Experts Confront Problem of Euthanasia by Omission

Underline Papal Teaching on Care for Patients in Persistent Comas

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, JUNE 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A group of experts are highlighting papal teaching that people in persistent comas should be nourished regardless of the cost, as an ordinary duty of persons to one another.

This was affirmed in an article published this month in the journal of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Ethics and Medics, signed by a group of 15 scholars.

Some of the contributing scholars are: Robert George, jurisprudence professor at Princeton University; William May, retired moral theology professor at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family; Christian Brugger, moral theology professor at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary; and Father Thomas Berg, executive director of Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person.

They responded to a statement published in the February issue of Commonweal, written by a consortium consisting of seven directors of bioethics programs at Jesuit universities, about the "papal teaching on the moral requirement to provide food and water to patients in the so-called persistent vegetative state."

The aim of the consortium, the scholars asserted, "is to influence the American bishops against amending the 'Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.'"

The article reported that this month the bishops will consider the amendment which will "bring the directives in line with the March 2004 teaching of Pope John Paul II" on the "persistent vegetative state."

The scholars underlined a 1992 document by the pro-life committee of the U.S. bishops titled "Nutrition and Hydration: Moral and Pastoral Reflections," which "warned against any removal of food and water from persons in the vegetative state based on a 'quality of life' judgment about the value of their lives or on the cost of total care."

Although the prelates did not at that time explicitly include patients in the vegetative state, they noted that this was only because they were waiting for the official word from the magisterium, which came with Pope John Paul II.

The article reported the Pope's statement that "providing food and water to patients in a [persistent vegetative state] is morally required, even when doing so does not facilitate the patient's recovery from the comatose condition."

It explained: "Providing food and water should not be considered a medical act strictly speaking, but an ordinary and proportionate means of caring for disabled patients; the Pope calls them forms of basic health care to which every patient, no matter how disabled, has a right.

"The administration of nutrition and hydration is thus morally obligatory, provided that they remain useful for accomplishing their end, namely, to nourish the patient and preserve his or her life."

Consistent

The teaching of Pope John Paul II, the scholars asserted, "is consistent with what the Church has explicitly taught on the subject for the last 30 years."

The article also responded to the consortium's claim that the papal teaching is "out of touch with American medical and legal realities," stating that the Jesuit group missed the point of the Pope's words.

The scholars clarified: "The Pope's statement that feeding and hydrating disabled patients 'always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act' is not a judgment about the complexity of health care procedures.

"It is a normative judgment about the basic duties of persons to one another based on 'the intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being.'

"Feeding disabled people is not a medical treatment, even though a medical procedure may be required. It is a form of care owed to all persons, including patients in a [persistent vegetative state]."

The scholars noted that "the papal teaching nowhere requires a specific form of nutrition and hydration, especially if expense poses an unreasonable burden."

However, they added, "it does forbid choosing to withhold all food and water when a patient needs them to survive and they do not impose undue burdens on that patient."

The main concern of the papal teaching, the scholars stated, "is to confront the growing problem of euthanasia by omission for patients in a [persistent vegetative state]."

The article asserted, "The Holy See's teaching that assisted feeding is a part of normal care does not stop being true just because the patient's cognitive loss is due to something other than a [persistent vegetative state]."

The article affirmed that the health care guidelines should be amended if they are unclear in these principles and "lend themselves to justifying the removal of food and water from patients in a [persistent vegetative state], or any cognitively diminished patients."

Vietnam Prelate Dies a Witness of Persecution

Communists Mark Life of 100-Year-Old Bishop

LONG XUYEN, Vietnam, JUNE 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Vietnamese Catholics are mourning the death of their oldest bishop, as they continue to witness the destruction of what the late prelate strove to build.

Bishop Michael Nguyen Khac Ngu died Wednesday, less than a month after celebrating his 100th birthday. He served as a priest for 75 years, having been ordained in France in 1934.

Among the buildings that the late bishop built, all except the cathedral have been seized by the Communist government. Vietnamese Catholics continue in an ongoing battle with the government over properties that have been confiscated and buildings that have been demolished.

The most recent to be taken was the monastery of the Congregation of the Brothers of The Holy Family of Banam in Long Xuyen, which was demolished last week.

Michael Nguyen Khac Ngu was born in northern Vietnam in 1909. He entered St. Therese Minor Seminary in Lang Son Diocese in 1922, and later traveled to France for further study and was ordained there as a priest in 1934.

In 1954, after the Communist takeover of the north and subsequent persecution of the Church, he led his parishioners southward and settled with them in Long Xuyen province, south of Saigon.

The region was established as a diocese in 1960 and he was named the first prelate. At that time, it had 20,000 Catholics; today it has 240,000 in 108 parishes and 45 sub-parishes, served by 240 priests.

Though Bishop Michael Nguyen ordained a coadjutor on the same day of the Communist takeover of the South -- April 30, 1975 -- he did not retire officially until 1997.

Talking about the late prelate, the diocese's current bishop, Joseph Tran Xuan Tieu, recalled how simply he had lived "in a 20-square-meter room with an old bed and without a television or personal computer."

Bishop Joseph Tran, 63, said the late bishop set a shining example to others by devoting much time each day to prayer, and never missing daily Mass even when ill: "He read books and newspapers daily, washed his own clothes and cleaned his own room, and made toothpicks for the people in the bishop's house."

Pope Warns Secularism Can Infest Church

Cautions Against Worship Lacking Heart

ROME, JUNE 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is warning of a "serpentine secularization" that penetrates the Church and is manifested in "formal and empty Eucharistic worship."

The Pope celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi today in Rome, presiding over Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and then processing with the Blessed Sacrament to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

In his homily, the Holy Father illustrated the importance of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, telling the thousands of pilgrims that this faith "cannot be taken for granted."

"Today there arises the risk of a serpentine secularization even within the Church, which can convert into a formal and empty Eucharistic worship, in celebrations lacking this participation from the heart that is expressed in veneration and respect for the liturgy," he cautioned.

According to the Pontiff, "the temptation is always strong to reduce prayer to superficial and hurried moments, letting oneself be carried away by earthly activities and worries."

And nevertheless, he added, the Eucharist is "the bread of eternal life of the new world that is given us today in the holy Mass, so that starting now the future world begins in us."

"With the Eucharist, therefore, heaven comes down to earth, the tomorrow of God descends into the present and it is as if time remains embraced by divine eternity," the Bishop of Rome explained.

He didn't hide his joy at being able to accompany the Blessed Sacrament along the path to St. Mary Major; he invited the faithful to raise up this prayer: "Stay with us, Christ, give to us the gift of yourself and give us the bread that nourishes us for eternal life.

"Free this world from the venom of evil, of violence and of hate, which contaminate consciences; purify it with the power of your merciful love."

Divine Mercy in My Soul

Experts Confront Problem of Euthanasia by Omission

Vietnam Prelate Dies a Witness of Persecution

Pope Warns Secularism Can Infest Church