t eanc 0 VOL. 33, NO. 36
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Friday, September 15, 1989
FALL RIVER, MASS.
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Bishop's study cited in Atlanta "right-to-die" case With NC News reports The doctoral dissertation of Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, written in the 1950s, is attracting intense interest in the light of current ethical controversies on prolongation of human life. The most recent citation of the bishop's dissertation came earlier this month in the Atlanta courtroom of Fulton County Superior Judge Edward Johnson who, after a 45-minute bedside hearing, ruled that Larry James McAfee, paralyzed from the neck down since a May 1985 motorcycle accident, .had the right to switch off the ventilator that is keeping him alive. At the court's request, the archdiocese of Atlanta submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. The brief included conclusions
reached by Bishop Cronin in his definite hope of proportionate benefit. " dissertation, which studies teachHe defined extraordinary means ings of theologians over the past seven centuries and is entitled "The as "those not commonly used in Moral Law in Regard to the Ordi- given circumstances, or those nary and Extraordinary Means of . means in common use which this individual in his present physical; Conserving Life. " psychological and economic conThe bishop concluded that it was consistent church teaching dition cannot reasonably employ, that: "For the patient whose con- or if he can, will riot give him ~ope dition is incurable, even ordinary of proportionate benefit." The archdiocesan brief held that means (of preserving life) become extraordinary (morally dispensa- the use of a ventilator in McAfee's ble); and so the wishes of the case was an "extraordinary means of preserving life." 'patient, expressed or reasonably Morally that means the Catholic interpreted, must be obeyed." Church believes the patient is free The bishop defined ordinary means as those "commonly used in either to continue to use the ventilator or to decide to discontinue it, given circumstances, which this individual in his present physical, "even though such interruption psychological and economic con- will end in death," the archdiocedition can reasonably employ with san brief said.
Judge Johnson made the ruling Sept. 6 that McAfee was a rational, competent, intelligent adult capable of deciding whether to turn off the machine. The ruling followed the bedside hearing at which five of McAfee's family members and two friends testified that he had said he wished . to die. 'Single and without dependents, he asked the court for permission to turn off his ventilator himself and that he be given a sedative for the pain and distress he would experience before dying. McAfee, a civil engineer, with the help of a friend, designed a mouth-activated timing device to shut down the ventilator. McAfee planned to be moved from a nursing home in Alabama
to an apartment in the Atlanta area where he would shut off the ventilator. He did not say when he would do that. The church's brief said that "the archdiocese neither opposes nor advocates Mr. McAfee's petition, but is of the opinion that granting his request would not be assisting in suicide or undermining the state's and the Roman Catholic Church's interest in preserving life. " Church teaching has traditionally held that ordinary treatments must be provided to dying patients but that treatments that are extraordinary are not required. Most so-called "right-to-die" cases that have reached the courts have. involved comatose patients Turn to Page Six
Pope - Gorbachev meeting? .. ROME (CNS) - Soviet Presi-' dent Mikhail Gorbachev wants to meet Pope John PaJ,l1 II during a visit to Rome this November, said Nikolai Lunkov, the Soviet ambassador to Italy. It would be the first meeting between a pope and a Soviet leader and would come .at a time of increasing pressure on the Soviet government from Ukrainians seeking legalization of their Catholic Eastern-rite church. Pope John Paul has called for legal recognition ofthe church and has also expressed a wish to visit Catholics in the Soviet Union. Twice in two days, Lunkov confirmed Gorbachev's desire for a papal meeting. The first was at a
meeting of the Italian Communist Party Sept. 9. The second was during an interview on Italian radio Sept. 10. Asked if Gorbachev's visit to Italy would include a visit to the pope, Lunkov answered: "Yes, and why not?" Lunkov said he favored further development of relations between the Soviet Union and the Vatican as an aid to world peace. It is necessary "to interest oneself in the actions favoring peace and detente undertaken by the more than 800 million Catholics," he said. Lunkov spoke after The Associated Press reported that Gorbachev sent a letter to the pope expressing interest in a meeting to discuss furthering Soviet-Vatican relations. The AP story quoted an unidentified high-ranking Vatican. official. Previously, the Soviet news agency Tass reported that a letter had been given to the pope Aug. 24
by Yuri E. Karlov, a personal representative of Soviet Foreign Minister Edward Shevardnadze. But the report did not say whether the letter contained a request for a papal meeting. Tass said the Gorbachev letter outlined the "drastic issues," such as ending the threat of nuclear war, which should be discussed as part ofstrengthened Soviet-Vatican contacts. The Vatican has not commented on Lunkov's remarks nor the AP story. Last January, the papal secretary of state, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, said the pope is "always available" if Gorbachev wishes to meet during a Rome visit. The cardinal added that prospects for furthe,:ing Vatican-Soviet relations were good. In June 1988, Cardinal Casaroli met Gorbachev in Moscow and raised the possibility of establishing a formal channel for VaticanSoviet contacts. Turn to Page Six
Plan seen semi-O K
Foley photo
WHAT'S special about this Madonna? See page 8.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican newspaper has praised' President Bush's anti-drug program but suggested that any fight against drugs should include the moral aspects of the problem. In the United States, an archbishop also suggested that values and morality must playa part in defeating drugs, while a priest threatened by drug dealers said Bush's plan is "too little, too late." The spread of drugs is a "dramatic situation" and a "growing international emergency," said the front-page editorial in the Sept. 10 issue of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. The newspaper described Bush's' $7.9 billion initiative as "a syste-
matic plan against the very production, sale. distribution and consumption of this deadly poison." But it also said the "unprecedented mobilization against drugs" will be unsuccessful if it does not also attack the moral and social roots of the drug problem. "In the West, the widespread fact of drugs is the devastating product of permissiveness derived from an individualistic middle-class ideology," said the editorial. The plan "seems to be established more with a look toward the necessary repression rather than toward the more decisive economic, Turn to Page Six
eNS I UPI photo
Mother TeJ.:esa of Calcutta
Pacemaker give, to Mother Teresa CALCUTTA, India (CNS) Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mother Teresa was talking and cheerful after being fitted with a pacemaker, said Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. "I was getting quite anxious about her health, and now I am slightly relieved to see her talking and cheerful," he told reporters . after a five-minute visit with Mother Teresa Sept. II. The 79year-old nun presented him with a rosary for his wife. She was admitted to the private Woodlands Nursing Home Sept. 5 complaining of high temperature and nausea. A doc~9r at the nursing home also said she had suffered an artery blockage that led to an irregular heartbeat. Pope John Paul II sent a telegram Sept. 10 to Mother Teresa assuring her of his "prayers and spiritual closeness at this time..
"Commending you to the intercession of our loving mother'Mary, help of the sick, I cordially impart my special apostolic blessing as a pledge of strength and comfort in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," the English-language telegram said. Nursing home officials said they received cails from people in other countries inquiring about the health of Mother Teresa. Her cardiologist, Dr. Vincenzo Bilotti of Rome, flew to Calcutta to be with the ailing nun. A spokeswoman for the Missionaries of Charity said another physician, Dr. George Lombardi, flew from New York to help with treat- . . ment. Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta at the end of August after treatment in Rome for ischemia, a condition causing a shortage in the blood supply to the heart. Turn to Page Six