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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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Denver, Colo., Feb 5, 2016 / 03:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Disability advocates and medical professionals came out in opposition to a proposal in the Colorado legislature that would legalize assisted suicide, warning that it would further marginalize the disabled and terminally ill.

“For people like me, who have very high medical costs, we are at risk with bills like this. We know our lives are devalued by the medical system,” said Carrie Ann Lucas, a 44-year-old attorney who is disabled.

Speaking before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee Feb. 4, Lucas charged the bill would create a legal, medical and financial environment that is “pushing people towards death.” She spoke on behalf of the groups Not Dead Yet and Disabled Parents’ Rights, which advocate on behalf of persons with disabilities.

Lucas said that some in the medical community devalue her life and that of her loved ones because of their disabilities. For example, doctors tried to encourage her not to go on a ventilator. And when her disabled but otherwise healthy 25-year-old daughter went into the hospital for a routine tooth extraction, she was repeated asked whether she wanted a do-not-resuscitate order.

According to Lucas, some people have had these orders placed on them without their consent or knowledge. She warned of the dangers of mistakes and coercion under the proposed bill.

“There will be mistakes that cannot be undone, because death is final,” she stressed.

If passed into law, the proposed legislation would grant immunity to participants in assisted suicide from civil and criminal liability and from professional discipline. The bill says that actions in accord with the act will not constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing, homicide or elder abuse.

The legislation would allow a Colorado resident who is terminally ill to request an “aid-in-dying” prescription from his or her attending doctor in order “to hasten the individual’s death.” The doctor may write the prescription if at least two health care providers say the individual is capable of making an informed decision.

The House bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Lois Court and Joann Ginal. It passed out of the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Feb. 4 by a party-line vote of 6-5. The bill could become law if it is passes the House, the State Senate, and is signed into law by the governor.

Supporters of the bill argued that it would provide an additional option for the terminally ill, without legalizing euthanasia.

Rep. Court said the bill was about “patient-centered decision-making at the end of life” to address physical and psychological discomfort for the terminally ill.

Roland Halpern, speaking to the committee on behalf of assisted suicide advocacy group Compassion & Choices, claimed stories of abuse were unfounded. He said few people were using the law in states where the practice is legal. He said those who choose assisted suicide are not suicidal; rather, they want to live, but can’t.

Other witnesses, however, voiced grave concerns with the bill.

Lucas warned of one cancer patient in Oregon, Barbara Wagner, who was denied a cancer treatment under her Medicaid health plan. The plan instead offered her two options: palliative care or assisted suicide.

According to Lucas, the majority of Oregon assisted suicide deaths were not due to pain but because of fear of disability.

She also said the bill’s purported safeguards are nullified by the bill’s immunity clause for those operating in “good faith.” She said this means there is no way to counter problems.

Skip Morgan, a practicing probate proceedings attorney from Colorado Springs, charged that the bill’s alleged safeguards are “unworkable, unknowable and unenforceable.”

He pointed to the process of securing the required witnesses under the bill. “There is no requirement for witnesses to have knowledge of the patient,” he said.

Also of concern is the fact that “a witness can be an interested witness, including an heir,” Morgan said. He warned of cases where overreaching heirs might pressure a person to take the prescription.

Furthermore, the bill has no requirement for record-keeping, he warned. “You will not be able to tell if suicides increase,” he said.

Washington state attorney Margaret Dore, with the group Choice Illusion, also opposed the bill, saying there is a “complete lack of oversight” for those who die under it. The drugs are water- and alcohol-soluble, which means they can be provided to people who do not intend to take them. And the bill would require coroners to name the terminal illness – not the lethal drug – as the cause of death, essentially “falsifying” the death certificate.

She also recounted the story of a friend who had what she believed to be a terminal diagnosis. Her doctor persuaded her not to pursue assisted suicide. The woman is still alive 15 years later.

“If she’d gone to a different doctor, she’d probably be dead,” Dore said.

In January, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver released a video warning that the Colorado bill would put the vulnerable at risk and “incentivize doctors to prescribe death.”

“The moral aspects of this debate are very clear: God has taught us not to kill. And that includes killing ourselves,” he said.


Photo credit: isak55 via www.shutterstock.com

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/David Maung

By David Agren

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (CNS) -- Esteban Alanis, 23, once ran with a local gang known as "Los Parqueros," which would accost people for their cash and cellphones in a working-class neighborhood of southeast Ciudad Juarez. He called the crimes "easy money," while gang activities offered a sense of belonging and an adolescence of parties, girls and underage drinking.

Then Alanis survived a shootout in 2010 outside his home -- and he turned his life to God, got out of the gang and likely saved himself from further involvement in the cycle of violence consuming Ciudad Juarez.

"That's when my conversion started," he said recently outside Corpus Christi Parish, where he teaches catechism classes. "I prayed to God that if I survived, I would give up gang life."

When Pope Francis visits Ciudad Juarez Feb. 17, he is expected to address issues such as migration, victims of violence and conditions in the factory economy. Alanis and others working with young people expressed hopes the pope will have positive words for them, too, as they go about working with a population still somewhat scarred by the violence that claimed more than 10,000 lives between 2008 and 2012.

Ciudad Juarez was once murder capital of the world, an image now out-of-date, according to statistics from the citizen-run Security Roundtable of Ciudad Juarez, which shows a 92 percent decline in the homicide rate since 2010.

Rival drug cartels once clashed over a corridor for trafficking contraband to the United States. Gangs in the city previously preyed on the local population, carrying out crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and extortion, likely to finance the conflicts' cost, security officials say. They also preyed on young people, who became "cannon fodder" for a conflict. An attack by gangsters on a birthday party in 2010 killed 15 young people, an atrocity that outraged the country even more after then-President Felipe Calderon erroneously said the victims were mixed up in illegal activities.

"Organized crime attracted a lot of young people," said Mario Dena, the roundtable president, who said he believes that so many people were killed or imprisoned that it partially caused the crime rate to plunge. "They wrongly thought it would be easy money. That's why there were so many victims."

Church officials say the problem persists, though at a lesser level.

"We see that there are kids, probably 12 years, who are being approached by them (organized crime)," said Salesian Father Juan Carlos Quirarte, who also participates in the security roundtable.

Kids "don't see many other options, and they mythologize these figures," he added. "They (criminals) always have access to easy money, they have power, it's seductive. Hence, it's not easy to say, 'Study, if you do, there's a career.'"

At Corpus Christi Parish, crime was so problematic that thieves stole the bell and cars were robbed during Sunday Mass. Father Roberto Luna responded to the rising insecurity in the neighborhood of factory workers -- 80 percent originally from other Mexican states -- by doubling down on outreach. It including getting to know young people in the parish area.

"The way to promote belonging is to make people feel that this is their home and they are in their home," Father Luna said, adding the approach is so successful he recently removed the bars protecting the building and leaves the doors unlocked. "Pope Francis spoke of a church with open doors. I said, 'That's it! I'm going to open up the church.' ... And nothing has happened."

He also put a priority on catechism classes, which are no longer scheduled just on Saturdays, when many workers were having a hard time taking their children to attend.

"They have no excuse for missing catechism with me, because I have catechism every day to accommodate the varying factory schedules," he said.

The pastoral approach of creating a sense of belonging and Father Luna's incessant outreach and fondness for informality keep people coming to church.

"He always attends our youth meetings," said engineering student Daniel Terrazas, who helps teach catechism classes.

"He says Mass in a way that's dynamic, that isn't boring," said Francisco Ramos, 20, who credits the youth ministry for his return to high school after he dropped out. He said it also helped improve his relationship with his parents after a rebellious childhood.

On a recent Sunday, 23 young people attended catechism classes for confirmation led by Alanis, who now studies industrial engineering and works in an auto parts factory.

His life was not always so ordered. Alanis recalls seeing gangs on every corner of his neighborhood.

"It was a situation of be the aggressor or be the victim," he recalled. "All my friends were in the gang. They were popular and admired."

Alanis went through an initiation of fighting another person, then started robbing people in the neighborhood.

"If they resisted, we put the boots to them," he recalled.

Church wasn't a priority, though he showed up initially for "girls" in the youth group. Then the shootout occurred, and he became committed to church life. Like many in Ciudad Juarez, he's eagerly awaiting the pope's arrival.

"I hope the pope will give me more encouragement in my work with young people," Alanis said.

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