In a previous post, I described how the decriminalization of doctor-assisted suicide in Canada by the Trudeau government has exposed the deep divisions that exist within the Catholic Church in Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada found the Criminal Code provision that had prohibited physician-assisted suicide to be unconstitutional. Bill C-14 which received Royal assent in June 2016, decriminalizes the practice and establishes regulations governing the process whereby “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) may take place legally.
In response to the new law, the Catholic bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories issued instructions directing their respective Priests to deny the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the (Anointing of the Sick) as well as the Catholic Funeral Liturgy to an individual who helped someone die or who died themselves by assisted suicide.
For their part, Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec City and Archbishop Christian Lepine of Montreal publicly indicated that they would not give specific guidelines to their Priests about refusing the funeral services to the people who requested assisted suicide.
Bishop Douglas Crosby, OMI, the bishop of Hamilton and president of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Canada (“CCBC”), while vehemently critical of Bill C-14, indicated that he did not “foresee that the CCBC will be putting out guidelines” setting out a uniform response from the Catholic Church in Canada to the new law.
As in the case of differing, even contradictory, guidelines of Bishops regarding the implementation of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, one must ask how it is possible that Canadian Bishops can disagree on such fundamental principles concerning the sanctity of human life.
The lack of unity in such doctrinal and pastoral matters does violence to both the teaching and governing authority of the Bishops, precisely at a moment in history when secularism and moral equivalency is becoming more and more ingrained in society.
The People of God deserve better because their faith in the Lord and His Church deserves better. The Catholic people need and are hungry for a clear voice of what is morally acceptable and what is not.
In her infancy, when the Church’s leaders and faithful people were challenged to the point of martyrdom to defend their faith in Christ’s Gospel, these ancestors in the Faith withstood the temptation of vacillation to speak what they believed was the truth revealed to them by Christ Himself through the ministry of His Apostles and their successors. On account of their fidelity to the Lord, the Church has continued in Her ministry of service and salvation down through the centuries.
What will be the judgment of history upon this moment in the life of the Church?
Will generations hence look back on this moment and praise God that His People remained faithful to their calling to teach the Gospel and make disciples of all the nations?
Will future generations look back on our time and wonder why we let the light of Christ’s Grace be overcome by the darkness of moral compromise and cowardice?
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