This is a very troubling development. The Catholic Hospital Group under aegis of the Brothers of Charity has defied the Pope and is permitting euthanasia. Unbelievably, it is my understanding the hospitals have provided a 'spiritual guide' and chaplain support to 'accompany' the patients. This is deeply disturbing on so many levels. Especially since the eugenic policies of Nazi Germany remain in living memory. It all began with the elderly, the disabled and mentally ill. Forced euthanasia, coerced euthanasia, now morphs into 'spiritual accompaniment euthanasia'. There is a serious problem with the Church in Belgium.
VATICAN CITY—A chain of Catholic psychiatric hospitals in Belgium is granting euthanasia to non-terminal patients, defying the Vatican and deepening a challenge to the church’s commitment to a constant moral code. - WSJ
Euthanasia in Belgium is out of control. They are euthanizing people for autism, for mental distress (e.g., clinical depression). They are euthanizing people with dementia, who cannot ask for or consent to euthanasia but are considered better off dead by their relatives. That Catholic hospitals would go along with Belgian law rather than shut down is shocking.
ReplyDeleteIt's very upsetting. This will apparently be the norm from now on.
ReplyDeleteAnd ... will the Pope dare to have the guts to excommunicate these groups?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure excommunication is the appropriate instrument here - it seems to me the religious order may be required to relinquish ownership/involvement with the hospital system, the name Catholic withdrawn, and so on. In other words, as Benedict XVI suggested the Church will lose it's institutions and properties, one way or another. Interdict and or excommunication would have little effect these days. The Church will have to relinquish title and ownership. It is my understanding there are 3 remaining Brothers of Charity - the direct participation by the religious order is pretty much dissolved anyway. Priests and individuals involved with euthanasia could be suspended, even excommunicated, but a highly profitable corporation will gladly switch it's brand name from Catholic - if it hasn't done so already. I might be wrong - but this is one way the Church will become smaller and poorer. It's very sad.
DeletePoltically and legally people need to get their end of life stuff in order, not just the funeral planning part of it either.
I feel for the religious brothers involved; they have little to no representation on the hospital board, so while they work there, they aren't the decision-makers on this and have fought it.
DeleteAwful for them, unable to continue to follow their order's charism, and awful for the patients who may have chosen that particular order's hospitals on purpose to be safe from euthanasia and now have nowhere to go.
And children too.
ReplyDeleteI hate the arrogance of it all. Mingled with open contempt of the not fully-able in ordinary life.
A recent lifesite article about babies being subjected to “post-birth” abortion upon discovery of defects received a comment from a Belgian resident of that town harrumphing that the article misrepresented the facts. His correction: that the babies had no quality of life.
In the states there is a great movement for suicide prevention. I’ve participated a little in its events. I can’t help thinking that the Belgians, and other Europeans, would simply say to go ahead and commit suicide! Or at least that is what their policy means. No, it’s worse, it’s saying go and commit suicide and here’s the injection to make it easier and we must all help to pay for it and don’t you dare object, we’re not in the Middle Ages anymore where people weren’t equal.
I'm not even sure it's arrogance. A number of years ago a relative in the Netherlands was euthanized. He had cancer, had watched both his wives die of it as well. He was not so much in physical pain as mental pain. His daughter had lost her mom as a teen and then her stepmom that she was close to so she was on board with euthanasia as she felt she had suffered enough watching this. But the prevailing attitude, expressed so clearly by another cousin, was this: oh, but he HAS to be euthanized, he's in bad shape and is going to die soon. These people were so desensitized they were treating this like it was time to put down the family pet. They weren't arrogant but thought they were really acting in the best interest of the patient. Not making excuses for them - it's just an observation.
DeleteCanada is on the same slippery slope. The so-called Catholic Prime Minister is for abortion and euthanasia. Most people are too stupid to think these things through and we are all going to suffer from this evil.
ReplyDeleteI know. The scary part is there are pastoral guides and policies formed to 'console' the families and patients who chose to do this. The slippery slope leads to forced euthanasia for undesirables and to bring down long term health care costs. Marketing of health care alternatives and slick language anesthetizes the collective understanding to accept the unacceptable. Pro-choice has evolved to selective abortion and so on - from what I understand, Down Syndrome births are in decline. How did that happen? That's what I mean, though my terminology may be deficient.
DeleteI read that in Iceland the abortion rate for babies with Down Syndrome is 100%. I thought in permissive and accepting societies people like this would be welcomed. I guess you're only welcome if you're "perfect."
DeleteRecently a guy with Down syndrome testified to Congress that his life had value. I hope it's part of making it illegal to abort becausr of down syndrome. I keep reading about women who ate told their child will be defective so they should abort.
DeleteIn many cases they give birth to a normal child with no medical concerns. In other cases, the child lives a normal life despite some medical issues. Other children live short lives eith parents who live them and don't regret bringing them into the world.
Someone I know is on a number of medications and got pregnant. She didn't go public with the pregnancy until 22 weeks and all the testing was done to make sure the baby wasn't affected. I was told by a mutual friend that she had known earlier but was sworn to secrecy "just in case they had to make a decision." If abortion is supposedly no more traumatic than a dentist appointment then WHY on earth is everyone still so secretive about it?! That tells me that they KNOW it IS serious.
DeleteYes and if it's a risky pregnancy, no reason to share until they're ready.
DeleteBut the reason they didn't share is because abortion was on the table.
DeleteSo nobody could talk them out of it.
DeleteNow I understand what you meant. That's even more horrifying than I
Deleteoriginally thought.
Europe is literally committing suicide. The birth rate is at 1.6, euthanasia is increasingly susceptible and there is an abandonment of the Christian faith. These trends are not the hallmarks of a civilization that plans to endure.
ReplyDelete