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill bill, because MS is not a terminal condition (which is defined as a prognosis of 6 months, as judged by the medical doctors. Which means nothing!). Not long ago there was a huge campaign by Care Not Killing to counter this bill, which seemed to have been successful (although notice how the BBC blame fringe groups like religions and disability groups rather than focusing on the huge alliance of multi-professional bodies opposing the bill).
We must always have our guard up, and constantly be opposing this culture of death mentality. It is my conviction, as we approach the great feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas, that the evils we see in our modern society are a direct result of the failure of governments to submit to the authority of Christ. We have a democracy where power resides in the people, and is expressed through the government in such a way that man is set up as a god. Ultimate authority and control (or effectively autonomy) seperated from God results in evils such as contraception, abortion, and now euthanasia. All an attempt to place the godship of ourselves over all other considerations.These powers and decisions reside with God alone, and we do not have the moral liberty (or 'right') to try and artificially implement them ourselves. I also see the quest for legalised euthanasia as a desperate apprehension and fear of suffering and death on the part of society in general. In my time at a hospice I noticed it was not necessarily the patients who were the ones scared of death; it was those around them. Outside Faith in Christ, it is very difficult to find a true purpose and benefit in suffering (especially when that suffering will culminate in death). We know, as Catholics, that it was through the most inexplicable suffering that Christ redeemed the world. St. Paul exhorts us in his letter to the Colossians (1:22-25):
Yet now he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted, and blameless before him: If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfill the word of God.
We are reminded and exhorted by St. Paul that we can "fill up those things that are wanting" in Christ's redemptive suffering by uniting our suffering with his. We can offer up all our pain, torment and penance to him, especially on behalf of our brethren who reside in pugatory. These suffering souls have the assurance of heaven, but undergo the torments of separation from their earthly attachments, which accumulate throughout the usual course of sinful life. Let us also use our suffering, however slight, to remind us of our total reliance on God. This state of awareness will raise us above the temporal realm and unite us more closely to Christ. Rather than trying to avoid suffering, and seeking constant comfort and joy, let us bear that pain with gladness.
I will close with the words of the aforementioned pope as a message for young Catholics with a view to promoting true good in our society:
I will close with the words of the aforementioned pope as a message for young Catholics with a view to promoting true good in our society:
While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights.
I hope these words can still be heeded 80 years on, at a time in the Church when such a declaration would be in opposition to our 'politically correct' attitudes.
No comments:
Post a Comment