The Dominican Healthcare Ministry has published a short pamphlet, called Life is Changed, Not Ended, intended to help Catholics consider their eternal end and make adequate preparations for their own death. This publication distills the experience and knowledge of the Dominican Friars who work full time in the hospitals, where Read more…
Stories About Our Ministry During the COVID-19 Outbreak in New York City During the Spring of 2020 The New York Times: Their Calling Was to Lay Hands on the Sick. Then Came the Coronavirus. EWTN: Ministering to the dying in New York during Covid-19 The Federalist: New York Priest Gives Read more…
May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. This is a prayer we Catholics pray frequently, especially on All Souls Day and throughout the month of November. It is a prayer we pray at funerals and burials and at bedsides in hospitals Read more…
The Catholic Church opposes euthanasia, understood as the deliberate killing of a person in order to end his or her suffering. We profess that all human life in endowed with dignity and value, whether healthy or sick, productive or disabled. Life is God’s gift to us and is ours to Read more…
The fourth chapter of Saint Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians is awash with paradox. He says in verse 18 that “we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen.” What is the unseen reality to which we look? Saint Paul says it is the “eternal weight Read more…
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, when administered to the dying, is called by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “sacramentum exeuntium (the sacrament of those departing)” (CCC 1523). Nevertheless, it is not the sacrament of Anointing, but the Eucharist as ‘viaticum’, that the Catechism calls, “The last sacrament of the Read more…
The Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament that is frequently misunderstood. When I receive emergency calls asking me to come to a hospital to minister to a dying patient, the requests are usually for “last rites.” When, during more routine visits, I offer to administer the sacrament of Anointing Read more…
I have set before you life and death . . . choose life! The choice that Moses set before the Israelites as they prepared to pass into the Promised Land (Deut 30:19) is a choice that is set before us today in a variety of ways. The exhortation to choose Read more…
In a recent Reflection (Feb 19, 2017), I characterized four common attitudes about death as those of “the secular, the scientist, the suicide, and the saint.” I now wish to suggest that the proposals of the suicide are, in large measure, wrongheaded responses to real problems caused by the prevailing secular Read more…
Proponents of physician-assisted suicide have used the term “death with dignity” to present their cause in a positive way. The Catholic Church uses the word “dignity” to articulate the exact opposite view about assisted suicide. According to the Church’s official teaching, “An act or omission which, of itself or by Read more…
In the eyes of God, death is the negation of the life He created. God permits death as a consequence of sin, but only so He might destroy sin and death in and through Jesus Christ. What is death in our eyes? In what follows, I would like to examine Read more…
“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” These are the first words of the Apostles Creed, articulating the first article of Christian faith: belief in the creator God. And what did God create? “Heaven and earth” is the Christian’s answer. In other words, “everything.” But Read more…
“We hold these treasures in earthen vessels,” Saint Paul says (2 Cor 4:7). These “earthen vessels” are human bodies, which like earthen vessels or clay pots are subject to decay and destruction. The “treasure” is the human heart that is being transformed by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus (see Read more…
Having considered the topic of advanced directives in health care in general, and the kinds of directives that can be made, let us draw some practical conclusions about what is to be done and when. Are there directives you should be making now, in advance of serious illness or injury? Read more…
We have considered in a general way the topic of advanced directives in health care. Let us now consider some of the particular kinds of directives that can be made, namely, (1) health care proxies, (2) living wills, and (3) the POLST paradigm. Health Care Proxies A health care proxy Read more…
Making advanced directives about one’s health care is frequently encouraged in our society and, in many ways, that is a good thing. Advanced communication about the kinds of medical treatment a person wishes to receive can be helpful in guiding that person’s loved ones and caretakers to make good decisions Read more…
One of the saddest experiences I have as a hospital chaplain is ministering to patients who die alone. Thankfully, that is unusual. In the great majority of cases, the dying person is surrounded by family. Friends are often there too, but mostly family: the people who have been with that Read more…