Detroit, Mich., Jun 3, 2011 / 17:11 pm
Catholics have responded to the June 3 death of assisted suicide activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian with prayers for him and his victims, affirming the Christian belief in the sanctity of life.
"Left out in much of the commentary on the death of Jack Kevorkian is the sobering and deadly legacy he leaves behind," Ned McGrath, director of communications at the Archdiocese of Detroit, said in a June 3 statement.
McGrath added, "May God have mercy on his soul and on the scores of confused, conflicted, and, at times, clinically depressed victims he killed."
Kevorkian, a retired pathologist based in Michigan, said he helped about 130 people kill themselves from 1990 to 1998. He became known as "Dr. Death" even before he began his advocacy and practice of assisted suicide.