Tools to educate parishioners about the efforts to legalize assisted suicide in Illinois

Polling data show many Illinoisians do not understand the consequences of legalizing assisted suicide, including Catholics. What may seem like a compassionate choice may be in fact influenced by financial considerations and the lack of support to help patients and their families. Data from other states where assisted suicide is legal reveal that it is often not chosen for the reasons stated in public arguments.

Education is needed in the months ahead on this subject, especially to clarify Church teaching on this emotional issue and to help parishioners understand the consequences of making assisted suicide legal in Illinois.

Please help spread the “Message from the Catholic Bishops” in your Parish bulletins as well as the other materials from this packet and urge parishioners to contact their elected officials.

The Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) and the Illinois Catholic Health Association (ICHA), working with our diocesan offices, have prepared the attached packet to assist you in talking with parishioners. It includes a variety of resources for both clergy and the laity. Here are some principal points to consider as you review the packet:

1. Know what is happening – CCI has a landing page on its website that includes a brief webinar and other information to help you understand this issue. Please visit www.ilcatholic.org
2. Know the positive Catholic position on end-of-life care – Genuine Catholic teaching offers real compassion for dying people, works with them to alleviate suffering, and does not impose an obligation to use extraordinary means to prolong life. Catholic teaching offers real respect for the life and dignity of people.
3. Recognize the fallacies and distortions – In pushing this legislation forward, its promoters will inevitably tap into people’s fears (e.g. “There can terrible pain at the end of life”), neglect better possibilities for end-of-life care (e.g. palliative care) and mischaracterize assisted suicide as “compassionate care.”
4. Understand the consequences – There are significant consequences that affect everyone, not just the person who wishes to end their life.
5. Catholics are not alone in their opposition – Physicians, the disability community and others are also opposed. www.stopassistedsuicideillinois.org

If you have any questions, I encourage you to contact CCI at 312.368.1066.

Assisted Suicide Parish Toolkit 

Luke’s Story 

Maggie’s Story

Catechism of the Catholic Church on Assisted-Suicide

Excerpts from paragraphs 2276 – 2279 on Euthanasia and paragraphs 2280 – 2283 on Suicide: 

#2277 ... Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. ... 

#2278 Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “over-zealous” treatment.

#2279 Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable. Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged. 

#2280 ... It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of. 

#2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

US Bishops Policy Statement on Assisted Suicide

English | Spanish

USCCB: The Church's Anti-Death Penalty Position

For additional videos, see Patient’s Rights Action Fund (Link)

For more resources and downloadable materials on Physician Assisted Suicide, check out the USCCB Pro-life Secretariat here.