No Dignity in Assisted Suicide

Paisley Diocese returns from LO URDES Congregation at annual SCA LAN MASS, MARIAN SHRINE, and pilgrims speak of urged to ‘remain faithful to Jesus Christ’ the joy of the trip in spite of flood despite the struggles the Catholic damage in the area. Pa ges 10-11 Church in Scotland faces. Pag e 5 No 5527 YOUR NATIONAL CATHOLICwww.sconews.co.uk NEWSPAPER SUPPORTS THE YEAR OF FAITH Friday July 19 2013 | £1 CARRYING THEIR CROSS IN BRAZIL Fears grow after Ireland passes new abortion law THE Catholic Church in Ire- land has vowed to fight on for the unborn after Irish politicians voted to legalise abortion in certain circumstances. The new bill will allow doctors to carry out abortions if they decide the mother’s life is at risk, including the risk of suicide. Bishop Bill Leahy, of Limer- ick, said he believed Catholics should, could and would chal- lenge the new bill, passed last Thursday. “People, of course, will say the bill is limited, but we know from the experiences of countries around the world that even with the most restric- tive regime of abortion, once introduced, tends to expand dramatically,” he said. “That is Young people carry the World Youth Day Cross during a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro on last Friday. Organisers estimate that 2.5 million young Catholics will our concern. We are very con- flock to Brazil for the gathering with Pope Francis from July 23-28. A group of Scottish pilgrims has already hit the headlines in Brazil, see page 5 cerned, naturally, with the unborn. Apart from legal issues or specific political moves in this or that country, and we have it here now in Ireland, we [the bishops] are still promoters No dignity in assisted suicide of life and I think that, for us, is always going to be a priority.” The bishop added that the I Church will now look at legal Pope, Church and pro-lifers oppose care home head’s support for legal change action to block the bill, which many believe to be unconstitu- By Ian Dunn have lost the will to live,’ he said, ‘or if we are able to deter- Patel’s remarks were profoundly ‘depressing.’ tional. mine the circumstances in which we would not like to live, “[They] send out a dangerous message to those in “We will have to see what THE man who runs 42 Scottish nursing homes has should we have the choice to die well—[that is] choosing our society who are elderly, infirm or dependent on oth- course this law will take, and I called for much greater ‘choice’ over ‘how and how, when, where and the way of dying?’ ers for some kind of help, support or care,” she said. noted politicians already raising when’ people die in the same week Pope Francis While Dr Patel said he thought this was a ‘discussion “Illness and old age do not rob people of dignity, but the point that the constitutional- warned Scottish Catholics that they have to do all that needs to happen for itself, not for any economic rea- treating them as disposable or placing quality of life ity of this legislation is proba- they can to protect ‘the sick’ and ‘the old.’ sons,’ his speech also contained calls for private companies judgments on their existence does. Giving good care bly in question,” he said. “So The Holy Father has sent a pro-life message to Great to have a much greater input into NHS methods. and understanding and time to those in need is the real that will be something that I Britain and Ireland saying ‘all life has inestimable value’ as “The definition of our National Health Service may act of mercy.” think all people in Ireland will ‘even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, have to change or, as some have suggested, the NHS Gordon Macdonald, of advocacy group CARE Scot- be interested in, in seeing how the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s cre- will increasingly stand for National Health Care Sys- land, said that Dr Patel’s remarks were of great concern. that plays out.” ation, made in His own image, destined to live for ever, tem,” he said.“In this ‘new’ world, the food manufac- “Once you introduce private sector profit into a field that He also said that the Church and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.’ turers and retailers will have just as important a role as is supposed to be about care things will go wrong,” he was particularly concerned However, Dr Chai Patel, chairman of the HC-One the diabetologists and cardiologists!; the incentives and said. “All the examples overseas show there is just no about the fact the law would group, the UK’s third largest nursing home chain, opportunities to use exercise-generating transportation, way to have a safe system. This is why, in the Nether- allow abortions in cases where backed the legalisation of assisted suicide in his con- and even radical thinking around taxation. In other lands you get things like deep sedation, where they give the mother was seen as a sui- troversial speech to the National Care Homes Congress words, the care co-ordinators will be as important as patients ten times the dose of sedatives that would be cide risk. in Birmingham last Friday. A spokesperson for the the clinicians and the ‘health coaches.’ All this will allowed in this country and basically just let them starve Catholic Church in Scotland responded to Dr Patel’s com- mean a greater private sector involvement.” to death.” I Continued on page 2 ments by saying ‘the Church opposes the deliberate killing of one’s own body,’ before emphasising that ‘Catholicism Backlash Church does not ask for extreme measures to be enacted to keep Dr Patel’s remarks have sparked consternation among The Church spokesman concluded: “Consistency of someone alive.’ opponents of assisted suicide and euthanasia. working with nature, rather than against nature, offers A spokeswoman for The Society for the Protection further insight into why the Church opposes the deliber- Pressure of Unborn Children Scotland said he represented ‘a ate killing of one’s own body. The acceptance of one’s The comments by Dr Patel, chairman of one of the UK’s corporate, money-making body that no doubt sees from death is fundamentally different from intentional killing largest providers of end of life care, come as Independ- the example of Dignitas that there is a lot of money to of one’s self. The difference between killing and dying ent Lothian MSP Margo MacDonald is preparing a new be made from suicide clinics and can only lead one should not be obscured—be it legally or morally.” attempt to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland. to conclude that these comments are about business He used his speech to call for new approaches to end of not care.’ I Bishop Philip Egan backs decision to phase out the life care, saying ‘if we find ourselves in a situation where The spokeswoman for SPUC Scotland, part of the Liverpool Care Pathway, page 7 visit www.sconews.co.uk the quality of our life is low (or expected to be so) and we Care Not Killing coalition in Scotland, added that Dr I [email protected] SCO, 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6BT I tel 0141 221 4956 I fax 0141 221 4546 I e-mail [email protected] 2 PICTURE NEWS THE SCO SUPPORTS THE YEAR OF FAITH SCOTTISH CATHOLIC OBSERVER Friday July 19 2013 Celebrating the old and the new at the New Dawn conference in St Andrews ‘BRING forth the new and the old’ was Andrews since the Reformation. the theme for the week as Catholics from “Everyone taking part felt a sense of history across the country and beyond attended being made,” Mr Hunter said. “We had around the New Dawn in Scotland 2013 confer- 200-300 people gathering at St James’, and by the ence at Madras College, St Andrews. time we got to the cathedral there were more than Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll and the Isles was 400 people.” the principle celebrant at the conference’s main Among the speakers taking part in this year’s Mass last Thursday, which he celebrated alongside five-day New Dawn in Scotland conference, two visiting bishops from Australia, Archbishop which had a strong focus on the Year of Faith, was Denis Hart and Bishop Les Tomlinson (right), and Aneel Aranha, who runs a Catholic publishing, 13 clergy at the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral. radio and television company in Dubai. Prior to the open-air Mass, pilgrims walked Mr Aranha shared the story of his conversion to from the town’s St James’ Church along North God, which took place when he was serving a Street to the cathedral, led by a statue of Our Lady prison sentence. of Aberdeen (above left and right). As in previous years, a New Dawn youth min- Dougie Hunter, director of New Dawn Scotland, istry ran in conjunction with the main conference, highlighted that it was the first such Catholic pro- with young people taking part in many workshops, cession to be held through the main streets of St including ones focused on praise and worship. Vatican shares concerns SPOTLIGHT ON... over Ireland’s abortion bill I Continued from page 1 This was because ‘there is now some medical evidence to say that if a person who is sui- cidal is told to go and have an abortion that it is even more detrimental to their personal health.’ The bishop’s concerns were echoed in the Vatican as Mgr Jacques Suaudeau (right) of the Pontifical Academy of Life, warned that the ‘people who brought this law into Ireland are liberals and want to go further; this is just the beginning.’ just rise and rise.” “You can consider this law as The Irish bill was approved a first step,” Mgr Suaudeau by a 127-31 vote in the Dáil Mgr Hugh McInally, a retired priest of Dunkeld Diocese, recently celebrated 50 years as a priest with a Mass of Thanksgiving at St Joseph’s Church, (right) said.

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