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June 9, 2006
The Issue of Euthanasia and the Value of Life
When advertisers attempt to sell products, they appeal to the values of the consumer. What can we learn about the values of our society from evaluating the advertising we see on television? We learn that happiness awaits those who are young, physically attractive, drive nice cars, and drink many kinds of beer. According to the television, the ideal day would be spent on a date with a Baywatch cast-member, drinking a soda, while jumping off a cliff screaming with excitement. While this may be an extreme illustration, our society seems to hold that life is only worth living if you are young, rich, good-looking and able to jump off a cliff while screaming excitedly.
When the prevailing tendency [of society] is to value life only to the extent that it brings pleasure and well-being, suffering seems like an unbearable setback, something from which one must be freed at all costs. [Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, # 64]
We have created a situation where the life of a sick person who cannot be young, beautiful or active, is without meaning. If this is true, what about the retarded, or handicapped? They cannot contribute to society in the usual sense, and they cannot be "active." Does this mean they are worthless? Sometimes they cannot even love us. But we can love them, as God loves them.
There are real dangers in our new attitudes about what makes a life worth living. In the recent health care debate, one physician has suggested that in the future, after the age of 75 or 80, that a patient should only be treated for pain, and not the ailment itself, because they have lived their normal life span and medical resources should be focused elsewhere. This new attitude has historical precedent and terrible ramifications as the medical counsel for the Nuremberg trials attests:
Whatever proportions [the Nazi war crimes] finally assumed, it became evident to all who investigated them that they had started from small beginnings. The beginnings at first were merely a subtle shift in emphasis in the basic attitude of the physicians. It started with the acceptance of the attitude, basic in he euthanasia movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived... Gradually the sphere of those to be included in this category was enlarged... But it is important to realize that the infinitely small wedged-in lever from which this entire trend of mind received its impetus was the attitude toward the non-rehabilitable sick. [Leo Alexander, MD, "Medical Science Under Dictatorship," New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 241 (July 14, 1949), p. 44]
This troubling attitude about life is what the church wishes to challenge in its work against Euthanasia. The Church does not consider it a coincidence that at the same time the headlines speak of the elderly as being "abandoned" in nursing homes, we also here of helping them commit suicide. We have made our elderly disposable, while at the same time advancing medical technology to the point where they can be disposable for a great many more years. It seems we have learned to view the human body as an interesting machine to fix and enable to run forever, but we have forgotten about how to heal souls .
Poverty
Among the many principles in the Gospel of Life, three direct us to concern for the poor.
# 1 A Preferential Option for the Poor: When a mother has several children, she loves every one of them with her whole heart. Yet when she cares for them, she devotes most of her energy to the child who is sick, or the child who is in trouble, or the child who is sad. This same principle underlies the church's so-called fundamental option for the poor. Viewing "global population" as a human family, the Church proclaims that we are brothers and sisters to one another and all of us have been entrusted with the lives of our fellow human beings. The Gospel of Life therefore is about achieving a new wisdom, a new way of looking at the world around us.
# 2 Poverty Destroys Human Dignity. The poor have no dignity in a society where value is bought and sold. Persons whose dignity has been stripped from them struggle with questions of meaning, and purpose, the temptation to despair. Cultivating a Gospel of Life means we must become advocates on behalf of our brothers and sisters in need.
These issues come to the fore when we hear discussions regarding how to "handle" the poor, to deal with immigration, to reform the welfare system and so forth. While our different political parties have different answers as to how to approach these pressing issues, what cannot be lost in the debate is that helping the poor must be a priority. Our Lord Jesus compared hating another person, cursing another person with physical murder. The Gospel of Life tells us that our sins of omission, in neglecting to work to help the poor, perpetuates an environment that robs human beings of their ability to dream, hope, and love.
# 3 We are stewards of the things we have; they are gifts. Furthermore, after we have accepted the principle that the poor must be a priority, then we must accept the principle that we are stewards of God's gifts. All that we have is lent to us for the creation of an that environment of love which we call the Kingdom of God. The cosmetic industry in America earns five billion dollars per year. A few years ago, someone told me that college students illegally drink $100 million of liquor each year. Pet food is a huge industry. And of course, the $500 pentagon approved toilet seat covers are a bit pricey. A few years ago, the debate about welfare reform got everyone angry. If we put a pencil to paper, we discover that such reform would not even be necessary with the reallocation of few resources away from some of these luxury items.
Pope John Paul will write our conclusion: "Solutions must be sought on the global level by establishing a true economy of communion and sharing of goods, in both the national and international order. This is the only way to respect the dignity of persons and families, as well as the authentic cultural patrimony of peoples. (Evangelium Vitae, # 91)."
War and Capital Punishment
If someone were breaking into your house and was holding a knife to your child, and you attacked them to save your child's life, and if as a result of that attack the malefactor died, would you be guilty of murder? No you would not. The unintended result of killing in the activity of an intended good such as saving the life of your child would be considered morally acceptable. It is this same principle which allows, under certain rare and extreme circumstances for nations to either go to war, or to execute a criminal. (see Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2259ff) However, these are the only principles. National pride, revenge, anger, rage, coercion are not reasons to risk violating our highest principles. Indeed, it is only in defending higher principles (protecting innocent life) that we should risk any type of violence.
However, the Church proclaims clearly is that a great many different factors have to be in place before either warfare, or capital punishment can be exercised. This is based on the understanding of human society as an entity itself, worthy of defense, just like any person is worthy of defense. God has willed that man live in a just society, in relationship with others, so that in that relationship man may grow into completeness as a redeemed person. The stability of society, the ability of a society to ensure justice and human dignity are goods which allow a Gospel of Life to flourish. When that society is threatened then, the ramifications are such that those ramifications justify defending the society as a whole.
In the question of warfare then, there are times when unjust aggressors threaten to destroy just societies or create the kind of chaos wherein peoples may lose their souls due to hardship, poverty, being displaced from their homes, or being subjected to untold violence. For this reason, the Church allows defensive warfare under certain circumstances. However, the reasons for war must be grave and a last resort. The intended result of the war must be in proportion to the risk involved. Both Pope John Paul II and Josef Cardinal Ratzinger had severe reservations about the Gulf War because ultimatums had been issued, and because of the suffering of civilian populations. Usually loyal supporters of the Holy Father were quiet when his very strong statements were made at that time. The Holy Father's strong feelings about war were revealed in his 1982 World Day of Peace proclamation in which he stated, "War is the most barbarous and least effective way of resolving conflicts."
Likewise, the Holy Father has taken a strong stand against Capital Punishment. Theoretically Capital Punishment is morally justifiable to defend the very fabric of society. However, as it is practiced at this time, it is more likely to be a form of revenge, which is never morally justifiable. For example, moral theologians use the example of Adolph Hitler. Had he lived through the Second World War, his continued presence might have been a focus point for neo-nazi groups, or for exacerbating the cold war and provoking a Third World War. Moral theologians have argued that his crimes would probably justify the death penalty in order to ensure peace and stability. Indeed, in the chaos of the our long history, capital punishment was used frequently because of constant political turmoil, treason, civil war and calamity.
Because in our modern civilization we are no longer subject to the same kind of political instability that our forebears suffered, the need for such extreme responses such as taking a life have lessened. The Pope states:
The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God's plan for man and society. ...It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvements in he organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.
The pope's strong statements led to a revision in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Sept. 7, 1997).
#2267 ...the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm- without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself- the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent."
What we can do...
''In our service of charity, we must be inspired and distinguished by a specific attitude: we must care for the other as a person for whom God has made us responsible.'' Pope John Paul II, Gospel of Life, # 87.
1. Participate in the ministry of the Church to the sick. The isolation felt by many of the sick leads them to despair and a loss of identity and hope.
2. Participate in programs on behalf of the poor such as some of our special seasonal outreach programs.
3. Live a life of stewardship, recognizing that all your talents and material gifts are on-loan from God to be used in his work.
4. Educate yourself about the teaching of the Church on these and other important related issues.
5. End all forms of discrimination and racism. Judging someone is another form of saying that one life is better than another. This kind of judgmentalism is the life-blood of the Culture of Death.
6. Reach out to those who are marginalized and forgotten; challenge the boundaries imposed by our society.
7. Pray daily.
8. Get rid of the idea that other people are not your responsibility!
9. Hug your family and give thanks to God for the GIFT OF LIFE.