N.W.T. bishop expects assisted-death funeral issue rare for northern Catholics
The head of the N.W.T.'s Catholic diocese says full funeral rites within the church won't be offered to people who choose physician-assisted death, although he suspects it won't be a frequent issue in the North.
"We have not encountered this situation yet, and I kind of hope we don't, for obvious reasons," says Bishop Mark Hagemoen.
Hagemoen was one of six bishops, along with five from Alberta, whose name appears on a new set of guidelines to instruct pastors in Alberta and the N.W.T. on how to deal with physician-assisted death.
"The Church does, in fact, celebrate Christian funerals for those who have been found after the fact to have committed suicide. We are not able to judge the reason the person has taken that decision or the disposition of their heart," the document says.
"The case of assisted suicide or euthanasia, however, is a situation where more can sometimes be known of the disposition of the person and the freedom of the chronically ill man or woman, particularly if it is high-profile or notorious. In such cases, it may not be possible to celebrate a Christian funeral."
Impetus from Alberta, not N.W.T.
Hagemoen says the impetus for the document came mainly from Alberta.
"It's definitely an important and controversial topic, and a difficult one to take fixed positions on," he admitted. "But some of the pastors, especially in the south, were starting to deal with this."
In Alberta, 29 people have ended their lives with the help of a physician since the beginning of the year. There doesn't appear to have been any similar case in the N.W.T., at least according to a spokesperson for the territorial department of Health and Social Services.
"Life is a little different in the North. If people want to take their life, they'll take their life... If they want doctor-assisted suicide, frankly, they don't want the church a part of it," says Hagemoen.
Choosing assisted death, he says, would be unusual for a Catholic, in that it's "in basic discord with Catholic belief."
That said, he adds that, "if they do, we want to deal with that well."
"It would be important for pastors to try to find some way to respect their decision... by providing some other appropriate prayer service or memorial that may be helpful."
Focus on palliative care
For Hagemoen, the "whole issue for us is about beefing up palliative care and doing all that we can to not confuse palliative care with doctor-assisted suicide."
"We need to provide quality palliative care so that people who are dealing with difficult or painful terminal illnesses... are very well supported, they're not lonely, they're not moving into a place of isolation and depression."
He says he's discussing the new guidelines with priests and laypeople across the territory.
