Last Tuesday, I was lucky to be a member of an ecumenical and interfaith delegation that went to the provincial legislature to present a joint statement calling for more palliative care in our province and conscience rights for health care workers and institutions in light of Canada's new laws on assisted suicide.  The delegation included Roman and Ukrainian Catholic, Anglican, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Evangelical, and Muslim delegates and represented a much larger group of signatories to the joint statement that included Jewish, Muslim, and a great many Christian communities.

We met with Health Minister Dustin Duncan, the NDP caucus under opposition leader Trent Wotherspoon, and Premier Brad Wall.  It was a very encouraging meeting and we are hopeful that both the government and the opposition are willing to try to find workable solutions both on increasing access to palliative care in our province and on ensuring health care workers and...

By Brett Salkeld

The following is the third of a five-part series.

We live in a culture that makes an idol out of choice. In our basic and unquestioned public discourse choice per se, without any reference to the object of that choice, is seen as a basic good. Choice is understood as the sine qua non for authentic human freedom. Take away someone’s choice in any matter and you limit their freedom. This is seen as acceptable only when their choice might harm others.

It should not be surprising, then, that while the initial public arguments in favour of assisted suicide tended to hinge on eliminating unnecessary and extreme physical suffering, the discourse is quickly infused with the language of choice. “Who can presume,” we are asked, “to deny another person the right to choose to die?”

Indeed, children of one of Canada’s first assisted suicides told the media that, “Our father’s legacy comes down to one word: choice.”

We can leave aside, until...

This is the first of a five-part series on assisted suicide by Archdiocesan Theologian Brett Salkeld.  It is being co-published on his Archdiocesan blog sAsk-a-Theologian and in the Prairie Messenger every two weeks.  Parishes are very welcome to print and distribute this material in their Sunday bulletins and to provide the link to this blog in their bulletins and other communications platforms, i.e., Facebook pages, e-mail listservs, etc. ____________________________________________

When faced with difficult discussions surrounding highly politicized hot button topics, it is important to be very clear about just what one is arguing for and against.  In our sound-bite, talking-point media (and social media) culture, it is very easy to get sidelined by being manipulated into arguing for things that one does not actually believe. 

Have a look at these two statements:

“An assisted dying law would not result in more people dying, but in fewer people...

One of the most difficult teachings of the Catholic Church for contemporary people to understand is the Perpetual Virginity of Mary.  Actually, in one way, it is one of the easiest things to understand.  We may not have any sense of what it means to be conceived without Original Sin (the meaning of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception) because we simply cannot imagine that.  We can, on the other hand, imagine what perpetual virginity is, namely, that Mary never had sexual intercourse throughout the course of her life.

It is not that we don’t know what it means, but that we can scarcely believe it is possible.  My hope here is to show not only that Mary’s perpetual virginity is possible, but that it is meaningful.  We cannot, strictly speaking, prove something like the doctrine of Mary’s Perpetual Virginity.  What would such proof even look like? But if we can show that the doctrine is both possible and meaningful, we have good reason to trust the ancient witness of the...