In England, the parents of two year old Alfie Evans battle to save their son’s life in the face of hospital and state rulings to turn off his life support.
In France, a hospital has ordered the removal of food and water from a 42 year old patient who has been severely disabled for 10 years. The Sebastopol Hospital in Reims ruled on Monday that ordinary means of life support be removed from patient Vincent Lambert on April 19.
Vincent suffered severe head injuries in an automobile accident in 2008 that left him a quadriplegic, but other doctors and his parents insist he is not sick, nor in a coma, breathes unassisted, and his internal organs function normally.
Despite this, the hospital ruled that continuing to feed and hydrate him constituted “unreasonable obstinacy” towards the disabled patient.
Church teaching allows for the removal of “aggressive medical treatment” but only when it is considered futile or overly burdensome, and for terminally ill patients. Nutrition and hydration are considered “ordinary” and not “extraordinary” means and so are part of normal care; withholding them is therefore considered passive euthanasia, leaving the person to die of starvation.
Significant in both the Vincent Lambert and Alfie Evans cases is the unusual silence of Church leaders.
Although the Pope has shown consistent support of Alfie, there has been no comment from either English and French bishops, nor any recent statements from the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The general silence persists despite representations made by Alfie’s father, Tom Evans, to both the Apostolic Nuncio in Britain, and Evans' local Bishop, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon.
French bishops have also said nothing publicly, despite making comments in defense of Vincent Lambert in the past.
The Pontifical Academy has been approached for comment, but has so far not done so.
Writing in the Italian Catholic daily La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, its director Riccardo Cascioli noted “with sorrow and anxiety that the culture of death has also penetrated deeply into the Church.”
He said the silence shows “the depth of the crisis” currently passing through the ecclesial world which is “turned towards the prevailing mentality, to the ideology of quality of life.” The Church, he added, “is going through a betrayal; a betrayal of God and therefore of man.”
Sadly, I totally agree.
Where are our Bishops?
They are AWOL when it comes to resisting the ever-increasing assaults upon human life and the overwhelming culture of death that has overtaken modern society.
This past Sunday, during his Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis said:
“I entrust to your prayer people such as Vincent Lambert, in France, the little Alfie Evans, in England, and others in different countries, who live, sometimes for a long time, in a state of serious infirmity, assisted medically for basic needs. These are delicate, very painful and complex situations. We pray that every patient is always respected in his dignity and treated in a way that is appropriate to his condition, and with the agreement of family members, doctors and other health professionals, with great respect for life.”
We commend Pope Francis for his consistent and very public stance in defense of life.
How the Bishops can put their heads on their pillows at night and sleep when they so openly disavow their Apostolic ministry is shocking and shameful.
But I must remind myself that the Apostles themselves were the first among those who abandoned Christ.
It seems things haven't changed very much among their successors these past two millenia!
Please, God, give us Bishops who are men of prayer and faith as well as courage to proclaim Your Truth without fear or embarrassment.
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