Feature
Respect for life
Msgr Gerard Burns
The Church’s respect life stance is based on its faith in God as a creator and a wonder and awe at the beauty and mystery of creation. The first statement of the creed – and in fact in the sign of the cross we use so often– refers to the Father-Creator: ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…’.
If God is creator of all things this does not mean we can understand everything about the kind of God the creator is. We can learn some things by the observation and study of creation. Science can help us in this.
Newton thought by understanding the laws of the universe we could come to understand and appreciate the mind of God. His physics led to remarkable discoveries. However, in more recent times with the development of quantum physics, we seem to be being led into even more mysterious aspects of the creation in which we live. If the creation is more mysterious, the creator is too.
Many mystics have said the same things from their experience of prayer and life: God is light, but there seems to be greater ‘darkness’ the closer we come to him; that we can say more of what God is not, than we can say of what God is; the ways of God are ultimately unknowable but at the heart of creation is a tremendous goodness we call Love – as St John says, ‘God is Love’.
And this creator of all is the source of all life. We humans at present know only something of life forms on earth, including our own. The most widely held theory on the development of the universe is that of the ‘Big Bang’; the theory of which was postulated by a priest – Georg LeMaitre.
Because we believe all life comes from God, there is sacredness to what has come to be. This is especially the case for the development of the human family and the human body. The advances in genetics have helped us understand the uniqueness of each person and the beginnings of human life. The development of Catholic teaching around the beginnings of life stems from a wonder and awe at what has been given to us as gift, entrusted to us as a treasure. From this stems the Church’s pro-life stance.
This stance was summed up in the New Zealand Bishops statement in 1987 Te Kahu-o-te-Ora looking at the interlinking of various pro-life issues. Its eight components are integrity of creation, discrimination, poverty, the arms race, peace, abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty. To care for life means caring for it at all stages.
The following articles reflect today on the interrelated components of the Bishops’ 1987 statement: A Consistent Ethic of Life – Te Kahu-o-te-Ora.
Mgsr Gerad Burns is Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Wellington, parish priest of St Joseph’s Mt Victoria, and of te Parihi o te Ngakau Tapu personal parish for Māori.
A consistent ethic of life
Susan Wilson
We can be very attached to our particular view of the world and find it difficult to let go of established opinions.
For example, some in our society believe our appalling child-poverty statistics are primarily a result of parents choosing to have children they cannot afford. Their fault – their problem. Closely aligned, is the belief the unborn are ‘not really human’ and thus abortion is reasonable.
As Catholics we are sometimes called to be out of step with others in society on the issues discussed in this feature.
The reason for this is not because Catholics are anti-choice, in favour of suffering, soft in the head or out of touch. The reason behind a care-for-all creation, especially the poor, and for being opposed to state-sanctioned killing in whatever guise, is the belief in the goodness of God’s creation and the dignity of all people.
Of course many people do not believe in God and so arguing for a consistent ethic of life would fall on deaf ears if we use ‘God language’. We need to find reasons that resonate within the prevailing world-views if we wish to convince others. This is the challenge of our time as our faith calls us to transform society.
Susan Wilson is Head of Student and Business Support for the Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The integrity of creation
Fr Peter Healey sm
As I write, late autumn rain rattles on my roof. I am grateful to be warm and dry. Rain is what a watershed collects and disperses to the sea.
The Waitohu-Ōtaki watershed I inhabit is an outstanding one. It has a stream and river system many hundreds of kilometres long that drain thousands of hectares of hinterland slopes. I have recently tramped the mountainous rim of our watershed – a solid eight-day journey along the Tararua tops behind Levin down to Akatarawa.
This journey has awakened in me a new sense of where I live. It encourages me to ponder what American theologian Ched Myers calls ‘watershed discipleship’. This form of discipleship is about knowing where you live.
It is also having a sense of the biology that is your surrounds: the landforms, the waterways and sea, the air and winds, and all the lifeforms.
Slowly scientists, planners, ecologists, healthcare workers and Christian disciples are waking up to watersheds.
A watershed is the integral functioning of our system – weather, geology, land use, water quality, employment, human settlement, sustainablity and food security.
Many layers of stories make up the history and geography of a watershed. Holding these layers in our mind’s eye is what a watershed disciple endeavours to do.
The integrity of creation is writ in the form of local watersheds but our education system, theology and liturgy have not traditionally included them.
I was never taught about whole systems, how to intuit their presence, grandeur and importance.
Often a watershed is reduced to a set of resources. When this happens it loses its integrity, and a license to use and abuse comes into play.
We have entered what social ecologists are calling ‘the Anthropocene’ – when human dominance over natural systems is at an all-time high and has had a significant impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. We have a moral obligation to protect the integrity of a planet in peril.
As watershed disciples we honour God our Creator, we consider future generations, we know the struggle of all life forms on the planet and we do what our moral integrity asks of us.
The place to begin the work of being honourable and caring disciples is in the watershed that nourishes and sustains us.
Fr Peter Healy sm is an artist, and is a member of the SM Ōtaki Community, Waitohu-Ōtaki Watershed, and the Ōtaki-Levin Parish.
Poverty: a call for fairness
Teresa Homan
Poverty diminishes human dignity. Access to basic needs is a God-given and a fundamental human right. God provides enough for everyone to have food and shelter, families and communities to work and live amongst, and individual talents that can benefit one’s potential as well as serve others.
Poverty results from society’s distribution imbalance, resulting in food production problems and lack of access to wate
r and shelter.
Catholic social teaching calls for fair distribution of resources.
However, when resources are used as profit-making commodities the reality is that many miss out.
In New Zealand, many lack adequate food, secure shelter, and opportunities.
Children go to school hungry, live in sub-standard accommodation, and lack healthcare and educational opportunities.
We need social and economic policies that ensure a balanced economy affording all children equal access to basic needs.
When one child goes hungry all children lose.
Teresa Homan is a member of the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese Justice, Peace and Development Commission.
Elizabeth Julian RSM.
Elizabeth Julian RSM
Why is it wrong for me to think that ‘those’ people who may not look like me or sound like me don’t belong in my country, my neighbourhood, my school, my workplace, my sport’s team, my club, my parish, my religious congregation or even my family? Why is it wrong for me to discriminate?
Fifty years ago the Church made a very challenging statement: ‘Nevertheless, with respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, colour, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent’ (Gaudium et Spes, 29).
Why is discrimination ‘contrary to God’s intent’ sinful? First, we are creatures of inestimable dignity and worth not because we’re playing for the Hurricanes – because of our own merits, and not because advertising tells us ‘because you’re worth it’, but because we are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27).
What does this mean? Suggestions over the years have been numerous.
For example, we are like God because we can think, love, decide, create, or we are like God because we have authority over the earth and the animals.
However, in the biblical world ‘image and likeness’ was understood in relational terms. It meant being a representative of.
A ruler was thought to be the image of a god – someone who could exercise authority for a god as ruler over the land.
In the Genesis story then, the man and woman are God’s representatives. They exercise dominion, authority; but it’s God’s authority, not their own. They are responsible to God for the earth and the things of the earth.
Second, God became human in the incarnation. What Jesus reveals is there is something about the human that makes us open to receiving God.
As finite women and men we are capable of receiving the Infinite, a really astounding claim.
In other words, two key doctrines found in the creed – creation and incarnation – lead us to affirm the dignity of all.
So I am like ‘those’ people made in the image and likeness of God and therefore worthy of the utmost dignity and respect.
To discriminate is sinful.
Dr Elizabeth Julian RSM is a Lecturer and Distance Learning Education Co-ordinator at the Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The death penalty
Fr Michael McCabe
We regularly see and hear and read of a number of countries condemning prisoners and criminals to death. Recently, for example, the Boston bomber, and drug smugglers in Indonesia and China, were condemned to death.
Rightly, there is something in us that jars whenever we hear of someone condemned to death. Does it have to be like this? Is this the only way that justice can be served? Surely the condemned prisoner and criminal has some basic human rights?
How do we reconcile this sad fact of life with our Catholic faith and with the call to cultivate a consistent ethic of life? If we are made in the image and likeness of God, as we believe, then surely each and every life is sacred. From this fundamental fact comes the call to respect and nurture the life of every person, born or unborn, broken or gifted, frail or healthy, convicted or free.
In his 1995 letter, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium vitae), Pope John Paul II taught that the need to protect society by killing a convicted criminal is ‘very rare, if not practically non-existent.’ He went further in Saint Louis in 1999 when he said that the Church is committed to opposing the death penalty because it is ‘both cruel and unnecessary.’ Pope Francis recently called for the death penalty to be abolished – as well as life-long prison sentences, which he called a ‘hidden death sentence.’
While we do not have the death penalty in New Zealand we have an appalling record of incarceration. The strength of restorative justice is that it breaks the cycle of vengeance and, in its place, introduces the very real possibility of healing and reconciliation. Restorative justice is also a process that fundamentally affirms a consistent ethic of life.
Fr Michael McCabe, PhD, is parish priest of Our Lady of Kāpiti Parish and a former Director of the Nathaniel Centre.
Chris Duthie-Jung
Almost every evening lately, the 6pm news carries another instalment of the unfolding barbarity of the so-called Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq. As abhorrent as we find it, they are in reality just the latest in a seeming non-stop march of military aggressors around the world. A myriad complex issues lie behind the warring of course; issues that can never justify, even for a moment, the untold suffering that results for the non-combatant local peoples – the children, the women and men who did not seek war but are all but consumed by it. A question occasionally asked, but which remains always relevant, is how do these forces arm themselves? It is a larger-scale version of the same question that haunts the US as it grapples with its own internal firearm laws – are the weapons needed to defend oneself or are they predominantly the reason why defence is felt to be necessary?
In their statement, A Consistent Ethic of Life, the New Zealand Bishops brought to bear Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s stinging criticism of a morality that blinds itself to the breadth of the issues involved in standing for life. In the case of arms and warfare, while we may find grounds in our theory of a ‘Just War’ to fight back in defence of the vulnerable, we are left confronted by the fact the fighting only happens on the scale we witness because we provide the means.
The development, production and sale of weapons are almost unbounded and for every dollar spent there is a dollar that cannot be spent to relieve the suffering of the poor – not to mention the suffering of the victims of the use of the weapons themselves! It is, say our Bishops, outright theft from those who have to go without.
But how to stop it? How to bring about a real and lasting peace? Justice must be at its heart; that much we know. Surely too, there must be an end to our impotent acceptance of profit making from the manufacture and sale of weapons to would-be-fighters, marketing on a scale that beggar
s belief. From hand guns to ballistic missiles, we know this is an utterly unethical use of the world’s financial and natural resources.
Can and will Christians, especially Catholics, rise to the challenge of denouncing the weapons market that is so blatantly anti-Gospel?
Dr Chris Duthie-Jung is Head of Partnerships and Director of NCRS for TCI.
Dr John Kleinsman
A favourite uncle used to say, ‘Be careful what you wish for!’ It’s a reminder that things we desire often come with unforeseen and undesirable consequences. If there was ever an instance in which this applies it is in regard to euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Those who want the law to change believe the issue is fundamentally about ‘choice’.
Allowing those who want to choose when and how they die would not affect those who think otherwise, it is argued. Euthanasia/assisted suicide can seem acceptable, fair and safe when the focus is solely on individual ‘hard’ cases.
I am adamantly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. As someone who heads up a Catholic Bioethics Centre, I am often accused of imposing my ‘religious’ choices on others. Actually, I don’t have a problem with people exercising choice.
In an ‘ideal’ world, a world of total empathy and inclusion, a world of equitable access to health care and free of elder abuse, I could live with people being given this choice. But we don’t live in such a world.
A robust, informed debate about euthanasia and assisted suicide needs to consider some interacting social factors that define our current New Zealand context: the rise of elder abuse; the increasing social isolation of the elderly; a growth in the overall proportion of elderly; greater pressure on families to provide care; smaller and more fragmented families; and increasing economic pressures on our health system.
The availability of state-sanctioned ‘mercy killing’ in this environment will inevitably create additional pathways for abuse and neglect. As one commentator bluntly stated, ‘I oppose introducing euthanasia in a toxic climate.’
There are also the threats euthanasia/assisted suicide would pose for quality end-of-life care, our trust in doctors, its potential impact on youth-suicide prevention and the inevitable extension to children and others incapable of giving consent.
Further, in the current ‘toxic climate’, a law change will reframe the way the sick, elderly or disabled see themselves and are seen by others.
As an experienced nurse recently wrote, ‘Do assisted-suicide supporters really expect doctors and nurses to assist in the suicide of one patient, then go care for a similar patient who wants to live, without this having an effect on our ethics or empathy? Do they realise this reduces the second patient’s will-to-live request to a mere personal whim – perhaps, ultimately, one that society will see as selfish and too costly?’
Expanding personal freedoms to include euthanasia or assisted suicide undermines the right to remain alive without having to justify one’s existence.
Research backs this up. Contrary to popular opinion, the main reasons people favour euthanasia relate to their experience of social isolation, fear of losing control and feelings of being a burden.
There has never been a more dangerous time in our country’s history to implement a law change.
An experienced palliative-care physician reassures me that these days no-one need die in physical pain. What we need is access to quality care in a society where everyone feels valued and included.
Good palliative does this, addressing a person’s existential suffering – emotional, psychological, spiritual and relational – as well as their physical suffering.
As hospital chaplain Fr David Orange recently noted, ‘The pro-euthanasia slogan is that people should be allowed to die with dignity, which suggests that they don’t. I’ve seen hundreds of people die…it’s just part and parcel of your life as a chaplain. And I would say in the time I’ve been a chaplain, which is about 35 years, I don’t think I can remember a case where people didn’t die with dignity.’
We must be honest about the unintended, long-term, negative consequences of euthanasia and assisted-suicide for both individuals and society.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are unnecessary and, in the current toxic context, extremely dangerous.
Be careful what you wish for!
Dr John Kleinsman is Director of The NZ Catholic Bioethics Centre.
Abortion: protecting life
Dr Joseph and Cushla Hassan
When trying to understand why we have so many abortions in New Zealand we find reflecting on our own faults and failings is a good starting point.
In Nelson we have set up a free general-practice-based Crisis Pregnancy Support Service – Hapai Taumaha Hapūtanga.
Women come to us with unplanned pregnancies and we allow them time and space to recover from their initial shock and explore how they might continue their pregnancy with support.
Our service is staffed by volunteer health professionals who also co-ordinate with other services to offer comprehensive care to women. We receive help from volunteers in the community who provide meals, accommodation, driving lessons and similar services to women.
Many choose to continue their pregnancy with this support and health professionals increasingly refer women to us.
Sadly, in New Zealand, many women feel they have no option but to have an abortion.
What can we do to better support these women?
We need to learn how to offer hope and become a community of love for our women and children so that abortion need not be an option.
Why do so many choose abortion? From our experience many do not actually make a free ‘choice’ and many have unwanted abortions.
Many are suffering private anguish and dilemmas, too afraid to seek support. These sufferings are hidden in our community.
The problems are often societal and the best solutions will often come from the community.
In most cases women would choose to continue their pregnancy if given more options and offered support. There are many in the community prepared to help.
However, unexpected pregnancy is seen as a medical issue with abortion being the main solution offered. We can offer hope in many ways and help reduce abortion.
We are blessed with rich resources in the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments and Church teaching on sexuality, marriage and family, which offer great wisdom and ‘life to the full’. We give our families a wonderful life-giving gift when we bring them up in these teachings.
There are many agencies offering excellent support to women facing unplanned pregnancy. These include St Vincent De Paul, Pregnancy Counselling Services, Pregnancy Help, House of Grace, Hope House, Family Life International, Crisis Pregnancy Support, Greenstone Door, Voice for Life, Focus on the Family and others.
Getting involved in volunteering help or providing resources is a good way to live out our belief in the sanctity of life.
The Church community also has an important role to play in helping those affected by abortion to access healing. As health professionals we have come to understand more the impact abortion can have on women, their partners and their extended family.
Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats and the Post Abortion Trauma Healing Service (PATHS) both have a growing role in offering healing for all people a
ffected by abortion.
Our parishes also have a role in ensuring support for those who have suffered trauma, offering them help to find hope and healing through Christ. Visit
www.crisispregnancysupport.co.nz to find out more about our service.
Dr Joseph and Cushla Hassan established and work as health professionals at Crisis Pregnancy Support – Hapai Taumaha Hapūtanga, Nelson.
Respect for life: Palliative care
Bridget Marshall & Kathleen Field
At the Day of life Greeting in 2013, Pope Francis said. ‘Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect’.
Those working in hospices and for palliative care have the opportunity to be witness to the vulnerable, physically weak and those who fear they will be a burden on others. They are also witness to immense resilience, courage and hope.
Palliative care is the care of those who are facing a life-limiting illness. It is not limited to a place, such as a hospice, or to any particular diagnosis. Palliative care involves attention of the whole person – body, mind, spirit – and those who care for them, their family and whānau. It aligns well to the Māori model of health Te whare tapa whare, whereby all elements of a person are equally important.
Advances in palliative care medicine mean there is now no longer any need for a person to die in pain. At the end stages of an illness, when curative treatment is no longer effective, the priority of care becomes to provide sufficient pain relief for the person to remain comfortable. Good support at end of life is a basic human right and one we must continue to engage with as a society demand.
There is a debate around whether euthanasia and assisted suicide should become an option in New Zealand. All New Zealanders must ensure they are informed of the implications of living in a society where killing some of its members is tolerated.
To this end, a small working group of the local Justice Development and Peace Commission has been meeting in Palmerston North. It aim to raise awareness of the issues surrounding euthanasia and to alert people to the dangers of complacency in the debate surrounding it and assisted suicide. Similar groups have been established in Whanganui, Taranaki and Hawkes Bay.The hope is each group will become active in each region, establish wide local networks across culture, religion, age and background and decide on regionally-appropriate ways of making information accessible to all.
Contact Kathleen Field to be part of the Palmerston North Diocese regional group or network. For more information, visit www.nathaniel.org.nz www.euthanasiadebate.org.nz, or www.carealliance.org.nz
Kathleen Field and Bridget Marshall are members of the Palmerston North End of Life Issues Working Group.