CATHOLIC ADVANCE HEALTHCARE DIRECTIVE Gain peace of mind by answering the hard questions about prolonged care, treatment and pain relief ahead of time By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald Your elderly mother is wheeled into the hospital emergency room with a broken hip. You’re handling her paperwork. Someone from the hospital asks if she has […]
Anyone can minister to the dying
Diocese wraps up well-attended discussion sessions on Hawaii’s new physician-assisted suicide law By Anna Weaver Hawaii Catholic Herald After Hawaii’s physician-assisted suicide bill went into effect Jan. 1, the Diocese of Honolulu scheduled discussion sessions throughout the islands on the pastoral implications of the new law. Around 700 people attended the nine meetings held between […]
Bishop releases two videos to counter legalization of doctor-assisted suicide
Bishop Larry Silva has taken to social media to counter physician-assisted suicide which became legal in Hawaii on Jan. 1. The Hawaii Catholic Conference has produced two video messages from the bishop — one 30 seconds long; the other three minutes long — which have been posted on the Facebook page of the Hawaii Catholic […]
Diocese schedules sessions to discuss physician-assisted suicide implications
The Diocese of Honolulu is holding discussion sessions in January and February for clergy and parish staff on the pastoral implications of the new Hawaii law permitting physician-assisted suicide. Here is the schedule: Sessions for explanation, discussion and questions on physician-assisted suicide For: Priests and deacons, parish staff, those involved in ministry to the sick […]
Instruction’s intention is to dissuade people from making mortal choice
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE By Father Mark Gantley Special to the Herald The Hawaii State Legislature during its 2018 session passed a bill, signed into law by Gov. David Ige, permitting terminally ill patients to commit suicide with the help of physicians, psychologists and pharmacists. The law was promoted by the mainland advocacy organization Compassion and Choices, […]
DECREE: Issuing “Instruction Regarding Sacraments and Funerals in Situations Involving Physician Assisted Suicide”
DECREE Issuing “Instruction Regarding Sacraments and Funerals in Situations Involving Physician Assisted Suicide” It is with sadness but also with hope that I issue the “Instruction Regarding Sacraments and Funerals in Situations Involving Physician Assisted Suicide.” It is with sadness because of the new law which permits such actions in the State of Hawaii, contravening […]
Commentary: On cutting short the end-of-life journey
Eva Andrade is president of Hawaii Family Forum and communications director of Hawaii Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Diocese of Honolulu. For about 20 years, she has been on the front lines at the State Legislature and in the public square in the fight against the law to permit physician-assisted suicide. By […]
Terminally ill mother: Euthanasia push robs ‘friends, family of joy’
By Marilyn Rodrigues Catholic News Service SYDNEY — In March, as Anna Corry lay dying, she sent out a request to speak publicly about her opposition to euthanasia. The 50-year-old former nursing educator had endured an aggressive type of breast cancer since her diagnosis in January 2016. This January, she and her husband, Martin, a […]
Bishop Larry Silva: Ironies, contradictions and lies
REGARDING HB-2739: ‘OUR CARE, OUR CHOICE ACT’ Etymology, the study of the roots of words, has always fascinated me. Take the word “autonomy,” which derives from the Greek “auto,” meaning “self” and “nomos,” meaning “law.” To be autonomous then is to live by one’s own law. The recent discussions regarding the HB-2739, the so-called “Our […]
Against our human nature: Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would forever alter the doctor-patient relationship in Hawaii
Analysis By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald In a letter to Catholics last year, Bishop Larry Silva pointed out the striking irony of a law that would permit what has been genteelly called “death with dignity.” “Proponents speak of the autonomy of the individual to make his or her own choice about when to die,” […]