Its not often I write on ethics and morality; however, after reading the story of Alfie Evans on social media and seeing the various posts and discussion over it I feel something needs to be said. The Catholic Church is very clear when it comes to the sacredness of human life: ALL LIFE IS SACRED! When we say “all” we mean all! That includes everyone regardless of race, creed, gender, or how “healthy” you are. All life is sacred from womb to tomb. This is why Pope Francis wanted Alfie’s parents wish to keep him alive answered. All life is sacred.
Pope Francis speaks a lot about our “throw away culture” and how damaging it is. Alfie Evans story is a great example of the danger Pope Francis warns us against. The court and doctors who feel they can speak on behalf of God as to how long a person should live for are steeped in this trow away culture. As soon as something or someone becomes inconvenient or seems useless, we should throw it away.
It begins with the environment. We want to get rid of forests to build more homes, we use more plastic and paper products out of convenience so we don’t have to wash dishes, restaurants overflow our plates so we don’t feel like we got a bad deal even though we won’t eat all the food, we spend more money than necessary on superficial pleasures but never give a dime to the poor (because they’ll spend it on drugs or alcohol), we look for people to hook up with for a night stand because we just want sex, we get abortions because we’re not ready to be parents, we put grandma in a nursing home because we don’t have time to take care of her, we think about euthanasia for grandma because all she does is lay in bed, why not take this person off life support since they’re not “really living” anyway? This is the destruction Pope Francis talks about when speaking on our throw away culture.
Alfie Evans may not live for very long and his life may be “inconvenient;” but, its a human life. He has life. Life is among the greatest gifts God has given us next to free will and the promise of eternal life! Who are we to take that life away from someone? Who are we to say what “really living” means? Where did our cultures arrogance come from that we feel we have the right to play God and decide who lives and who dies? Alfie Evans has life and praise God his parents chose life. Lets all join in prayer that no one else tries to take his life away from him again.
OK, so what does the Church teach on life support? Here’s the bottom line: you can never take away food, water, and oxygen. These are what the Church calls “ordinary means for life.” No one can ever take that away from us and we can’t ask for those ordinary means to be taken away. Now, when it comes to “extraordinary means for life,” we can choose what we want and don’t want. The Church is absolutely OK with you signing a DNR form (Do Not Resuscitate). The Church is OK with your decision to forego chemotherapy, dialysis, medication, etc. All of those are “extraordinary means” to prolong your life. If you choose them, great. If not, that’s OK. But, you can never take away the ordinary means for life: food, water, and oxygen. This is where life support becomes an important issue. If the person is still able to breath on their own (and they can’t breath enough to stay healthy) then we need to provide breathing assistance. We have to provide feeding tubes so their body can receive proper nutrition. Alfie Evans had those ordinary means taken away from him for a certain amount of time because doctors thought he would die. THATS NOT OK! If his brain shut down and there was no way at all he could breath without assistance then you can remove it. Alfie was still able to breath. This is not good. This is why the throw away culture is evil.
Friends, please pray for Alfie, his parents, and all people around the world who are being murdered out of “convenience.” We especially need to pray for the unborn, the elderly, and young children like Alfie who are the most vulnerable. They need our voices and prayers to rise up and speak on their behalf to save their lives rather than take them away. St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us!