Mesa parish deals with end-of-life issues

By J.D. Long-García, The Catholic Sun
November 16, 2006

MESA — Holy Cross parishioners know how difficult the end of life can be, many having lost friends and family or who are facing death themselves.

Nikolas T. Nikas, the president of the Bioethics Defense Fund — a national pro-life, public interest law firm — spoke to more than 60 elderly Catholics about the right and wrong ways to cope with end-of-life suffering Nov. 4.

Nikas focused on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide as things Catholics need to guard against.

“Euthanasia has come to mean that someone else kills you because they think it’s the merciful thing to do,” he said. “Killing in all its forms is always and everywhere wrong.”

Currently, 38 states have criminalized physician-assisted suicide, including Arizona, and seven prohibit it. Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide in 1998.

While both euthanasia and suicide are morally unacceptable, evaluating physician-assisted suicide is more difficult, Nikas said.  It’s difficult to know the intention of the doctor and patient, he explained.

Nikas said people who favor euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide fear dying in pain, alone or with little money.

“The cheapest way to cure anyone is to kill them,” he explained. If physician-assisted suicide is legalized, many may chose that option for economic reasons, Nikas said.

Others support physician-assisted suicide in fear of pain.

“In a sinful world, suffering is a reality,” Nikas said.

“We have a huge advantage in understanding these issues because of our faith,” Nikas said while recommending John Paul II’s apostolic letter “On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering.”

“We will have to be ready to protect a culture of life from a culture of death,” Nikas said.

Deacon Tom Ferreira organized the talk to expand parishioners’ understanding of the sanctity of life.

“We’re heavy into anti-abortion. We need to have euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide on our minds as well,” Deacon Ferreira said. “When we respect life, we do so from its beginning to its end.”

Deacon Joseph Scaccia, who cares for the dying at the parish, said he appreciates Nikas’ attitude toward the sanctity of life.

He encouraged the elderly to set down an advance directive that sets the limits of medical treatment. An expert could then evaluate the directive with Catholic teaching.

“There’s a letting-go issue in all of this, but we always want to respect the sanctity of life,” Deacon Scaccia said. “We’re all going to go eventually.”

For more information on the Bioethics Defense Fund, visit www.bdfund.org.