Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. companies have found it can be tough to do business in China. Now, as more Chinese firms invest in the United States, they're finding it can be hard to contend with Chinese companies on American turf, too....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama cast Donald Trump's positions on immigration, trade and Muslims as part of an ignorance-and-isolation philosophy that the president says will lead the U.S. down the path of decline....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House Benghazi committee's Republican chairman is ignoring statements by his own former lawyer indicating that the U.S. military acted properly on the night of the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Libya, the panel's Democrats said....
TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto fans chanted 'We Want Cleveland!' in the final seconds. They got it....
MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) -- Security was tight as mourners packed a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall on Sunday evening for a memorial for megastar Prince, who worshipped there before he died last month....
LUOYANG, China (AP) -- Fifty years after Mao Zedong unleashed the decade-long Cultural Revolution to reassert his authority and revive his radical communist agenda, the spirit of modern China's founder still exerts a powerful pull....
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton is making a big final push in Kentucky, where rival Bernie Sanders hopes to extend his winning streak and further delay her clinching the Democratic presidential nomination....
Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 15, 2016 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- A Dutch woman in her 20s was euthanized after her mental health condition was declared “insufferable” by a team of doctors and psychiatrists in the Netherlands, according to recently released reports from the Dutch Euthanasia Commission. Why? The unnamed woman was sexually abused from ages 5 to 15. As a result, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Multiple reports say the documents classified her condition as “incurable,” thus legally justifying the woman's death by euthanasia under Dutch law.Health professionals and advocates in the United States argue that the case is a blow to others who are suffering with similar illnesses, because it sends a message of hopelessness.“I think it's devastating in the message that it sends,” aid Dr. Greg Bottaro, a clinical psychologist with the CatholicPsych Institute.“But by...
Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 15, 2016 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- A Dutch woman in her 20s was euthanized after her mental health condition was declared “insufferable” by a team of doctors and psychiatrists in the Netherlands, according to recently released reports from the Dutch Euthanasia Commission.
Why? The unnamed woman was sexually abused from ages 5 to 15.
As a result, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Multiple reports say the documents classified her condition as “incurable,” thus legally justifying the woman's death by euthanasia under Dutch law.
Health professionals and advocates in the United States argue that the case is a blow to others who are suffering with similar illnesses, because it sends a message of hopelessness.
“I think it's devastating in the message that it sends,” aid Dr. Greg Bottaro, a clinical psychologist with the CatholicPsych Institute.
“But by putting this out there in this public mindset, it calls into question even more the people who are in despair and it gives them greater reason to believe that it's worth giving up.”
According to reports from The Telegraph, the documents also reveal that this woman was not an exceptional case, as the number of people with mental illnesses who have died by euthanasia has significantly increased since the practice was first legalized in the Netherlands in 2002.
In 2010, only two people were granted euthanasia due to “insufferable” mental conditions, the number rose to 56 in 2015, according to the Telegraph’s report on the documents from the commission.
Dutch psychiatrist Paulan Stärcke, who has carried out euthanasia requests at the country’s End-of-Life clinic, argues that psychiatrists are “too hesitant” about agreeing to euthanasia for patients with psychiatric diseases, and she told The Telegraph that children as young as 12 should be allowed to request to end their lives and be taken seriously.
Dr. Bottaro, however, said that the pro-euthanasia mindset is not only a political agenda, it’s a dangerous threat to public health.
“It’s really a threat to public health itself, because one of the biggest hurdles to get over in treating these illnesses is despair, and a lot of times the first part of treatment is to instill hope that the possibility of healing is there and it's worth working towards, no matter how difficult it might be, that the goal is worth the struggle.”
Dr. Bottaro added that he doesn’t understand how the Dutch medical professionals could reach a diagnosis of “incurable.” While there are complex and severe cases of trauma, he said, there’s never a point where all hope is lost.
“There’s always hope for further treatment,” he said.
Tim Rosales, a spokesperson with the advocacy group Patients Rights Action Fund, said that euthanasia is an extreme and outdated way to handle people’s suffering.
“There are better ways to address the issue of people with serious or terminal illnesses,” he said.
“Assisted suicide is an extreme way that really is outdated, because with modern medicine and modern therapies, doctors are able to care for individuals and their families who are facing those types of illnesses so that they don’t experience pain,” he said.
“I would say that it certainly is not the response, both from a healthcare standpoint or even a compassion standpoint, that society ought to be endorsing.”
Dr. Bottaro said that in light of the news, anyone with a psychological illness needs to know that there is always hope.
“There’s always hope, and the designating of a particular illness as untreatable – it’s a lie. We need to keep pushing forward and keep hoping for healing and working towards it.”
Only a handful of countries have laws allowing for either euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia differs from physician-assisted suicide in that anyone – a doctor, a family member, the patient – may administer lethal drugs to the patient. Under physician-assisted suicide, the patient’s doctor prescribes lethal drugs, but legally only the patient can administer them to themselves.
In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is allowed under legislation in four states – California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – with Montana has legal physician-assisted suicide by court ruling.
The release of the documents from the Netherlands comes at a time when Canada’s Parliament is considering a euthanasia law, which is due for a vote in early June. Medical professionals and advocates from Belgium have been releasing a series of videos urging the country not to legalize it.
Vatican City, May 15, 2016 / 05:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Pentecost, Pope Francis praised missionary work as a massive work of mercy based on the desire for everyone to be saved and loved.The mission to the nations is “a great, immense work of mercy, both spiritual and material,” he said.The Church’s missionary mandate means that the Church “cares for those who do not know the Gospel, because she wants everyone to be saved and to experience the Lord’s love.” Pope Francis said the Church must “announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel” and proclaim mercy in every part of the world to reach every person, young and old.“Faith is God’s gift and not the result of proselytizing. Rather, it grows thanks to the faith and charity of evangelizers who witness to Christ,” he explained. “As they travel through the streets of the world, the disciples of Jesus need to have a love without limits, the same meas...
Vatican City, May 15, 2016 / 05:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Pentecost, Pope Francis praised missionary work as a massive work of mercy based on the desire for everyone to be saved and loved.
The mission to the nations is “a great, immense work of mercy, both spiritual and material,” he said.
The Church’s missionary mandate means that the Church “cares for those who do not know the Gospel, because she wants everyone to be saved and to experience the Lord’s love.” Pope Francis said the Church must “announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel” and proclaim mercy in every part of the world to reach every person, young and old.
“Faith is God’s gift and not the result of proselytizing. Rather, it grows thanks to the faith and charity of evangelizers who witness to Christ,” he explained. “As they travel through the streets of the world, the disciples of Jesus need to have a love without limits, the same measure of love that our Lord has for all people. We proclaim the most beautiful and greatest gifts that he has given us: his life and his love.”
Pope Francis spoke about mission work in his message for World Missionary Day, celebrated Oct. 23. The message’s text was released on Pentecost Sunday, May 15.
“Mercy finds its most noble and complete expression in the Incarnate Word. Jesus reveals the face of the Father who is rich in mercy,” the pontiff said.
“When we welcome and follow Jesus by means of the Gospel and sacraments, we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, become merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful; we can learn to love as he loves us and make of our lives a free gift, a sign of his goodness,” he continued.
According to Pope Francis, through God’s love the Church “discovers its mandate, lives it and makes it known to all peoples through a respectful dialogue with every culture and religious belief.”
He said everyone is invited to go out as missionary disciples who offer their talents, creativity, wisdom and experience. They go out “in order to bring the message of God’s tenderness and compassion to the entire human family.”
Mercy is a part of God’s greatness, he explained.
“When mercy encounters a person, it brings deep joy to the Father’s heart; for from the beginning the Father has lovingly turned towards the most vulnerable, because his greatness and power are revealed precisely in his capacity to identify with the young, the marginalized and the oppressed.”
In the face of his children’s weaknesses and infidelity, God’s heart is “overcome with compassion.”
Pope Francis invoked the Bible’s use of the word “mercy” when using the word for a mother’s womb. This word “refers to the love of a mother for her children, whom she will always love, in every circumstance and regardless of what happens, because they are the fruit of her womb,” he said.
He praised the growing presence of women in missionary work as “a significant sign of God’s maternal love.” He also praised the role of lay and religious women and many families who carry out their missionary vocation. They often better understand people’s problems and can deal with them in a fresh way.
He encouraged habits like focusing “on people rather than structures” and building good relations, harmony, peace, solidarity, dialogue, cooperation and fraternity.
The pontiff described the Virgin Mary as the model of missionaries and he prayed that she “foster and safeguard the living and mysterious presence of the Risen Lord in every place.”
Pope Francis said that evangelization in many places begins with the patient work of education. This helps bring forth a people who are able to evangelize and “take the Gospel to those places where it otherwise would not have been thought possible.”
The Pope suggested there is a right to be evangelized.
“All peoples and cultures have the right to receive the message of salvation which is God’s gift to every person,” he said. “This is all the more necessary when we consider how many injustices, wars, and humanitarian crises still need resolution. Missionaries know from experience that the Gospel of forgiveness and mercy can bring joy and reconciliation, justice and peace.”
The Pope cited his apostolic exhortation “Evangelium Gaudium,” which said every Christian and every Christian community must discern how to “reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel.”
World Missionary Day was first approved in 1926 under Pope Pius XI. It was organized by the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
The Pope noted the day’s 90th anniversary and stressed the importance of parish, diocesan and religious community offerings. These offerings support Christian communities in need and support “the proclamation of the Gospel even to the ends of the earth.”
“Let us not close our hearts within our own particular concerns, but let us open them to all of humanity,” he said.
LAREDO, Texas (AP) -- The small South Texas bus company involved in a rollover crash that killed eight people and injured 44 others had twice been ordered by Louisiana state inspectors in 2015 to take one of its buses off the road to fix brake and emergency exit problems....
