Boston area faith leaders meet to oppose assisted suicide
By Christopher S. Pineo
Posted: 10/12/2012
BROOKLINE — Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios greeted the leaders of more than 20 Christian denominations and other religions at the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston Cathedral Center on Oct. 9 to discuss how they can work together in opposing a November ballot question to legalize physician assisted suicide.
Remarks during the meeting of the more than 60 religious leaders were closed to the media, but participants spoke with The Pilot afterward.
Metropolitan Methodios said he took pride in inviting the different religious leaders to learn about and discuss the ballot initiative.
“It was a great honor for me today to host this meeting of the ecumenical leaders of Greater Boston to discuss a very important subject for all of us, and that is physician assisted suicide,” the metropolitan said.
During the meeting, Peter Cataldo, chief healthcare ethicist for the Archdiocese of Boston, built a case around four points for the faith community to stand against legalized suicide.
He said concerns for human dignity, human freedom, stewardship of life, and the response to human suffering reside at the heart of faith-based motivation against physician assisted suicide.
He explained each point for The Pilot after the event.
“The proponents of physician assisted suicide reduce the concept of human dignity to control,” he said.
Contrary to this position, he said, people of faith who oppose physician assisted suicide hold human dignity up as intrinsic and separate from issues of personal choice.
He said proponents of the ballot misuse the idea of human freedom, by proposing that helping someone end their own life or giving them the means to do so is a kind of advocacy for the dying.
“To be good stewards of life means to always care for life, not to eliminate life or end it in the name of stewardship. That is a false stewardship,” he said.
He said proponents rest their argument on the idea of preserving self-determination and ending or preventing suffering.
“When you look at it carefully and closely, physician assisted suicide does not end suffering. It is directed at ending the patient, which should not be confused with ending suffering,” Cataldo said.
In a discussion during the meeting, pastors, priests and other religious leaders expressed their own concerns regarding the issue.
Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Dorchester and a cofounder of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, expressed concern that the public discourse regarding physician assisted suicide presents it as a Catholic issue, and said he would like the public to see the face of diversity united in the meeting to oppose the measure.
“This is a diverse interfaith campaign for life, in opposition to Question 2, the ballot question. There is a diverse unified opposition to physician assisted suicide,” he said.
Rev. Rivers also added that the challenge created by the controversy creates an opportunity for the broader community of faith to come together.
“The smart way to fight this campaign is to do everything we can to not have this perceived as a Roman Catholic initiative. It is an ecumenical and interfaith initiative, and that is how we ensure our success in terms of the ballot question. I think that is a tactical imperative,” the pastor said.
Pastor William E. Dickerson, senior pastor at Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester, added to the call for a unified stance by people of faith against physician assisted suicide.
“When we say ‘physician assisted suicide’ or any other label we put to it, suicide is suicide. Suicide is wrong,” the pastor said.
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