CNA Staff, Apr 24, 2024 / 14:15 pm
As euthanasia and assisted suicide are legalized in more jurisdictions throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world, one organization is promoting end-of-life resources that the group’s founder says will help Catholics finish their earthly journeys while remaining faithful.
Aging with Dignity, a nonprofit that for years has been promoting end-of-life support, announced this month the release of “Finishing Life Faithfully,” a booklet that “makes complex end-of-life decisions easier” for Catholics. The materials address “basic questions” on how to approach end-of-life topics such as pain management, feeding tubes, and other matters surrounding death.
The document “summarizes the Catholic Church’s guidance on end-of-life decision-making and the ethical considerations involved and helps patients and families better understand these teachings and follow them,” the group said this month.
Jim Towey, the founder and CEO of Aging with Dignity who previously served as legal counsel to Mother Teresa, told CNA this week that he launched the nonprofit in 1996 “to give people a hopeful vision for end of life that helps them practice their faith and that doesn’t treat dying like it’s just a medical moment.”