End of Life Issues

Every life is worth living

Whether it lasts for a brief moment or for a hundred years, each of our lives is a good and perfect gift. At every stage and in every circumstance, we are held in existence by God's love.

Our relationships on earth are meant to help us and others grow in perfect love. We are meant to depend on one another, serve each other in humility, and walk together in times of suffering.

An elderly man whose health is quickly deteriorating; an unborn baby girl whose diagnosis indicates she may not live very long; a little boy with Down syndrome; a mother facing terminal cancer—each may have great difficulties and need assistance, but each of their lives is a good and perfect gift.

Experiencing suffering—or watching another suffer—is one of the hardest human experiences. But we are not alone. Christ experienced suffering more deeply than we can comprehend, and our own suffering can be meaningful when we unite it with his.

Jesus is with us every step of the way, giving us the grace we need. God invites us to embrace the lives we have been given, for as long as they are given. Every life is worth living.

On Assisted Suicide

End of life issues are emotionally complex, and often presented as the only sympathetic response to terminal illness or debilitating handicaps. This is a seduction of the Enemy, and contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. And, Church teachings aside, legislation that allows (or even forces) physicians, who are in the vocation of saving lives, to end a life instead, is the beginning of a slippery slope that has been witnessed in locations where such laws have already been activated.

Our bishop, David M. O'Connell, reflects on these end of life issues and the loving response of the Catholic Church to those suffering from terminal illness or debilitating handicaps in A Reflection on Life.

You can also find a Statement on Opposing Assisted Suicide and reasons for opposing it on the Opposing Assisted Suicide page.

On Suicide

Suicide does not end the chances of life getting worse...it eliminates the chances of it ever getting better! If you are depressed and considering ending your own life, call the Lifeline National Suicide Prevention hotline at (800) 273-8255. You are not alone; there is help!

Preparing for the End of Life: Advance Directives

You have a legal right to appoint a Health Care Representative (Proxy) and to execute an Advance Directive for Health Care. Information on the Church teachings on this and on completing an Advance Directive can be found on the Advance Directives for Health Care page.

The Death Penalty

As Catholics we are called to honor the God-given dignity of all human life, without exception, even the lives of those who have committed crimes – even grievous, heinous ones that have caused immense harm to others. This does not lessen the horror of the crime or the revulsion we have towards that crime, nor does it mean that the person does not still face judgment, but that we acknowledge the dignity of the life of the criminal since he or she was created by God.

For information on the Catholic position on the Death Penalty, see The Death Penalty page.