BOSTON (CNS) — Opponents of legislation that would legalize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts hope the commonwealth will follow Vermont’s lead and kill the measure.

By an 18-11 vote April 12, Vermont senators defeated a proposal to legalize assisted suicide in the state.

“We’re obviously elated that the Senate in Vermont did the right thing, not only to defeat this onerous bill but also to defeat the political shenanigans that were going on to try to get this bill passed. The whole thing was politics at its worst,” said Kristian Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.

First introduced in 2011, Vermont’s Patient Choice and Control at End of Life legislation failed to make it out of committee by the 2012 legislative deadline. In what Mineau described as a “last-ditch, desperate effort,” the Health and Welfare Committee attached the bill to an anti-tanning bill. That bill was defeated after two hours of debate about doctor-prescribed death.

Mineau warned that the battle in Massachusetts will be tougher than the one in Vermont since the measure will almost certainly appear on the November ballot in Massachusetts. Polls have shown slight support of the bill.

In March, Public Policy Polling released results that showed 43 percent of Massachusetts voters are in favor, while 37 percent are opposed. A Boston Magazine article titled “Massachusetts Voters Want Their Parents to Die with Dignity” highlighted the fact that 44 percent of those 65 and older oppose the measure, while their children, those aged 46 to 65, “were the highest segment in favor with 49 percent supporting the bill.”

The legislation, called the Death with Dignity Act, is a citizens’ initiative petition that has garnered more than the required number of signatures. Proponents say the measure would give patients greater peace of mind, choice and control in their final days of life.

The legislation permits individuals who are given six months or fewer to live to receive life-ending drugs. The law would require that two doctors verify the mental competence of patients and sets a 15-day waiting period between the request for and writing of the prescription.

If the legislature fails to act on the bill by May 2, proponents would need to gather nearly 11,500 certified signatures to put the measure before voters in November.

More than 50 opponents of physician-assisted suicide testified at a committee hearing at the statehouse March 6. They said the legislation lacks safeguards and could lead to elder abuse. They warned that the life expectancy estimates of terminally ill patients are often incorrect.

In testimony submitted to the committee, James F. Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm for the four bishops of the commonwealth, said doctor-prescribed death contradicts the fundamental right to life and violates a physician’s duty to do no harm.

Those who request death are vulnerable and need care that supports them physically, emotionally and spiritually. Killing them is a form of neglect, he added.

“Terminally ill, dying patients do not need the so-called compassion that supports the patient in the false idea that he or she is better off dead,” he said. “It must never be forgotten that all suicide is a tragedy and we are all called to comfort the sick, not to help them end their lives.”

End-of-life care should address pain management and not require treatments that are “ineffective or unduly burdensome.” It should also allow the dying to devote themselves to the unfinished business of their lives in order for them to make peace with God, their loved ones and themselves. “No one should dismiss this time as meaningless,” said the testimony submitted on behalf of the bishops.

Peter McNulty, the conference’s associate director for policy and research, told The Anchor, Fall River diocesan newspaper, that the bishops hope the Massachusetts measure will go the way of the Vermont bill.

“It is incredibly important that we hold the line in the Northeast. Vermont has done a great job of doing that,” he said. “The Northeast is really seen as a gateway to the rest of the country. We are an epicenter for medical thought and medical expertise. If one of the Northeast states falls, I think it’s a signal to the rest of the country that we’re ripe for this sort of dangerous legislation to come through.”

– – –

— By Christine M. Williams Catholic News Service, who writes for The Anchor in Fall River and other Massachusetts Catholic newspapers.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Ten years after a historic papal response to clerical sex abuse, the Vatican urged priests to strive for greater holiness in their own lives so that they might effectively minister to others and reverse the tide of atheism.

In its annual letter to priests for 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy focused on Blessed John Paul II’s 2002 Holy Thursday letter to clergy, in which the late pope responded to the growing revelations and scandal of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The congregation’s letter also gave priests a guideline for examining their consciences concerning everything from how they celebrate Mass to how well they are living a pure, humble and generous life detached from consumerism.

Signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, and secretary, Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, the letter was dated March 26 and recently published on the congregation’s website.

The letter marks the annual World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, celebrated in many dioceses June 15 — the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Priests are entrusted with the task of challenging and helping people become more holy and obey God’s will more fully, it said.

“We cannot be sanctified without working on the holiness of our brothers, and we cannot work on the holiness of our brothers unless we have first worked on and continue to work on our own holiness,” it said.

Urging others to strive for the “ideal of perfection,” it said, “does not mean that we are not aware of our personal shortcomings, or of the faults committed by some who have brought shame upon the priesthood before the world.”

While not specifically mentioning clerical sex abuse, the letter said that given the worsening situation reported in the news, priests must take to heart “with greater strength and urgency” Blessed John Paul’s Holy Thursday letter from a decade ago.

It said the letter condemned the perpetrators of such scandals as betraying the priesthood and casting a “shadow of suspicion” over the many good priests in the world.

Blessed John Paul called on priests “to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness,” it said.

The letter from the Congregation for Clergy said one of the most serious problems unfolding today is people losing all sense of God’s love and hope.

Traditionally, Christian nations “are no longer tempted to surrender to a general sort of atheism as they were in the past,” but they risk falling victim to that brand of atheism that has “forgotten the beauty and warmth” of the Trinity of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

By fully embracing, adoring and living in communion with God, priests can point the way to the true face of Christ and why he is important for men and women today, it said.

“No new evangelization will really be possible unless we Christians are able to surprise and move the world again by proclaiming the nature of our God, who is love,” and living as closely as possible to Christ.

In addition to the letter, the Congregation for Clergy also published Scripture passages and reflections from popes, saints and theologians, and St. Faustina Kowalska’s “Prayer for the Holy Church and for Priests,” which asks God to protect clergy “from the devil’s traps and snares.”

There was also a 20-part “Examination of Conscience for Priests” that asked priests to reflect on: how well they prepare for and lead Mass in a dignified manner; how free their lives are from vain and superficial pursuits; how central their love for Christ is in guiding them away from unchaste thoughts and acts; how charitable they are in dealing with others, especially those who sin; and how faithful their lives and teaching are to the church’s Magisterium.

— By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The co-founder of Wikipedia told a Vatican audience that his online encyclopedia could contribute to peace by promoting “a more thoughtful world,” even as the site was under fire for how it referred to those who oppose and support legalized abortion.

Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, was invited to address the annual assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The meeting at the Vatican April 27-May 1 focused on Blessed John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical “Pacem in Terris” and continuing challenges to promoting peace and justice in the world.

In an interview after his speech, Wales also spoke about Wikipedia’s arbitration process to determine the correct Wikipedia use of the terms “pro-choice,” “pro-life,” “abortion rights” and “anti-abortion” to describe individuals and movements.

Wikipedia, which allows almost all entries to be initiated, updated and edited by almost anyone, had received complaints about an inconsistent use of the terms, which some people felt unfairly tended to use the negative “anti-abortion” to describe the pro-life position while almost always using the positive “pro-choice” label to describe those who support legal abortion.

The online site conducted a “community consultation” of users March 23-April 23, asking them to discuss the terms, their implications and list in order of preference the terms they thought were most appropriate. Wikipedia administrators were scheduled to review the discussion and votes before issuing a final ruling May 1 that would be binding for three years.

Wales told Catholic News Service he had not had a chance to read the online discussion or the final decision. But in general, he said, Wikipedia recognizes that certain words or terms “are heavily loaded” and the goal always is to find “a single, simple, neutral term.”

One of the Wikipedia principles is that “you can refer to people as they refer to themselves,” Wales said. “Certainly the most common terms in the U.S. in this discourse are pro-life and pro-choice, but both sides have complaints” about the accuracy of the other’s description.

Wikipedia also wants to be careful about using terms that implicitly imply a judgment, for instance by using the term “pro-abortion,” he said. Those supporting legalized abortion “may be pro-abortion relative to a Catholic priest of course,” he said, but most people who support legalized abortion would not say they promote abortion.

In his presentation to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Wales explained how Wikipedia pursues its goal of promoting “a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”

While most pages of Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, the edits are reviewed by other Wikipedia users and can be referred to Wikipedia administrators — usually longtime contributors who volunteer their time and are elected by Wikipedia users — and to an arbitration committee.

Wales said he believes the online encyclopedia “has a significant role to play” in peacemaking because it encourages participation, has a broad reach, makes information accessible and is available in about 280 languages. The English, German, French and Dutch pages each have more than 1 million articles posted, he said.

Wikipedia is a “mediating and moderating influence on the discourse on the Internet,” he said, because each article is open to review, discussion and correction. Much of the information people access through the news media tends “to be inflammatory. That doesn’t contribute to peace at all,” he said. His goal is to have Wikipedia be “calmer, slower and more reflective than that.”

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa told the meeting that while people today are better educated and have greater access to information than in the past, they are becoming less human because education is focused so heavily on hard science, that it leaves aside questions about the meaning of human life and destiny.

“I would say the signs that I see are much more hopeful than that,” Wales told CNS. When he speaks at high schools and universities, the young people cheer — “they love Wikipedia” and love reading it.

“I think there is a real passion among young people today to be better informed,” he said.

Wales said the Catholic Church must use the Internet and social media to engage in discussions with young people and it must do a better job of allowing them the space to comment and discuss.

Church sites, though, need to have filtering software and participants who can exercise “social control” on those who misbehave.

“If you invite 20 people over to your house for a party and somebody starts making obnoxious and racist and sexist comments, you may ask them to leave, but at the very least, you don’t invite them back,” he said. An interactive website must do the same with unruly guests.

“The same spirit you would have at a church supper, you ought to have online,” Wales said.

— By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

– – –

Editors: A portion of our video interview with Jimmy Wales can seen at: