Catholic Bishops of Quebec president Archbishop Pierre-Andre Fournier issued a plea for prayer for World Day of the Sick Feb. 11 which coincided with the day the Members of the National Assembly resumed sitting after a winter break.
In a statement that was read on Feb. 9 in parishes across the province, Fournier reasserted the bishops’ “firm opposition” to Bill-52 “which would make euthanasia possible under the name “medical aid in dying.”
“Today we would like to invite all Catholics to pray — and to pray in a particular way on Feb. 11, World Day of the Sick — that the Holy Spirit might touch the hearts and consciences of the Members of the National Assembly who will soon be called upon to vote on the proposed law, and that they might in turn welcome the Spirit in the depths of their souls,” the archbishop wrote.
He named the saints and blessed of Quebec who “have been notable for their devotion to the sick," among them Blessed François de Laval, first bishop of Québec; St. Brother André, St. Marguerite d'Youville and Blessed Catherine de Saint-Augustin.
“These great witnesses to the love of God were able to see the incomparable dignity of each person, no matter how fragile or impaired,” he said, asking for their intercession “at this turning point in the history of our people, at a moment when our elected representatives have a decision to make that will have especially weighty consequences.”
Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine took out ads in all Quebec’s major newspapers Feb. 10, under the heading “A Question of Life or Death: a Call to Conscience,” pointing out the adoption of Bill-52 means the legalization of euthanasia.
“In hastening a person's death, however, we are not helping them in dying, we are directly ending their life,” Lépine said, adding the bill gives doctors “the authority to kill patients.”
“We love and care for those who are vulnerable, and one day, we, ourselves, will all become vulnerable,” he said. “It is important to us that we can know and trust our family and society will not choose to hasten our death, but will rather be present and support us until the very end.
“We are called to choose unconditionally to respect life until natural death,” he said.
“One cannot be the cause of death of another innocent person — even if that decision is regulated — without hurting our own conscience and human dignity,” he warned.
Lépine also requested a reflection be read from the pulpits of Montreal parishes, calling for fasting and praying on Feb. 11.
“Whatever the infirmity, the fragility or the pain, life is always a good," Lépine said. “The challenge is to always view inseparably the fragility of life, which calls us to compassion, and the value of life, which calls us to hope.”