Catholic ministries under threat as UK assisted dying law passes

After 314 MPs voted in favour and 291 against at its third reading, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill progressed to the House of Lords. However, it is almost certain to become law, with an estimated four years before its provisions can be accessed.

Archbishop of Liverpool John Sherrington, the lead bishop on life issues for England and Wales, said Catholic bishops were “shocked and disappointed” that MPs voted for a “flawed” bill that gives them “great cause for concern”.

He expressed concerns “about the future of palliative care, not least because experience suggests that, unless there are explicit protections, hospices may be required to co-operate with assisted suicide. If this were to happen, the future of many Catholic institutions could be under threat”.

The archbishop reiterated that improving the quality and availability of palliative care offers “the best pathway to reducing suffering at the end of life” and pledged that the Catholic bishops would continue to advocate for this.

Associate editor of The Catholic Herald and former chaplain to the Queen, Gavin Ashenden, criticised the standard of the third reading debate.

“There were what appeared to be mindless invocations of ‘freedom, autonomy, choice, control, rights’, but they seemed alarmingly disconnected from any possible complication produced by a potential conflict of issues,” Dr Ashenden wrote.

“Under the careful constraint of a Christian culture in which the sanctity of life was non-negotiable, our corporate feet remained safely balanced at the top of a slippery slope of ethical relativism,” he added. “But the moment sanctity of life is replaced with the disposability of life under certain circumstances, such safety mechanisms as there are start to give way with an alarming rapidity.”

Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said: “This is a deeply flawed and dangerous bill that since November has been made considerably worse with important safeguards watered down or scrapped.”

Dr Ashenden expressed the hope that a “coalition of conscience” in the House of Lords would bring “a serious and effective vigour to the process of scrutinising what we have all agreed looks like appallingly bad legislation”.

FULL STORY

Catholic bishops ‘shocked and disappointed’ after assisted dying Bill is voted through by MPs (By Ruth Gledhill/The Tablet)

The coalition of conscience assembling in the Lords to combat assisted suicide (Catholic Herald)

About – Gavin Ashenden (Gavin Ashenden)