Some of you will be aware of the
proposed law change to assisted suicide. It is for everyone a most
distressing issue and I pray about it constantly and share these thoughts with
you with great care and consideration for all people touched by this terrible
issue.
I write as a husband and father as well
as being a disabled man who lives in constant pain; I write also as a priest
dedicated to God's service and the Gospel. I also write this as one who
journeys very often with people who are also in great pain and discomfort,
some who are facing their own deaths. I also write as a campaigner for
disability rights and as an academic lawyer. All of this I try to balance
constantly when praying upon this delicate and distressing issue. I ask you
also to read this in prayer …
So as you can see this issue is close
to my heart. When someone says to me 'I want to shut my eyes and just let all
of the pain, all of this disease, go away', I know, I understand. I feel
their sense of despair their want of peace, often a want not just to be pain or
disease free but actually to be in the presence of God; because they are ready.
Yet so many people will then say to me; ‘but isn’t it a sin father to want to
die’? Is it? To look on God’s face, to see behind the darkened mirror, well as
a Christian I too want to see God. Last year as I lay waiting to die with my
family all around me, peace prevailed; all was well, I was ready to go. But
then I recovered, and I was thrust back into a life of disability, pain and
stress; but I have a strong loving family who would do anything for me, and
never judge me in my weakened state. So is it a sin to want to die, well I
guess we cannot help what we want, and wanting peace and wanting God seem
logical.
Now I have lost friends to suicide, the
shock of each one comes over me as I write this now. And each one was such a
waste. Is it a waste to take a human life prematurely through suicide under any
condition? If not how do we begin to untangle what is not a waste and what is?
When is a person no longer worth fighting for? Because if society has a law
that allows suicide then it has decided that a certain group is no longer worth
that support.
But as a campaigner for disability
rights I worry that life may be cheapened, by a change in the law, perhaps not
immediately but in time as people begin to say 'well others take their lives
when they get like this'. The point is, I believe, is that we are forgetting to
be a caring society, and that many of our true issues are down to 'self'.
Perhaps more money invested in better care and medical research would have
stopped the need for this? But when so few hold so much what chance do we have
unless we shout louder, No, Stop! These are people. Everyone counts, everyone
has a story to tell, a life lived, everyone has human rights and it is our
duty as Christians to stand for those rights. The right here that is most
important is not the right to die, but the right to live with dignity and it is
this that society is failing on.
It is also something we fail as a
church to follow. Our church is not our building we all know this, so why do so
many older people tell me that they never see any one from their church family?
Forget grand mission statement for growth if we cannot even look after our own church
grandparents. We the church are part of society, we are part of the vote on
assisted suicide, see below, but we cannot be moralistic unless we are truly
God's family.
From the Church of England Media Centre
Churchgoers urged to voice concerns over assisted suicide Bill
16 July 2015
For immediate release
Churchgoers encouraged to contact MPs over assisted suicide Bill
Churchgoers are being encouraged to contact their MPs to highlight the risks involved in proposed legislation to legalise assisted suicide.
James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle, has asked that parishioners either make an appointment to see their MP or write them a letter expressing their concerns about a Private Member's Bill to be debated in the House of Commons on Friday September 11.
The Bill is expected to seek to grant physician assisted suicide for mentally competent, terminally ill adults, who have six months or less to live.
Bishop James, the Church of England's lead bishop on health care, said the proposed legislation, if passed into law, would have a detrimental effect both on individuals and on the nature of society.
He said: "Our concern about this proposed legislation is rooted in our practical care for the most vulnerable in our society. In our communities and through healthcare chaplaincy, the Church of England cares daily for the elderly, the ill, the dying and their families.
"If this Bill is passed we will have crossed a line that will make the future very uncertain and dangerous for a significant proportion of the most vulnerable people, including the elderly and those living with disabilities.
"This is a key moment for all of us as we decide what sort of society we want to live in and what future we want for our children and grandchildren, one in which all are valued and cared for, or one in which some lives are viewed as not worth living.
"I ask those who are happy to do so, to contact their MPs, either by making an appointment to see them in person at their constituency surgery, or by letter, to make it clear that they oppose this Bill."
To hear a full interview with James Newcome on the Assisted Dying Bill listen here: https://soundcloud.com/the-church-of-england/assisted-suicide-01
End
Notes
Contact details for MPs can be found on the Parliament website. Entering a postcode will give details of who your MP is and how to contact him/her: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
Blog by Rev Dr Brendan McCarthy, national adviser to the Church of England on medical ethics
http://cofecomms.tumblr.com/post/124147858482/caring-for-the-vulnerable-in-a-compassionate
More information on the Church of England's view on assisted suicide https://www.churchofengland.org/our-views/medical-ethics-health-social-care-policy/assisted-suicide.aspx
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