The Arlington Diocese recently released a new document
intended to help sick and aging Catholics maintain
responsibility for their own end-of-life decisions. The
document, “Catholic Advance Medical Directives,” provides
information about Catholic moral teaching, as well as medical
and legal terminology, and allows a person to stipulate who
will be in charge of their health decisions and what kinds of
treatments and procedures they would prefer.
The document was a joint effort between the Arlington and
Richmond dioceses. It serves as an update to the previous
Advance Medical Directives, released by the diocesan Office
of Family Life in August 2002. Once signed in the presence of
a witness, it is a legal instrument that meets commonwealth
of Virginia requirements and serves the same purpose as a
living will.
According to an introduction letter from Arlington Bishop
Paul S. Loverde and Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo,
the” Catholic Advance Medical Directives” were released “in
order to help ease the moral and spiritual concerns that so
often arise when dealing with the passage from life to
eternity.”
“It is our hope that those who make use of these documents
find peace of mind and soul in the knowledge that suffering,
while a trial, can always become a source of good when united
to the suffering of Christ crucified,” the letter read.
Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Sister Clare Hunter is
director of the diocesan Respect Life Office, the office in
charge of distributing the document.
According to Sister Clare, the document is valuable because
it provides a resource Catholics can use to plan ahead for
their end-of-life situations, a time many people don’t want
to think about.
“It forces us to think about ‘what I’d like,’ but
particularly that it be in union with the Catholic Faith,”
she said. “Between television shows and movies and our own
life experiences, we can become kind of afraid of becoming
incompetent.”
She referenced a quote from Scripture, in which Jesus says to
Peter, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you
used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you
grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else
will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
“One day, we will all be bound in terms of our own (physical
or mental) incompetence,” she said. “We think of that
scenario and we really in our minds can think, ‘I’d rather be
dead; I don’t want that to be me,’ and then we can make
decisions that could possibly go against moral teachings and
damage our soul.”
By using the forms, Catholics can declare a loved one to be
their health care agent who will act on their behalf if they
are deemed incapable of making important decisions for
themselves. They can also put down in writing their beliefs
and desires regarding issues like the requirement of
nutrition and hydration, organ donation, and preventing any
treatments that could be described as euthanasia or assisted
suicide.
“It helps to make their wishes known about the type of care
they want and end-of-life approaches,” said Father Paul
deLadurantaye, diocesan secretary for catechetics and sacred
liturgy, who helped compose the new document, along with Jeff
Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic
Conference, and representatives from the Richmond Diocese.
“One of the things this advance directive says is, ‘I want to
follow the teachings of the Church,'” Father deLadurantaye
said.
Especially in an area as tricky as medical end-of-life
issues, having a person’s wants, needs and moral convictions
down on paper can be helpful -resulting in less stress and
conflict for all involved, including family members.
Sister Clare believes all Catholics could benefit from
filling out the form.
“We tend to think end-of-life as having an age-appropriate
focus, but anybody could be in an accident at any moment,”
she said. “I think at all ages, we should be considering what
it is we would want or not want.
“It is critical that people come to understand the
end-of-life teachings of the Church,” she said. “It (can be)
very complicated and very difficult, but under it all, the
Church is merely trying to protect the dignity of the human
person.”
Get the document
“Catholic Advance Medical Directives” are available through
parishes and the Respect Life Office. They also can be found
online at arlingtondiocese.org/respectlife/adv_med_dir.php.
