Anchorage, Alaska, Oct 2, 2010 / 11:15 am
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz is urging Alaskans to celebrate “Respect Life Sunday” on Sunday, Oct. 3 – an annual, nationwide commemoration to help bring Catholic Church teaching on the value and dignity of human life to the Catholic community and public at large.
In the debates over the treatment of human life, there are “signs of hope,” Archbishop Schwietz told the Catholic Anchor. “The hearts of people are changing,” he said, “and especially young people are seeing the reality that human life does begin at conception.”
Indeed, recent national polls show increasing opposition to abortion and federally funded embryo-destructive stem cell research.
But “what’s more worrisome is the end-of-life issues,” he cautioned, as certain groups continue pushing for euthanasia and assisted suicide. In fact, Alaska’s nearest neighbors, Oregon and Washington, both have laws allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to end patients’ lives. And the practice of withdrawing assisted nutrition and hydration from patients who cannot feed themselves is commonplace in many areas.