Bishops Urge Defeat of Initiative on Doctor-Assisted Death

The Catholic bishops of California, in what they call an unprecedented appeal, are asking parishioners to contribute to the campaign to defeat Proposition 161, a ballot initiative that would allow doctors to help dying patients end their lives.

In a letter being read at Mass throughout the state this month, the bishops are calling for volunteers and campaign contributions to oppose the initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot, charging that it condones suicide and promotes euthanasia as “a lethal and unacceptable way of terminating care.”

“We prefer that moral issues be settled in the hearts of men and women,” said the letter sent by the California Catholic Conference to all 1,070 parishes in the state. “However, the issue of allowing doctors actively to take the lives of people has been pushed into the public policy arena by proponents of the initiative, and this must be addressed and debated.”

The initiative “not only contradicts traditional Catholic morality, but also attacks the principles underlying our system of government and threatens the lives of the poor and powerless in our state,” the bishops said.

The bishops have taken positions on highly charged political and ethical issues in the past, but this is the first time that they have directed that a letter calling for contributions to a campaign be read in every pulpit.

“It’s probably unprecedented to make such a specific appeal in relation to an election issue,” said Julie Sly, director of communications for the Catholic conference.

Backers of the measure contend that the initiative is not about suicide, but “death with dignity,” and they deliberately used the term “physician-assisted death” in the ballot title.

The supporters--a diverse group that includes relatives of terminally ill patients, Unitarian churches, the Gray Panthers, the ACLU and the Hemlock Society--say that the initiative would only allow a physician to play an active role in the death of a patient who is terminally ill, who has repeatedly asked to die, and who has signed a formal request for help in the presence of witnesses.

Two doctors would have to agree that the patient had a terminal illness--defined as an incurable condition that would lead to death within six months. The initiative would allow a dying patient to terminate the request at any time.

“There would not be a campaign against Proposition 161 of any significance if the Catholic hierarchy were not leading the charge,” said Jack Nicholl, campaign director for Californians Against Human Suffering, the group that put the measure on the state ballot. More than 80% of the $221,500 raised by the opposition as of June 30 came from Catholic organizations, including a number of contributions from local dioceses, backers of the measure say.

Nicholl said that the initiative’s supporters respect the opinions of Catholics and others who believe that doctors should not assist in their patients’ deaths.

“That’s why we made (the request) 100% voluntary, so there would be no coercion in this area, which is a matter of highly personal feelings and choice,” Nicholl said. “What goes against the grain is the entire Catholic Church . . . spearheading a campaign to defeat an initiative.”

Polls conducted a year ago by the initiative’s backers showed that Californians by a margin of about 2 to 1 favored allowing physicians to help terminal patients die, if the patients requested the help, Nicholl said.

Catholics polled were almost as supportive as the population as a whole, Nicholl said. “Parishioners are going to have to be badgered and intimidated and pushed around if they are going to be forced to vote against 161,” he said.

In a July memo to all pastors, Msgr. James Petersen, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, outlined plans for collecting funds to defeat Proposition 161 to “assure that California will not be the first government in the world to legalize physician-assisted homicide.”

He said that “churches have every right to express their opinion” on initiatives, but pointed out that, to maintain their tax-exempt status, a church cannot use more than 5% of its resources in a campaign. The Catholic conference includes the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses, the Byzantine Rite Eparchy of Van Nuys and other organizations.

Petersen said that the contributions should go directly to the No on 161 committee and that they were not tax deductible.

“The contributions must not be deposited in any parish account,” he said.