There is no Catholic vote. Catholics vote just like the rest of the population. And that fact is hurting our country terribly.
Just yesterday, the bishops put out a statement criticizing Governor Jerry Brown for signing the physician assisted suicide bill saying that law “stands in direct contradiction to providing compassionate, quality care for those facing a terminal illness.”
The Catholic Herald reports:
“This bill does nothing to validate the lives of the vulnerable,” said the California Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, in a statement soon after Brown’s action.
The conference added that the legislation “isn’t compassion” and does not support or promote the common good.
“As Catholic bishops in California, we join hands with the disability rights groups, physicians, other health care professionals and advocates for the elderly in opposing physician-assisted suicide as the wrong way to advance the human dignity for those facing a terminal illness,” the conference said.
The prelates also pointed out that the 48 Catholic hospitals in California “provide excellent palliative care services as all medical facilities for terminally ill patients should but often do not.”
But why does this happen in the first place? All of this cannot be laid at the door of Catholics, surely. But aren’t we complicit at least a bit. Didn’t we stop talking about the sacredness of life? Didn’t we veer away from touchy subjects? Didn’t we replace real meaningful homilies with bongo solos?
If the Catholic Church does not consistently and steadfastly propose its morality, the world will impose its own. And I assure you, it’ll be cruel. With this California law, people’s lives just got worse. Put aside the body count for a second, with the legalization of euthanasia, where is the incentive to advance palliative care research?
With the legalization and therefore the normalization of euthanasia, we’ll see the numbers of those taking their own lives out of guilt will rise. Who wants to see their sons and daughters spending their own savings on them in their old age? Who will sit back and watch their grandsons and granddaughters be forced to leave work early or eschew a night out with friends so they can babysit grandma? It will be seen as selfish to suffer incapacitation in any way. Depending on others will seem monstrous. Suicide will be the compassionate choice. In fact, they don’t even like to call it suicide. They call it “dying with dignity.”
It’s an amazing thing, somehow the side proposing more death which will result in more pain won the moral high ground on compassion here. Sheesh. We stink at this political game. But we better get good real fast. We all need to speak out on these issues and not be afraid of incurring the wrath of the haters. Catholics will not be as inclined to stand up for the truth unless they hear the truth on a regular basis. They need to feel that their parish, their diocese and the entire Church is behind them.
