Legalizing Assisted Suicide ?

Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; *
my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped (Ps 28)

The University of Pennsylvania offered “Ethics: Control of Life.” I received a B. It was a graduate level course taught by Daniel Callahan of the Hastings Center. My seminary allowed for cross registration. It was my first significant encounter with the issue of assisted suicide. I liked Callahan. His bio says, “He helped create traditions of respectful dialogue that facilitated–but did not force–consensus. His own scholarship beautifully illustrates this commitment to exploring commonalities, clarifying differences, and arriving at mutual understanding.” He was a liberal Roman Catholic philosopher and, for a time, editor of Commonweal Magazine.

I have thought of him twice in recent years. A priest I served with for a brief time decided to end his life by assisted suicide. He kept wondering why God was keeping him alive.

In 2014 I moved into a coop on Queen Anne Hill. Vi, who was then in her 80s, had lived in the building for most of her adult life. She was a member of the board and it caught her attention that I was a priest. Before I even moved in she called and asked if I’d visit a woman in the building who was dying. Suzanne, in her 90s, lived on the third floor with her son. She was from the Alsace-Lorraine region in northeastern France. Suzanne came to the United States after the war. I met with her twice. She was a very inactive Roman Catholic who didn’t care that I was a priest in the Episcopal Church. In that first visit we talked and I anointed her. It was rather clear she was not all that interested in the conversation, but she did want the anointing.

I lay my hands upon you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, beseeching him to uphold you and fill you with his grace, that you may know the healing power of his love. And I anoint you with oil in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

She told me that she was in a process of arranging for an assisted suicide. She asked me if it would be possible for her to receive communion. I returned about a week later. She received the sacrament and thanked me. About five days after that, her son called to tell me that she had died. Washington’s assisted suicide law, the Death with Dignity Act, had been passed by voters in 2008.

I’m content with my pastoral actions with Suzanne. I was also relieved that she didn't ask me to be there that day when she took her life. I remain torn about the issue.

“Torn” is how Bari Weiss described herself on the issue as she introduced a debate on “Honesty.” New York might legalize assisted suicide. Two medical ethicists, Lydia Dugdale and David Hoffman discuss the impact on society, autonomy, and access. I invite you to listen — Would Legalizing Assisted Suicide Destroy Our Society? | Two Medical Experts Debate

This abides,

Brother Robert, OA

Related

Episcopal Church statement 1991

Pew research - Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues

Roman Catholic - Declaration on Euthanasia 1980

Religious Perspectives On Euthanasia - Institute of Clinical Bioethics

Church of England’s General Synod endorses palliative care funding over assisted suicide - 2025