CV NEWS FEED // Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota reaffirmed the Church’s stance against euthanasia and called for his fellow citizens to oppose pro-euthanasia legislation that has been introduced to his state.
Barron argued that the new MN legislation “places the entire state directly on the slipperiest of slopes” in an article for Word on Fire titled “It’s Not Your Life, It’s Not Your Death, It’s Not Your Choice”.
Word on Fire published the article on January 4, the same day that Vermont euthanized the first person from out-of-state, a 76-year-old woman named Lynda Bluestein.
“Does my life belong to me, or is it a gift from God? Is my death a matter of my personal choice, or is it under God’s providence and at his disposal?” Barron wrote. “This great question has come to the forefront of my mind once again, since my current home state of Minnesota is considering legislation very similar to the one that California did indeed adopt.”
Barron wrote that the MN bill “is couched in language designed to assuage moral anxieties: it will be offered only to those who have a terminal diagnosis and who are making the decision in complete autonomy.”
“In regard to the first point, color me very skeptical,” Barron continued. He pointed out that when Canada and certain European countries initially legalized euthanasia, similar “restrictions” were made, but over time they fell down a “slippery slope.”
“The restrictions on who can access it and the safeguards in place to prevent elder abuse, among other things, have been gradually lifted,” Barron wrote:
In many of those places, the elderly, those with dementia, those experiencing depression or severe anxiety can all be candidates for this form of “treatment.” Though the advocates of medically assisted suicide will deny it until the cows come home, this law places the entire state directly on the slipperiest of slopes.
Although some pro-euthanasia advocates “argue that autonomy over one’s body is of utmost importance for those who face the prospect of a dreadfully painful demise,” Barron wrote, “this consideration is largely beside the point, for palliative care is so advanced that in practically all cases, pain can be successfully managed.”
Barron continued, “even if a dying person found himself in great pain, actively killing himself would not be morally justifiable” and is intrinsically evil, because it is the direct killing of an innocent life.
An intrinsically evil act is “incapable of being morally sanctioned, no matter how extenuating the circumstances or how beneficial the consequences,” Barron wrote.
Barron criticized the belief that autonomy is “the supreme value,” and argued that “authentic freedom is not radical self-determination; rather, it is ordered to certain goods that the mind has discerned.”
“If I speak obsessively of ‘choice’ but never even raise a question regarding the good or evil being chosen, I find myself in a moral and intellectual wasteland,” Barron wrote. “True freedom is ordered toward moral value and ultimately to the supreme value who is God.”
Barron recalled that during his time as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, legislators campaigned to pass a pro-“physician-assisted suicide” bill in California, which eventually passed in 2023.
“During the campaign, while driving through my pastoral region, I saw a pro-euthanasia billboard with the following message: ‘My Life, my Death, my Choice,’” Barron wrote:
Immediately, I thought of St. Paul’s diametrically opposite remark in his Letter to the Romans: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
I do believe that in regard to the issue of assisted suicide, it comes down to this: Did the billboard get it right, or did St. Paul?
Barron also warned against moral relativism in the face of assisted-suicide. “When even the direct taking of innocent life is a matter of personal choice, the entire moral enterprise has in fact collapsed into incoherence,” he wrote:
And so, could I ask all of my fellow citizens of Minnesota, especially those who are Catholic, to oppose this legislation in any way you can: call your representative or senator, write to the governor, talk to your friends and neighbors, circulate a petition.
“And to those in other parts of the country, I would urge vigilance,” Barron concluded. “If this legislation hasn’t come to your state yet, it probably will soon enough. If you stand for the culture of life, fight it!”