Catholic san Francisco
(PHOTO BY CNS PHOTO/L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS)
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
During the March 5-9 plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council on Social Communications,Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco, a recently appointed member, greets Pope Benedict XVI who addressed the Council.Archbishop John Foley (background) is Council president.The pope praised benefits of greater access to entertainment, information and education through the media, but also expressed concerns as well. See story on page 11.
Signature campaign targets assisted-suicide bill By Dan Morris-Young Thousands of signatures of local parishioners opposing proposed legislation that would legalize physicianassisted suicide in California will be delivered to the San Francisco office of Assemblymember Fiona Ma – a cosponsor of the bill –“within the next week or so,” according to George Wesolek, director of the archdiocesan Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns. A signature-gathering campaign in nearly every parish of the 29 within Assemblywoman Ma’s District 12 was started shortly after AB 374, titled “The California Compassionate Choices Act,” was introduced on Feb. 15. Nearly identical to legislation that died in a state Senate committee last June, AB 374 would allow a physician to prescribe a self-administered, life-ending drug for an adult who requested it and had been found by two doctors to be mentally competent and within six months of death. Similar to an Oregon law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the bill would require state agencies to refer to assisted suicide as “aid-in-dying.”
In a March 2 letter to Assemblywoman Ma, Archbishop George H. Niederauer wrote, “On behalf of the people of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, I ask you to withdraw your support from this measure.” Calling legally assisted suicide “bad public policy,” the Archbishop said the bill would “turn doctors from their healing vocation,” jeopardize “those living with disability and chronic disease,” put the poor “at risk when killing becomes cheaper than curing,” and promote “a society where the value of life is measured by a utilitarian standard.” “We have worked well in the past together,” the Archbishop wrote, “fighting affronts to human dignity in the form of human trafficking. Legalization of assisted suicide also victimizes our poorest, weakest and most vulnerable members of society, those who are most in need of our care.” However, during a Sacramento press conference introducing the legislation, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, contended, “Some people say this bill is about suicide. It is not.” “Suicide is when you can live but you choose to die,”
she said. “This bill, on the other hand, deals with people who do not have a choice about dying.” Berg, who is Catholic, is a co-author of AB 374 with Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Sherman Oaks. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat who is Catholic, at the press conference declared himself a joint author of the bill and said he is “ready to buck my Church” on the issue of assisted suicide. “There’s no question that this topic stirs a lot of emotion and a lot of debate,” he said. “I think when you pare it down to its essence, however, this is about how people are going to live in the last days of their life.” Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, said he was disappointed at Nunez’s decision to support AB 374. “We are sad and frustrated the speaker would find it necessary to step out on a bill like this when there are so many other issues of importance to the vast majority of Californians, such as health care access, education and ASSISTED-SUICIDE, page 7
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Immigration raids . . . . . . . 3 Senior living . . . . . . . . . 7-11 Domestic violence topic . . . 8 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Books, CDs, media . . . . 20-21
Local clergy ‘stream’ nationally
Theologian’s work criticized
Scripture: Throwing stones
Classified ads. . . . . . . . 22-23
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www.catholic-sf.org
March 23, 2007
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
VOLUME 9
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No. 10