Differing views on assisted dying

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This article was published 20/05/2023 (1209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Should clergy be condemned or supported if they accompany people who choose Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)? Some Christian groups in two countries are taking markedly different approaches.

In Canada, the head of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) doesn’t believe pastors should walk alongside members who choose MAID.

In a column in the May-June issue of Faith Today, EFC president and CEO David Guretzki, acknowledges its natural for clergy to want to be with people dying a natural death. But MAID is different, he said.

“My moral conviction is that any intentional ending of a person’s life apart from divine permission is a form of murder,” he stated, adding “Even though pastors aren’t the ones carrying out the procedure, they will need to answer, before God and their flocks, whether their presence is a form of permission or blessing to the person opting to have their life ended.”

When I asked Guretzki if maybe that wasn’t a bit harsh, he replied: “The column stands as is.”

Meantime, in The Netherlands, Mennonites there are taking a different approach to MAID for their clergy.

Although it is not without controversy in that country, MAID — which has been legal there since 2002 — has become generally accepted by the population, including the country’s 5,000 or so Mennonite church members.

Instead of condemning clergy who walk with members who choose to end their lives that way, Mennonites in that country are looking for ways to incorporate it into pastoral care as part of the life of the church, said Dutch Mennonite pastor and theologian Pieter Post.

Post did research in The Netherlands about MAID in 2021. “Mennonite pastors here believe the church should be there when people choose euthanasia, to give their death meaning and significance,” he shared. “A pastor should be there with the person who is dying.”

Post, who is pastor of the United Mennonite Church of Heerenveen and Tjalleberd and taught at the Mennonite Seminary in Amsterdam, worked as a nurse before he became a pastor in 1985. In that capacity he talked to people who wished they could end their lives to ease their suffering. As a pastor, he has been at the bedside of three people who requested MAID.

Post noted that Dutch culture is one of tolerance for individual choices. “We have this idea that we should try to respect each other’s decisions and accommodate each other,” he said, adding “We believe decisions about euthanasia are the responsibility of individual believers. They have the right to self-determination.”

Even though people have the right to decide for themselves, Post said, he hopes they do it in conversation with their pastor and others. “We want people to be part of the community. We want them to make their decision about dying through conversation with others in the church,” he said.

Through his research, Post came up with three principles for clergy for responding to requests for euthanasia. First, listen. “Be open and be there, don’t judge and tell them they are wrong,” he said.

Second, offer pastoral support. “Walk with them as they move towards their death,” he said. “Be there with them.”

Third, work with them to create a service for their passing. The need for that became clear to Post when he was called upon to be at the deathbed of a woman who chose MAID. When he got there, he realized he had no liturgy for the occasion.

“That prompted me to want to create something for other pastors to use,” he said, adding the liturgy he will create will include scripture, prayers, confession and hymns.

Post noted that doctors he has talked to expressed gratitude for having pastors there when they administered the procedure to people who chose MAID. “They told me they felt alone with such a great responsibility,” he said. “They were glad a pastor was there to provide spiritual support to not only the person who was dying, but for them, too.”

Doug Koop is a spiritual care provider in Winnipeg who has been present during MAID deaths. He believes clergy have a role to play at those times.

“We need pastorally sensitive people to be there in the valley of the shadow of death alongside people who are suffering,” he said. “You have to be there genuinely for the people. And be there without an agenda. That’s when real spiritual healing occurs.”

When it comes to MAID, there are many important questions. But one thing seems clear: When someone comes to the point where MAID seems to be the only or best option, the last thing they need is for their clergy to abandon them due to some higher theological principle.

Or, as Koop put it: “My role is to be a compassionate presence. My primary purpose is simply to be a companionable soul to a person who has decided it is time to go.”

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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