Category: BC Catholic

As expected, our June 10 MAiD edition generated reader response, including from readers who didn’t like the content. We want to hear all perspectives, even those we disagree with, so a selection is printed here. Because their views are so contrary to Catholic belief in the sanctity of life, our response is provided. The writers’ names have been removed.

It was all I could do to tolerate the total co-opting of the June 10 issue of the paper with MAiD articles in order to reach the crossword puzzle! In the past the paper has provided space for differing views on a topic. This was not the case in this issue.

Every article displayed blatant expressions of selfish imposition of the personal views of the writers, superseding anything felt by the people suffering from whatever unfortunate events in their lives led them to pursue MAiD. Everyone working in health care in any capacity knows very well that the boundaries between maintaining a patient’s comfort in their declining time, and “killing” such patients, as was repeatedly referred to in the articles, is blurry at best.

Having had a family member journey through a vicious fight with cancer, ultimately losing the battle, and subsequently choosing MAiD with its accompanying stringent criteria, I would not ever argue against such a decision!

I look forward to content in this paper demonstrating a more patient-centred approach to end-of-life issues!

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To characterize ending someone’s life due to chronic and hopeless outlook as a killing tells me you are engaging in religious dogma. Jesus was said to be compassionate.

People end up with chronic conditions and for longer periods. They may not be able to look after themselves, they may be bedridden, depending entirely on others. Palliative care can go only so far.

Government help in assisted dying or dying with dignity has strict rules. You will not get help if you are simply tired of living. You need to make a decision for it yourself while of sound mind.

You had a letter which characterized the procedure as an execution. That shows complete ignorance of the rules and indeed an agenda.

                                                                            •

The readers are encouraged to read Terry O’Neill’s report on Pages 2 and 3 to see how the Catholic response to suffering is the truly compassionate one. As pro-life advocate Stephanie Gray Connors says, “When someone feels useless, we need to help them find their value.” Those who want MAiD list the inability to engage in meaningful activities (86.3 per cent) as main suffering they want to avoid. The Catholic response is to not abandon people in their suffering, whether it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual. 

“The pro-life response to assisted suicide is not only the right response,” says pro-life apologist Stephanie Gray Connors. “It’s the beautiful and inspiring one.” 

Catholics needn’t be demoralized by the onslaught of Canada’s “extreme” euthanasia regime, because logical argument and compassionate action offer effective ways to counter the culture of death, Gray Connors told about 200 people at Our Lady of Assumption Church in Port Coquitlam. 

Gray Connors lives in Florida with her husband and two young children, but is from Chilliwack and attended St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary. She has been a leading pro-life speaker, debater, and author for a quarter of a century and is back in the Vancouver area for the summer.

Gray Connors said a fundamental response to any pro-euthanasia argument should respond to the despair and fear that often underlie a death wish, reflecting a patient’s feeling that their suffering has no meaning.

As philosopher Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way,” Gray Connors said in an interview.

Her speech recounted stories of people who have gone through great suffering but found profound meaning in their situations. “Following the insight of Frankl has given me hope, and I wanted to share those stories to give others hope as well,” she said.

That hope starts with a foundation of prayer on which Catholics can build a structure of compassionate yet logical responses and actions, she told the audience. 

She offered a hypothetical example. If the law permits assisted suicide, why do we withhold such assistance when someone threatens to jump off a bridge?

“Either everyone gets suicide assistance, or no one does,” she said.

Individuals seeking euthanasia often cite their fear of pain, but most pain can be alleviated through treatment, Gray Connors said. “Shouldn’t we alleviate the pain rather than eliminate the person who is experiencing it?”

Someone who is hoping for death because of mental anguish can be offered responses that focus on repairing the broken relationships that are often at the root of their despair, she said.

Likewise, a response to euthanasia-seeking patients who say they don’t want to be a burden on others should be an offer “to lighten their burdens,” not to eliminate the individual who feels saddled with burdens.

As we travel life’s journey, most of us gather warm memories of entertainment icons. For those of us of a certain age (and older!) there is now a welcome opportunity to revisit and delight in memories, by way of both stage and screen, of some such icons.

While I have never been an avid fan of country music, I readily admit that I often find it has a simple and direct appeal. Its love songs, often tinged with sadness or regret, its comments on the simple and sometimes difficult moments of daily life, and its straightforward embrace of the basic tenets of Christianity all speak directly and tunefully of the familiar experience of ordinary people like ourselves. This is certainly true of the music of Johnny Cash.

Now the Arts Club on Granville Island is providing a delightful chance to visit and revisit a number of Cash’s songs in a thoroughly engaging production. While not in any way a straightforward biography of the singer-songwriter, Ring of Fire, through the songs, both familiar and unfamiliar, traces the general trajectory of his life, from his poverty-marked childhood on a cotton farm, through his meteoric rise to stardom as a country singer, and on to his checkered adult life. The songs bear testimony both to the man and his talent.

Director Rachel Peake and choreographer Nicol Spinola help the talented cast of six actor-musicians bring to memorable life the lively toe-tapping, tuneful melodies as they exhibit an impressive ability to sing well, play a range of instruments, and deliver the entire show with infectious and engaging good humour.

For Cash’s numerous fans, and for those who are not, this is a perfect show for a summer entertainment. It is an engaging, infectiously spirited production and one not to be missed.

In an entirely different vein, the film The Great Escaper (available in theatres and on a wide range of streaming services) is one which will doubtless appeal to filmgoers of all ages, but which will have a particular resonance with more senior viewers.

Based on a true story, it tells of Bernard Jordan, an almost 90-year-old veteran, who, determined to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in Normandy, managed to “escape” from his nursing home, get across the channel, and pay homage to his former World War II colleagues. By the time he returned to his nursing home in the U.K., he had become a media sensation.

Script-writer William Avery has fleshed out this story by including a number of imagined episodes, so that the film becomes a meditation on the waste of war and the brutality of D-Day (especially as it was experienced by forces on both sides of the conflict); a beautiful asseveration of the need always to live life to the fullest, no matter what age one is; a tender tribute to devoted marital love; a timely reminder of the multitude of people in our daily lives, regardless of nationality, race, or sex, who are caring, thoughtful, and supportive; and above all an inspiring tribute to the human spirit of those who truly know how to live, no matter how old they are.

Greed is a sickness of the heart. Pope Francis called greed “that form of attachment to money that keeps a person from generosity.”

He continued, saying, “to heal from this sickness, the monks proposed a drastic, though highly effective method: meditation on death. As much as one can accumulate goods in this world, we can be absolutely sure of one thing: they will not enter the coffin with us. We cannot take property with us! Here, the senselessness of this vice is revealed. The bond of possession we create with objects is only apparent, because we are not the masters of the world: this earth that we love is in truth not ours, and we move about it like strangers and pilgrims.”

Life is a journey, and it is very important to set our hearts on our eternal destination. St. Gregory the Great put it this way: “whatever you possess must not possess you; whatever you own must be under the power of your soul; for if your soul is overpowered by the love of this world’s goods, it will be totally at the mercy of its possessions. In other words, we make use of temporal things, but our hearts are set on what is eternal. Temporal goods help us on our way, but our desire must be for those eternal realities which are our goal.”

He also said, “be not anxious about what you have, but about what you are.”

Greed is frequently mentioned in the Scripture. Of Christ’s 38 parables in the Gospels, 16 are concerned with the handling of money and possessions. St. Paul wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” (1 Tim. 6:10)

Wealth can create a false sense of security; we can only find true security in our faith in Christ. Pope Francis called greed “an attempt to exorcise fear of death: it seeks securities that, in reality, crumble the very moment we hold them in our hand.”

We are created for God and material wealth can never satisfy us. St. Bernard used a very vivid image to describe this. “Suppose you saw a starving man inhaling great deep breaths, filling his cheeks with wind to stay his hunger; would you not call him mad? And it is just as mad to think that blowing yourself out with earthly goods can satisfy your hunger.”

Wealth can’t satisfy our hearts. St. Isidore of Seville observed: “Cupidity never knows how to be satisfied. The greedy man is always in need; the more he acquires, the more he seeks, and he is tortured not only by the desire of gaining, but by the fear of losing.”

Looking to the future with hope was the clear message presented by the Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Kamloops First Nation (Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc) as the two signatories of the Easter Sunday Sacred Covenant held a press conference Wednesday.

The full document was released in English and Chinook for National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, with a promise to answer questions at Wednesday’s press conference.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller and Kamloops Chief Rosanne Casimir addressed the release of the covenant, saying they are committed to focusing on the future and moving forward together.

The covenant “affirms that all the signatories seek to build on official Catholic teaching support” for the rights and the freedoms of Indigenous people, said Casimir.

“It’s about relationships,” she said. “It’s about making some meaningful steps towards healing. We can’t do that alone, we have to do it in partnership.” 

Answering a reporter’s question about whether the covenant has set a precedent for future engagement between the Catholic Church and Indigenous communities, Casimir said she believes “that it sets a lot of precedents.”

“We also need to take those meaningful steps to provide opportunity for those to find justice, but also to find healing. It takes everybody at every level to be walking that path and journey together,” she said. 

“I would encourage others to build and establish those relationships to take those meaningful steps,” said Casimir. 

Archbishop Miller agreed, saying Canada’s bishops are looking for ways to make the covenant a possible template to help the Church “enter into healing relationships with the First Nations communities of which they form a part. We have a lot to do.” 

He reiterated the acknowledgement of harm to the First Nation from the Indian Residential School system. “The Church was wrong in how it complied in implementing a government colonialist policy that resulted in the separation of children from their parents and their families. Even the most ardent skeptics must know that a system requiring or pressuring the separation of families would have tragic consequences.” 

In answer to a question about making possible financial reparations, the Archbishop said that while the covenant is meant to help heal the spiritual and communal rift between the church and First Nations, monetary support is ongoing across the country through truth and reconciliation grants, with nearly 20 approved in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Vancouver Archbishop J. Miller and a Vancouver rabbi are welcoming the call by an alliance of faith communities for more robust protection of religious institutions.

At a June 18 news conference on Parliament Hill, the Canadian Interfaith Conversation (CIC), an alliance of faith communities working to combat hate based on religious identity, issued an urgent call to action for the protection of all faith groups from such attacks.

Archbishop Michael J Miller told The B.C. Catholic “the CIC statement takes a strong stand in its recommendations to the Canadian government. At bottom is the need for citizens and governments at every level to ensure the safety and security of adherents to every faith tradition as well as recognized the positive role that religion plays in the public life of our nation.”

A Vancouver rabbi says the interfaith declaration is timely. 

“I think that in a time period in which the Jewish community and synagogues have been under attack physically in Canada, it is important that the entire interfaith community comes together to call for the protection of all houses of worship,” Rabbi Infeld of Vancouver’s Synagogue Beth Israel told The B.C. Catholic.

Highlighting the role of religious communities in building bridges, Aakash Maharaj, ambassador-at-large of the Ottawa-based Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption and member of the executive council of CIC, said: “Faith communities share a deep reverence for and commitment to the dignity of every human being and for the sacredness of humanity and creation. Hate ignores and undermines that dignity and sacredness, and has no place in Canada.”

Attacks against religious communities are “only a Jewish community problem,” said Richard Marceau of the Centre for Jewish and Israeli Affairs. “All other faith institutions deserve as much protection.” 

Shaila Carter, co-chair of CIC and interfaith specialist at Islamic Relief Canada, said Canada should be a safe environment for people to practice their faith freely and happily.

“As the daughter of (Bangladeshi) immigrants I am here to build bridges between people, to combat hate in solidarity with other faiths and to promote love. As women, we should be able to wear our head scarves if we choose to.”

The CIC statement, signed by 60 representatives of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Baha’i communities, outlined four recommendations for the government of Canada. In addition to stepping up security measures for all religious institutions including houses of worship, schools, daycare centres, community centres and cemeteries, it called on the government to:

• support Canadian interfaith efforts to provide non-sectarian medical and humanitarian aid to victims, especially child victims, of international conflicts through reputable and trustworthy organizations as a means of advancing peace-building efforts abroad and social solidarity in Canada;
• introduce a comprehensive strategy to foster understanding about online hate based on religious identity; and
• ensure, in collaboration with other levels of government, that hate crime units are informed about hate based on religious identity in every law enforcement service, so that targeted groups can feel safe, heard and respected.

The Sacred Covenant signed on Easter Sunday by the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Kamloops First Nation was made public on Friday, National Indigenous Peoples Day.

In a statement, the Archdiocese and the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc said the date was chosen to share the document in English and Chinook, “an important common language among First Peoples and settlers arriving from many countries.” 

Chinook was a trade language promoted by Father Jean-Marie Raphael Le Jeune, OMI, and Tk’emlups and other elders, according to the statement.

Father Le Jeune was an Oblate missionary priest who supported BC First Nations in the 19th century and is referenced in the covenant. Kamloops Chief Rosanne Casimir said the nation had the goal of “fostering healing and reconciliation and countering targeted skepticism and denial” when it chose to work with Catholics and allow Church leaders to publicly acknowledge past wrongs, especially those from the Catholic Church’s role in administering many of the residential schools. She said the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc remain “steadfast in their sacred duty as guardians to and advocates for the children who died and were harmed while they were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.”

With staff working on a “multidisciplinary investigation” and on construction of a Healing House for Survivors, she said she is “committed to ensuring Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors are supported on their healing path.”

An online press conference has been called for Wednesday, June 26, where representatives of the Archdiocese and the First Nation will be answering questions.

The text of the document follows.

SACRED COVENANT

between

TK’EMLÚPS TE SECWÉPEMC NATION

ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF VANCOUVER

ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF KAMLOOPS

ON THE 31ST DAY OF MARCH
2024

WHEREAS the people of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation desire that the historical truths regarding the Kamloops Residential School be shared and that a path to healing be set out clearly in this sacred Covenant.

WHEREAS the Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Diocese of Kamloops acknowledge the deep flaws in the Residential School system, their part in the resulting tragedies and the desire to journey with the people of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation on a path to healing and understanding.

WHEREAS all Parties seek to build on official Catholic teaching supporting the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people and the promising historical relationship held between Fr. Jean-Marie-Raphael Le Jeune, Chief Louis Clexlixqen (Xlexléxken) and Chief Johnny Chiliheetza (Ts̓ elcíts̓ e7).

WHEREAS the purpose of this sacred Covenant is to establish our shared path to reconciliation and to reflect our mutual belief that honour, truth, justice, and healing are necessary to guide our future.

Therefore, the Parties agree as follows:

HISTORICAL PRECEDENT FOR A SACRED ACCORD

1.

Reading cleaning and decluttering blogs I’ve been inspired to go through my clothes and knick-knacks to get rid of anything I don’t need. Marie Kondo, a professional organizer and tidying expert, has a whole philosophy, “Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service – then let them go.”

I have donated two bags of clothing, a box of books, and little items that no longer serve me. It has been an experience of letting go and embracing what I have. I know that the Lord provides for me. When I am buried in things, I can’t live freely. The books, clothes, and things are supposed to help me live in simplicity and freedom. My mental health improves when I clean, tidy, and declutter our house. 

It starts to feel like I have more space in my mind to think and be creative. St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, spoke about forming a bright and cheerful home and in doing so God would help couples to be generous. 

When I go to bed at night and the kitchen counters sparkle and shine, I feel more relaxed when I wake up to a beautifully clean room. Our environment has a role in maintaining good mental health. With lots of “stuff,” we can feel weighed down with all the decisions of what to do with it. It was my goal to remove what I no longer used or needed so I could be happier and healthier.

Taking the time to clean, tidy, and declutter gives me clarity of mind and spirit. I feel as if laundry and cleaning never end; it’s a constant movement of doing one thing at a time. This is just like the spiritual life. Prayer is meant to be a daily conversation with Jesus. Receiving the sacraments of confession and holy Eucharist is frequent nourishment for the soul in order to be holy. It is a good routine to clean house and soul to be one with the Lord who gives us every resource to do so. 

When we reach for the goodness of a warm and organized home, it helps us grow in virtue and service for our family and any guests who come visit. 

I love keeping checklists to show what tasks I have completed and what I still need to do. My list is always growing. With a home, a garden, and an adorable dog to care for, my little growing family is a busy ground for housekeeping and saint making. 

Hard work is worth the effort in maintaining the home.

Pope Francis shared a beautiful defence of true love at a general audience this year.

“We have to defend love, the love of the heart, of the mind, of the body, pure love in the giving of oneself to the other… that beauty that makes us believe that building a story together is better than going in search of adventures… that cultivating tenderness is better than bowing to the demon of possession,” he said in January.

“True love does not possess, it gives itself. That serving is better than conquering. Because if there is no love, life is sad, it is sad loneliness.”

This makes the vice of lust particularly odious, for at least two reasons.

“First, because it destroys relationships between people… chastity is more than sexual abstinence – but rather, to be connected with the will never to possess the other,” he explained.

“But there is a second reason why lust is a dangerous vice. Among all human pleasures, sexuality has a powerful voice. It involves all the senses; it dwells both in the body and in the psyche, and this is very beautiful; but if it is not disciplined with patience, if it is not inscribed in a relationship and in a story where two individuals transform it into a loving dance, it turns into a chain that deprives human beings of freedom. Sexual pleasure, which is a gift from God, is undermined by pornography: satisfaction without relationship that can generate forms of addiction.”

Many saints have offered insights about chastity, purity, and lust. Father Joseph M. Esper, author of Saintly Solutions to Life’s Common Problems, wrote, “how, then, are we to cultivate, preserve, or reacquire the virtue of purity? First, we must specifically and regularly pray for this grace; without God’s help, we’ll almost certainly fall, for it’s almost impossible to avoid sexual temptations in our highly immoral society.”

Then, relying on insight from St. Teresa of Avila, he said, “it isn’t possible for a person who prays regularly to remain in serious sin; because the two are incompatible, one or the other will have to be given up. Thus, if we remain faithful to prayer, God’s grace will one day be victorious in us, even if we have many setbacks along the way.”

Next, wrote Father Esper, we must form good habits. “We must form the habit of immediately resisting lustful thoughts and temptations. St. Francis de Sales advises us: ‘be extremely prompt in turning away from all that leads and lures to impurity, for this evil works insensibly and, by small beginnings, progresses to great mischief. It is always easier to avoid than to cure this.’”

Gluttony is one of the capital sins. Father John Hardon defined gluttony as “inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink.”

This desire may become sinful in various ways, he wrote: 

“By eating or drinking far more than a person needs to maintain bodily strength; by glutting one’s taste for certain kinds of food with known detriment to health; by indulging the appetite for exquisite food or drink, especially when it is beyond one’s ability to afford a luxurious diet; by eating or drinking too avidly, i.e., ravenously; by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of losing full control of one’s reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is a mortal sin if brought on without justification, e.g., for medical reasons.” 

The Baltimore Catechism states: “The Church commands us to fast and to abstain in order that we may control the desires of the flesh, raise our minds more freely to God, and make satisfaction for sin.” According to Sacred Scripture, “healthy sleep depends on moderate eating; he rises early and feels fit. The distress of sleeplessness and of nausea and colic are with the glutton.” (Sir 31:20)

Blessed Antony Grassi called abstinence “the mother of health.” He said, “a few ounces of privation is an excellent remedy for any ailment.”

Let’s never forget the proverb: “Eat to live, don’t live to eat.”

In the Gospel, Jesus declared all food clean (Mk 7:19) and thus eliminated the distinction between pure and impure foods. “Jesus clearly says that what makes something good or bad, let’s say about food, is not food in itself but the relationship we have with it,” said Pope Francis.

“We see this when a person has a disordered relationship with food; we see how they eat, they eat hastily, as though with the urge to be full but without ever being sated. They do not have a good relationship with food; they are slaves to food. This serene relationship that Jesus established with food should be rediscovered and valued, especially in so-called affluent societies, where many imbalances and many pathologies manifest themselves. One eats too much, or too little. Often one eats in solitude. Eating disorders – anorexia, bulimia, obesity – are spreading. And medicine and psychology are trying to tackle our poor relationship with food. A poor relationship with food produces all these illnesses.”

The Holy Father added: “Tell me how you eat, and I will tell you what kind of soul you have. In the way we eat, we reveal our inner selves, our habits, our psychological attitudes.”

Father Adolphe Tanqueray proposed three means to foster a serene relationship with food.