By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

People of all faiths and none have good reasons to be concerned about
the Physician Assisted Suicide bill moving quickly through the New
Jersey Legislature, leading advocates against the bill shared with a
group of about 60 faithful from around the Trenton Diocese Dec. 7
meeting in St. Rose of Lima Parish, Belmar.

The program -- "Catholic Teaching on End-of-Life Issues and
Physician-Assisted Suicide," was held in collaboration with St. Rose
Parish and the Diocesan Respect Life Ministry of the Department of
Pastoral Care.

There, the advocates – Deacon Patrick Brannigan, executive director
and spokesperson on public policy matters for the New Jersey Catholic
Conference, and Sister of Charity Patricia Codey, president of the
Catholic Healthcare Partnership of New Jersey – urged everyone within
earshot to become fluent in the moral and ethical flaws in the bill
and able to convey their concerns to legislators and, indeed, all they
meet whether Catholic or otherwise.

Noting the irony that many of the sponsors of the bill are Catholic,
Deacon Brannigan, who serves in St. James Parish, Pennington, encouraged everyone to
make the point when discussing the legislation that while it is in
definite contradiction with Catholic teaching, it should be considered
a direct threat to anyone viewed as a liability.

He asked them to share the essence of Catholic end-of-life teaching
that while only God has the right to determine its natural end, the
approach is merciful and compassionate. “Many people think we want
people plugged in forever,” Deacon Brannigan said, explaining in detail along
with Sister Patricia, how that is not the case.

They offered a compelling two-hour session highlighted by well
documented power point presentations, a compelling video featuring
Father Tad Pacholczyk, director of bioethics at the National Catholic
Bioethics Center, and bolstered with a series of handouts to be shared
in the parish community center. They outlined Catholic teaching that
as the end of life approaches, burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary or
over-zealous treatment may be discontinued in favor of palliative
treatment which frees the person of pain.

Adding a sense of urgency to their presentation was that it followed
by less than a month the passage of the Assembly version of the bill
by the New Jersey Assembly and came just a day before the State Senate
Health Committee was to hold a “discussion session” that could be a
stepping stone for the bill in the legislature's upper house.

In light of the fact that the bill is moving quickly through the
legislature, Deacon Brannigan strongly encouraged everyone to contact
their state senator and vote no on the bill S382. Go to the New Jersey
Catholic Conference website at www.njcathconf.com and scroll down to
ACT now to Stop Assisted Suicide to contact legislators.


More to come on this story.