By Rachel Forbes Kaufman
As Catholics, we hold that all life has value from conception until natural death. Many of us have spent countless treasures — money and time — to protect the life of our unborn children from abortion. Others dedicate their time to the education and catechetical instruction of our school-aged children. And many others work tirelessly to serve some of our most vulnerable populations: the poor, the hungry and the lonely. But just as important, and often misunderstood, is the need to protect the sanctity of human life at the end of our human journey – when we become infirm by age, disease or injury. The good news is that the Church has formation opportunities and resources to support us through all these stages of human life, including our final journey towards death.
Aging and death are part of life. Catholic teaching calls us to honor the sanctity of all life’s stages, including the final journey of our illness, aging and death. We know that death is a natural and necessary part of life, and our final earthly step before we can see our Lord; but our eventual death can be hard to think about or discuss with others. While we have made tremendous scientific advances to improve health and longevity, our Catholic faith tells us that dying leads us to our eternal home, so there is a positive side to death. Still, many fear infirmity, dying and death.
The Catholic Church offers many good resources for us as we approach the second half of life. Participating in faith formation geared towards this fertile time of life can bring reconciliation and healing into our families. Learning in advance what the Church teaches about end-of-life care when recovery is unlikely can reduce our fears and lessen stresses on the loved ones who might have to make difficult medical decisions on our behalf. The good news is since we are a Church that honors life at all stages, the Diocese of Evansville is blessed to have a number of good resources to help us contemplate our needs and to prepare for this sacred journey.
The Catholic Medical Association supports Catholic physicians who live and promote the principles of the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine. We have two Catholic hospitals and many Catholic physicians in our diocese who are good resources. But if your doctor or hospital is not Catholic, there still are resources available in each hospital to help us make plans that are consistent with our Catholic faith.
An Advanced Directive is a preplanning tool meant to convey our wishes about end-of-life issues while we are still able to do so. Not all Advanced Directive documents will be consistent with our Catholic faith, so it is important to carefully review these documents with trusted individuals. Still, the questions these tools raise will be helpful for starting conversations with your family doctor and your family members. You should appoint a Healthcare Representative, or a Power of Attorney for Healthcare, who is willing and able to execute your wishes in concert with your Catholic faith. Chaplains are available in every hospital in the country to help you confirm your wishes.
In the event there is a conflict about an end-of-life plan of care, I urge you to speak with your parish priest, who will have additional resources. And if a family member is hospitalized and facing end-of-life issues, families can request that the hospital provide an ethics-team consultation to help sort out the clinical, ethical and spiritual considerations. In addition, we can also tap into rich resources at our diocesan office by contacting the Office of Family and Life at 812-424-5536 or http://www.evdio.org/healthcare.html. Staff within the OFL can direct you to many good resources to help you thoughtfully and prayerfully consider all end-of-life issues.
Finally, the national Catholic Medical Association is offering a special educational forum dedicated to end-of-life issues. The CMA will offer the End of Life Forum from 7:30 a.m. CDT to 5:30 p.m. CDT Sept. 25 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Catholic experts from around the country will showcase the field of palliative medicine and how it provides care, in concert with Catholic teaching, for those with serious illness and those who are at the end of their human journey. This forum is designed for physicians and other clinicians, but is appropriate for anyone who desires to learn more about the Church’s teaching in regard to end-of-life care. More information can be found at https://www.cathmed.org/events/annual-educational-conference/end-life-eol-forum/
Rachel Forbes Kaufman is an officer in the Southwest Indiana Guild of the Catholic Medical Association and the founding director of The Retirement Institute, a ministry dedicated to second-half-of-life faith formation. She and her husband, John Kaufman, are members of Resurrection Parish in Evansville.