25th Week in Ordinary Time

September 18th, 2021 by Dave Heywood

Thursday 23 September 2021

A rational guide to the Assisted Suicide debate

Following on from yesterday’s post, you may find the following video helpful.  It’s a recording of a webinar held on 12 July 2021 that aimed to provide a rational guide to the assisted suicide debate with two speakers with extensive experience of this complex and sensitive subject.

Founding Director of Living and Dying Well, Robert Preston, is a former civil servant and parliamentary official. Baroness Ilora Finlay is a cross-bench member of the House of Lords and one of Europe’s leading palliative care consultants.  They make clear from the outset that, in their view, the case being made for changing the law to legalise physician-assisted suicide does not stack up.

From law, to clinical practice, social attitudes, end of life care, public safety and the experience of those jurisdictions, they carefully lay out their evidence in a manner that recognises and respects that others may see the matter differently – something of a rarity in this emotionally-charged area of discussion.

Click on the link below to watch the video:

Death by Appointment: A Rational Guide to the Assisted Suicide Debate – YouTube

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Assisted Dying Bill

Bishop John Sherrington, lead Bishop for Life Issues, has written an open letter inviting Catholics to pray for the defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill to be debated in the House of Lords in October.

In the next weeks, we face an unprecedented attack on the sanctity of life with Baroness Meacher’s ‘Assisted Dying Bill 2021’ is due its 2nd Reading in the House of Lords with full debate on Friday, 22 October.

The term ‘Assisted Dying’ is euphemistic, the truth is that this bill seeks to introduce Assisted Suicide. If legalised, this Bill would allow a terminally ill adult with less than 6 months to live to be assisted in committing suicide. Catholic teaching opposes assisting suicide, since life is a gift to be cared for and preserved until its natural death. The Church is clear that we cannot directly choose to take the life of another, even if they request it. The solidarity of praying and caring for the most vulnerable at this fragile time of their lives is a profoundly Christian act which imitates Our Lady’s prayer at the cross and Christ’s service to the weakest.

Those in favour of the bill are making good use of language to confuse the issue and call it a compassionate and caring approach to redefine the question and obscure the actual reality and consequences of such legislation.

As Pope Francis has said, “Physician-assisted suicide is part of a ‘throwaway culture’ that offers a ‘false compassion’ and treats a human person as a problem… True compassion does not marginalise anyone, nor does it humiliate and exclude – much less considers the disappearance of a person as a good thing.” He criticised “those who hide behind an alleged compassion to justify and approve the death of a patient.”

Dangers of the introduction of Assisted Suicide

Importantly, at this stage we need to argue the dangers of the introduction of Assisted Suicide, which include the safety of people who are vulnerable due to external pressures, and the later liberalisation of the law which is evidenced by other countries which have introduced Assisted Suicide. Many voices from the world of disability-rights and other allies are also very fearful and fighting this bill. Whilst there are clear arguments to support Catholic teachings, it is important to remember that this position is not only a matter of faith but also human reason.

Later this month, the BMA will be debating whether to change their stance to support or neutrality on this matter. I hope that healthcare professionals will enter this debate and highlight the dangers of this Bill to change and skew the meaning of medicine.

Take action

There are three important actions in the next weeks: praying, writing and sharing.

First, I ask you to pray that the Bill will be defeated.

Second, I ask you to write to the Peers from your personal experience and share stories which will argue the reasons for opposing the Bill as well as narrate the importance of precious time during the final stages of life.

The testimony of healthcare and legal professionals will also be important. This needs to be done before the Second Reading on 22 October.

Third, I ask you to engage and share stories and reasons against the Bill on social media.

Briefing papers will be available on the bishops’ conference website to assist you as this work develops.

Be assured of my prayers,

+John

Bishop John Sherrington
Lead Bishop for Life Issues
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Tuesday 21 September 2021

God in my daily life

God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.

God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.

God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.

God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.

From ‘The Carmina Gadelica’ – An Anthology of the Celtic Oral Tradition

Monday 20 September 2021

Fascinating conversation between Pope Francis and Jesuits in Slovakia on 12 September:

“Freedom Scares Us”: Pope Francis’ conversation with Slovak Jesuits  | La Civilta Cattolica

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) – 19 September 2021

Home Mission Sunday

Sunday Mass 

The obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains suspended at this time and, if you are unwell or don’t feel safe coming to church, then please stay at home.

If you are celebrating Sunday at home today, the following may be helpful:

1)  You can join in Mass online: 

There are lots of websites that are livestreaming Mass:

Mass will be livestreamed from the Cathedral at 11.00 am on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCOiDR9mRmfnAu05Yg3ifyMw

Fr John Schofield will upload Mass on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Tonyat999/videos

Canon Christopher will livestream Mass at 9.30 am from St Alban’s:

Parish of Sacred Heart and St Alban Warrington | Facebook

There are plenty of Masses livestreamed throughout the day at the following websites:    www.churchservices.tv  and  https://www.mcnmedia.tv

2)  You can join in by praying on your own or with other members of your household.

The following resources may be helpful:

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    mass-sheet-sunday-25b

Bidding Prayers:    bidding-prayers-25b

Sunday Plus:   sunday-plus-25b

3)  For Children:

You might like to use the following sheet:

Children’s Activity Sheet:    look-25b

If you are joining in Mass online, this sheet might be helpful:

Children’s Mass Sheet:    ichthus-25b

CAFOD host a virtual Children’s Liturgy of the Word on Sundays at 10.00 am:

https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy

And finally, a little humour…  (click on images to enlarge)

God bless you,
Fr Dave