[Apologetics] Catholic Teaching is Clear: Food and Water Can NEVER be Witheld!!!

[Art Kelly]

The following article from Catholic World News at
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=36179
states in part:

According to (Richard) Doerflinger, (Deputy Director
of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops),"food
and water should ALWAYS be seen as basic care," a
teaching made abundantly clear in an address by Pope
John Paul II in March, 2004, he said.

Catholic teaching on end of life issues misrepresented


Washington, DC, Mar. 30 (Culture of Life
Foundation/CWNews.com) - The prominence of the Terri
Schiavo case has brought unprecedented media attention
to the Catholic Church's teaching on end-of-life
issues. But media portrayals of Church teaching are
often inaccurate and misleading, according to two
prominent Catholic ethicists. 

Father Thomas Williams, dean of the theology
department of Regina Apostolorum Pontifical
University, and Richard Doerflinger, Deputy Director
of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, both
said the Church makes a distinction between ordinary
and extraordinary care. The first is always required
while the second is not. "The Church teaches that we
have a moral obligation to support life," Doerflinger
said. "That obligation has limits. People talk about
ordinary and extraordinary means. That just means that
when the efforts to sustain life start doing more harm
than good to the patient the moral obligation ceases
to apply. Even then you should never abandon a patient
and never deny them the basic care owed to everyone
because of their human dignity." 

Father Williams quotes from Pope John Paul II (bio -
news)'s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (doc) when
trying to define extraordinary means. "The Pope uses
two sets of terms. For treatment to be considered
extraordinary, death must be 'imminent and inevitable'
and the treatment would result in 'precarious and
burdensome prolongation of life.'" An example might be
a cancer victim who, after several rounds of
treatment, has found chemotherapy to be ineffective
and foregoes the treatment in order to avoid its side
effects. 

Father Williams and Doerflinger said that in some
instances it can be extremely difficult to determine
the difference between extraordinary and ordinary care
and that in such instances people must follow their
conscience. But both men said the Schiavo case is
clear cut. "From a Catholic perspective, this is an
open and shut case," Father Williams said. According
to Doerflinger, "food and water should always be seen
as basic care," a teaching made abundantly clear in an
address by Pope John Paul II in March, 2004, he said. 

A recent article in the Washington Post , "Catholic
Stance on Tube-Feeding Is Evolving," tried to paint
the papal pronouncement, that food and water are basic
care, as contrary to the Catholic tradition. The
article placed great stock in the teachings of two
Spanish theologians of the 16th century, Francisco de
Vitoria and Domingo Banez, as proof that the Pope has
formulated a novel teaching. Banez "wrote that a sick
man could refuse food without risk of committing a
mortal sin if he had no hope of survival," the Post
reported, and Vitora established "the guideline that
'ordinary' means of medical treatment were obligatory,
but 'extraordinary' means-- methods that would cause
great pain or burdens-- were not required." 

Father Williams says the two Spaniards are actually
consistent with the teaching the Pope John Paul. "What
they said does not mean that one can refuse to consume
food for any length of time or refuse food that would
save one's life. What they mean is that if you are
dying and the food would make you sick to your stomach
or you would die anyway, you can refuse the food." But
even if Vitoria or Banez were at odds with the Pope,
it would not mean that the Pope has made up a new
teaching. "The fact is that you can find theologians
on any point-- even the most settled of moral
doctrines like abortion, euthanasia, contraception--
who disagree. That does not mean there is doubt or
division or that there is not a Catholic position. The
Church doesn't work that way. That's why we have a
magisterium." Doerflinger, who was interviewed for the
Post story, said the article failed to bring up the
many statements calling food and water basic care that
preceded the Pope's address. "Up until then it had not
just been 'conservative' theologians versus 'liberal'
theologians. There had been a number of Vatican
documents. And there had been statements by the
Pro-Life Committee of the US Bishops Conference that
is chaired and run by cardinals and archbishops. "

Art

ART KELLY, ATM-S
13524 Brightfield Lane 
Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360 
(703) 904-3763 home
arthurkelly at yahoo.com
ArtK135 at Netscape.net
art.kelly at cox.net