The faithful are being called to contact New York’s Catholic Governor Kathy Hochul to protest her planned signing of a bill allowing assisted suicide in the state.In an open letter to the governor appearing in the National Catholic Register, author Patti Armstrong draws attention to Gov. Hochul’s claim that she was inspired during Mass to permit assisted suicide.
“I reflected on this during a Catholic funeral Mass for a family friend where the priest spoke of the welcome home to eternal life,” the governor wrote on December 17. “I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be. This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life. So after careful deliberation, I decided to support legalizing medical aid in dying in very specific circumstances and with significant protections included in the law to ensure it is not misused or broadly applied.”
However, as Armstrong warns, the governor must be careful not to confuse following God with playing God. “This legislation will allow New York residents with a prognosis of six months or less to live to self-administer life-ending medication prescribed by a physician. You say there will be “guardrails” to protect against abuse. As a Catholic, you already know that the Ten Commandments are God’s guardrails to heaven. ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ includes enabling people to kill themselves and implicates physicians who will prescribe life-ending drugs.”
Armstrong goes on to point out the many times when doctors miscalculated life expectancy such as in the case of Eugenia Horan who was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only weeks to live. Thanks to experimental treatments and surgeries, Eugenia is still alive today - five years later!
“Regardless of whether a doctor is right or wrong, God is always right," Armstrong writes. "Whatever time a person has before death is God’s mercy. It can be a time of purification that allows one into heaven, a time of reconciliation with others, and an opportunity for holiness for patients and those who care for them.”
The most recent case of Servant of God Michelle Duppong, who died of cancer at the age of 31 on Christmas in 2005, illustrates how the time before death can be a precious time of purification for the dying, as well as evangelization for those who tend to them.
“Was there suffering?” asks Michelle’s spiritual direction, Msgr. Thomas Richter. “For sure. But in the midst of this it was very clear in Michelle that she grew in her concern for others, and she grew in great trust of God. She was sharing in the Paschal mystery of Jesus.”
As Armstrong points out to the governor, “Our suffering can call down grace to soften someone’s heart toward God; it can bring about an encounter with God that can spark conversion. Just as our prayers for others are heard by God and incorporated into his loving action in the world, so too is our suffering incorporated into his plan of salvation. Our suffering is not meaningless.”
She concludes her letter to the governor by reminding her that “We are not our own savior, and assisted suicide is not God’s plan. Rejecting God’s authority is rejecting God. God has a plan for our life, right up until the end.”
Let us all pray for the intercession of Michelle Duppong to give the governor the strength to do God’s will and veto this bill!
Please contact Governor Hochul and respectfully ask her not to sign this tragic bill into law.
An online contact form is available here.
The governor's email address is legislative.secretary@exec.ny.gov
She can be contacted by mail at:
The Honorable Kathy Hochul Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224
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