In New Jersey and other states there is a procedure called palliative sedation. It is performed in hospice under the direction of the hospital staff with the written consent of the patient. It isn't as casual as assisted suicide, coined by some entities. Yet, in reality, it is. How is palliative sedation categorized by Canon Law?
I’m not sure. I think ine is permitted to take medications that it is foreseen will have a secondary effect of shortening life, but shortening life can’t be the primary intention. I say this under correction.
Suicide is not always preventable. If it were, my son would be here, alive, now instead of buried in the cemetery down the road. For twenty years, from the time he graduated college until he killed himself March this year, he was in and out of counseling, on and off anti-depressants, supported emotionally and financially by family and friends who told him without ceasing how valuable he is to God and to those of us who love him. He was baptized as a baby, taken to church every Sunday, attended Christian private school,
and after my husband and I converted to Catholicism when our son was in his twenties, invited to attend Mass with us. We talked to him about the sanctity of life, of all life as well as his own life, and we talked to him of God’s plan for his life, invited him to seek it and also to seek help from God in using his suffering for the good of his soul. We made him promise not to harm himself, which he did promise, but in the end he took his life anyway. Whether or not he is in Hell we cannot know at this point, but we can pray for him in case he is in Purgatory and we have Masses said for him, as our priests encourage us to do for him. We understand the Church teaching on suicide, but we also know that God acts outside of our human understanding so we pray for Christopher’s soul in the hope that PERHAPS somehow in his final moment Christopher repented his action and his sin against God. These things we cannot know for sure and it’s not for us to know. But we trust in God, not in our own understanding, so we’ll continue to pray for our son’s soul and have Masses said for him as long as we are alive in this world. But one thing we know for sure: suicide is not preventable in all cases. This assertion in this article needs to be written in a more nuances tone.
"...suicide is not preventable in all cases." The ability to 'prevent' - this is true regarding those who are proximate to the suicidal person, but objectively it is a statement that is wanting with regards to God's promise of never placing too great a burden on a seeking soul.
That said, the role of ("...on and off anti-depressants..." ) pharmaceuticals and the degree to which they impede a person's reason can't be overstated IMO.
In New Jersey and other states there is a procedure called palliative sedation. It is performed in hospice under the direction of the hospital staff with the written consent of the patient. It isn't as casual as assisted suicide, coined by some entities. Yet, in reality, it is. How is palliative sedation categorized by Canon Law?
Do you mean causal?
I’m not sure. I think ine is permitted to take medications that it is foreseen will have a secondary effect of shortening life, but shortening life can’t be the primary intention. I say this under correction.
Isn't that exactly what is done by vets to pets?
Suicide is not always preventable. If it were, my son would be here, alive, now instead of buried in the cemetery down the road. For twenty years, from the time he graduated college until he killed himself March this year, he was in and out of counseling, on and off anti-depressants, supported emotionally and financially by family and friends who told him without ceasing how valuable he is to God and to those of us who love him. He was baptized as a baby, taken to church every Sunday, attended Christian private school,
and after my husband and I converted to Catholicism when our son was in his twenties, invited to attend Mass with us. We talked to him about the sanctity of life, of all life as well as his own life, and we talked to him of God’s plan for his life, invited him to seek it and also to seek help from God in using his suffering for the good of his soul. We made him promise not to harm himself, which he did promise, but in the end he took his life anyway. Whether or not he is in Hell we cannot know at this point, but we can pray for him in case he is in Purgatory and we have Masses said for him, as our priests encourage us to do for him. We understand the Church teaching on suicide, but we also know that God acts outside of our human understanding so we pray for Christopher’s soul in the hope that PERHAPS somehow in his final moment Christopher repented his action and his sin against God. These things we cannot know for sure and it’s not for us to know. But we trust in God, not in our own understanding, so we’ll continue to pray for our son’s soul and have Masses said for him as long as we are alive in this world. But one thing we know for sure: suicide is not preventable in all cases. This assertion in this article needs to be written in a more nuances tone.
I am very sorry to hear about your son, and your family's loss of him.
"...suicide is not preventable in all cases." The ability to 'prevent' - this is true regarding those who are proximate to the suicidal person, but objectively it is a statement that is wanting with regards to God's promise of never placing too great a burden on a seeking soul.
That said, the role of ("...on and off anti-depressants..." ) pharmaceuticals and the degree to which they impede a person's reason can't be overstated IMO.