NEWS ADVANCE: Euthanasia, politics on Catholic bishops’ agenda

c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-When the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops gather next week in Portland, Ore., the first state to legalize doctor-assisted suicide, they will use the setting to highlight the church’s intensifying campaign against euthanasia. The action is likely to take the form of a message on behalf of the country’s 300 […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-When the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops gather next week in Portland, Ore., the first state to legalize doctor-assisted suicide, they will use the setting to highlight the church’s intensifying campaign against euthanasia.

The action is likely to take the form of a message on behalf of the country’s 300 bishops issued over the name of Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).”We expect there will be several bishops who will want to address this (euthanasia) from the floor,”said Richard Doerflinger, associate director for policy development of the bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities.


The euthanasia issue is likely to become nearly as important a policy concern as abortion for the leaders of America’s 60 million Roman Catholics.

Since Oregon voters in November 1994 passed a referendum allowing patients with less than six months to live to ask a doctor for suicide drugs, the bishops have individually and collectively condemned the trend toward allowing assisted suicide.

In addition to the Oregon vote, laws prohibiting euthanasia have been overturned by appeals courts in Washington and New York states.

The bishops are already part of an effort to block the implementation of the Oregon law and, even as they gather in Portland for the June 20-22 meeting, Doerflinger said the church will file a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear New York state’s appeal seeking to reinstate a ban on euthanasia in that state.”We often file briefs on the merits of a case,”Doerflinger said.”Because of the urgency of this issue, however, this is the first time we’ve ever asked the Supreme Court to hear a particular case.” About 250 bishops are expected to attend the three-day meeting. It is being held in Portland to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the archdiocese, the second oldest in the United States after the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archbishop Francis E. George was installed as the new head of the Portland archdiocese just three weeks ago.

In addition to euthanasia, the agenda includes matters of secular politics, continued liturgical reform, efforts to attract more men and women to religious vocations, and the sometimes tense relations between Catholic colleges and the bishops.

For lay Catholics, the issue with the most immediate impact will be a vote on whether to ask the Vatican for permission to allow the full celebration of the church’s funeral rites for those whose bodies have been cremated.

Cremation was forbidden by the church until 1963 because it was believed to be a denial of belief in the resurrection of the body. In 1963, the church said cremation could be allowed in cases of necessity and where it was not a denial of bodily resurrection.


Because cremation is often less expensive than a regular burial, it has become popular. Church officials estimate that about 17 percent of Catholic funerals now involve cremation.

The permission sought from the Vatican would allow the cremated remains of the deceased to be in the church at the time of the funeral liturgy.

On another issue with potential impact on the laity, Pilla is scheduled to give a major address on the role of the church in public affairs.

It comes just weeks before the national conventions of the two major political parties and at a time when the conservative Christian Coalition is making efforts to woo Catholics into its fold. Pilla is expected to underscore the bishops’ position on a number of issues while stressing the non-partisan stance of the church.

A number of bishops have publicly expressed concern about the Christian Coalition’s effort, and last November the issue was raised in a closed-door session of the prelates.

While the bishops’ conference agrees with conservatives in opposing abortion rights, it disagrees with the conservative agenda calling for welfare cuts, tighter immigration policy, and a de-emphasis of the role of the federal government in efforts to alleviate poverty.


Other items on the bishops’ agenda are:

-Votes on the translation of texts for the church’s liturgies and prayer book, including the prayers said after Communion and those said on saints’ feast days.

-Discussion of ways to increase the number of men and women who choose religious vocations.

-A vote on whether to finance a new Office for the Third Millennium that would coordinate the bishops’ efforts at celebrating the Jubilee Year 2000.

-Debate on the latest version of the document”Ex Corde Ecclesiae,”which outlines the way a Catholic college or university is to relate to church authorities and that includes a procedure for resolving disputes between a bishop and a theologian.

MJP END ANDERSON

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