DIOCESE—In the wee hours of the morning on Oct. 31, the Illinois Senate dealt one more blow to the sanctity of human life with the passage of Senate Bill 1950. The bill, packaged with amendments to the Food Sanitation Act, allows qualified terminally ill adults to request a prescription from a physician to end their life.
That same day Bishop David J. Malloy issued a statement on the passage of Senate Bill 1950 as it was set to move on to the desk of Governor J.B. Pritzker. (See full statement below)
Bishop Malloy, the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Rockford Diocese Life and Evangelization Office have worked for months to mobilize Catholics to oppose this legislation. Catholics have met with legislators personally, written letters, placed phone calls and sent emails, all in an effort to support the dignity of human life.
Now that the bill has passed the Illinois Senate, the push to veto the law is in full force. The Diocese of Rockford and the Catholic Conference urged all parishes and Respect Life groups in the diocese and around the state to contact the governor
(see graphic).
“This is the last chance to stop assisted suicide from becoming law in Illinois,” Therese Stahl, diocesan director of Pastoral Services wrote in a Flocknote to all Parish Respect Life Coordinators.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of (2280).”
The Catechism goes on to teach that “suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God (2281).”
