Catholic Church Teachings/Stand
It makes perfect sense that our Creator, who made us and designed us to work in a certain way, would know what’s best for us. Fortunately, He gifted the Church with His advice on how to live our lives in such a way that we could be free and happy. By giving us a roadmap, Christ gave us the ability to be freed from the negative effects of immorality and unhappiness, because true freedom allows us to live fully. The Church never forces anyone to believe what she teaches. Faith itself must be free (CCC 160). But to help guide us to choose what is best for ourselves, according to the way He made us, He gave us the Church and all her moral teachings.(Catholics Come Home.org)
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The Magisterium or Teaching Authority of the Church
"By the Magisterium we mean the teaching office of the Church. It consists of the Pope and Bishops. Christ promised to protect the teaching of the Church: “He who hears you, hears me; he who rejects you rejects me, he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me” (Luke 10. 16). The promise of Christ cannot fail: hence when the Church presents some doctrine as definitive or final, it comes under this protection, it cannot be in error; in other words, it is infallible. Vatican II taught: “The task of authoritatively interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on [Scripture or Tradition], has been entrusted exclusively to the living Magisterium of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” For apart from the Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Church, the fullness of God's revelation cannot be maintained on earth in its integrity. "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls" (Catechism of The Catholic Church, No. 95). The Catholic Church and Euthanasia
“Catholicism regards life as sacred, and taking any innocent life is immoral and sinful. The Catholic Church uses same principles to condemn euthanasia as it does to condemn abortion. The Church believes that no one needs or ought to suffer a long, painful death, and that the sick must be treated, and the dying must be comforted. The dying and those suffering enormous pain from disease or injury or can and should have as much painkiller medication as they can tolerate, as long as the medication isn’t the cause of death. The Church distinguishes between two types of euthanasia: In active euthanasia, you cause death by actively giving a person something to hasten death. Any procedure or treatment that directly causes the death of a patient is considered immoral and sinful because it’s the direct taking of an innocent life. In passive euthanasia, you cause death by not doing what’s necessary to preserve or sustain life. Intentionally causing death by withholding medicine or a procedure or stopping one that’s begun is considered immoral and sinful, because its primary purpose is the death of an innocent person.” DNR: Do Not Resuscitate
"The Church's teaching on DNR orders is contained in the Church's teaching on the moral distinction between ordinary/obligatory and extraordinary/non-obligatory medical treatment. This moral distinction is based upon the natural law teaching that one is obliged to preserve one's life, but not in the case in which the means of self-preservation are useless, or disproportionate to the goal of self-preservation. The Church clearly teaches that it is morally wrong to impose on anyone the obligation to accept treatments that impose undue burdens on him, his family, and the wider community or to accept treatments that do not offer reasonable benefits or are useless or futile. Thus, if a patient has suffered brain damage to such an extent that survival will not include the ability to lead a life even approximating the normal, or if the disease processes in a patient have debilitated the patient beyond any hopeful prognosis, it is very likely that a consideration of all of the circumstances of the individual case will lead to the sound moral judgment that artificial resuscitation, may be considered in that particular case to be a relatively extraordinary means of prolonging life. Once this judgment is reached, then the wishes of the patient become the operative norm for further treatment." |
Cremation
"For most of its 2,000-year history, the Catholic Church only permitted burial, arguing it best expressed the Christian hope of resurrection. But in 1963, the Vatican allowed cremation as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection. The Doctrine of the Faith repeats that burial remains preferred, but it lays out guidelines for conserving ashes for the increasing number of Catholics who choose cremation for economic, ecological, hygiene, or other reasons. Even when cremation is chosen, the cremated remains must be treated with respect and integrity. Ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home, rather they should be buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum or a columbarium. Remains cannot be divided among family members or put in lockets or other mementos. Nor can the ashes be scattered in the air, land or sea. The Church prefers the option of having the cremation take place after the funeral liturgy in order to celebrate its three principal funeral rites in the presence of the body; it can then show to the body the reverence it always has through the signs that have long been part of the Church's tradition." Veneration of Images "The Council of Trent (Dec.1563) repeats faithfully the principles of Nicaea II: “The holy Synod commands that images of Christ, the Virgin Mother of God, and other saints are to be held and kept especially in churches, that due honour and reverence are to be paid to them, not that any divinity or power is thought to be in them for the sake of which they may be worshipped, or that anything can be asked of them, or that any trust may be put in images, as was done by the heathen who put their trust in their idols, but because the honour shown to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that by kissing, uncovering to, kneeling before images we adore Christ and honour the saints whose likeness they bear.” The "Catechism of Christian Doctrine" by command of the Catholic bishops sums up the whole Catholic position exactly: "It is forbidden to give divine honour or worship to the angels and saints for this belongs to God alone." "We should pay to the angels and saints an inferior honour or worship, for this is due to them as the servants and special friends of God." "We should give to relics, crucifixes and holy pictures a relative honour, as they relate to Christ and his saints and are memorials of them." Organ Donation for the Purpose of Transplant "Pope John Paul II sums up the position of the Church in these words: “A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope”. Since the time of Pope Pius XII, the Church has explicitly stated that both Inter Vivos Transplants (refer to those that take place among the living) and Postmortem Transplants (refer to donations given after death) are licit, based upon the principle of fraternal charity, but only when certain requirements are met. Remembering that the end does not justify the means, these requirements include: 1. The necessity of informed consent legitimately given by the donor or one who speaks for him. 2. The physical and psychological risks incurred by the donor must be proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. 3. The donor must be aware of these risks and the proportionate good. 4. To destroy the healthy functioning or intrinsic beauty of one's body, even to delay death of another, is morally wrong." |
Saints/Feast Days
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24)
"He is the only saint whose birth is celebrated during the liturgical year because of a very particular role he plays in salvation history. The Church has always considered John as the last and greatest of the prophets. He represents the climax of the long tradition of Jewish prophets looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. As such, John the Baptist is himself the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. His calling was to point out Christ for the world and to identify, for the people, the man who is God in the Flesh, Jesus, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He constantly told people that he was nothing—that the coming Messiah was everything. The Church honors one of her greatest saints: St. John the Baptist, the humble yet courageous herald of our Lord, Jesus Christ whom Jesus himself said about, 'Among those born of women, there is no one greater than John'.”
