The country’s Catholic bishops have said they share the concerns of the elderly who feel vulnerable when they hear concrete proposals for the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
n their Pastoral Letter for this year’s ‘Day for Life’, which was read out at all Masses on Sunday, the bishops challenged politicians and the healthcare system to provide accessible palliative care for all the dying.
In their letter, which is focused on the elderly, the bishops say that the Covid pandemic highlighted the desperate plight of many older people, especially those in care homes and those struggling with long-term chronic conditions such as dementia.
“They carried the highest burden which included prolonged isolation, the distress for families being unable to visit, delayed medical interventions and tragic, isolated, deaths followed by shortened, minimal, funeral rites,” the bishops wrote.
The letter underlines that many family members and friends continue to bear “the wound of deep grief which hurts and is still in need of healing”.
It acknowledges that there are many challenges in the care for older people such as the cost, the shortage of staff in care homes, the time and energy needed to help older people feel valued and wanted.
However the letter states that many elderly people feel they have become a burden or can feel treated as a burden, a ‘bed-blocker’, or a nuisance because they move more slowly, struggle with more physical challenges and live a different rhythm of life.
On the issue of legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia, the bishops said the elderly often feel vulnerable and worry when they hear talk about and concrete proposals for the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
“We share their concerns. In better valuing older persons, we need to find new ways of building bridges by our actions,” they said.
They called on people to engage in political debate on providing adequately resourced care of the elderly so that no-one feels like a burden on society and to challenge politicians and the healthcare system.
They also called for people and parishes to devote time, energy and creativity in caring for the older people and encourage people to learn from a closer accompaniment of the elderly the “real richness” in the journey through old age.
Last year, the Oireachtas Justice Committee refused to progress a private member’s Dying with Dignity bill tabled by People Before Profit TD, Gino Kenny.
Instead it recommended that a parliamentary committee examine the whole issue of assisted dying.
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