Rome, Italy, Mar 21, 2016 / 15:02 pm
The latest initiative of the Tulsa, Oklahoma diocese is not only offering practical care for the region's homeless and under-privileged communities – it's bringing a message of hope in the face of death.
"Just because you're dying doesn't mean there's no reason to hope," Bishop Edward James Slattery of Tulsa told journalists March 21 during a visit to Rome.
"Just the opposite. Christ has changed the meaning of death to the entrance into life."
Porta Caeli – Latin for "door to heaven" – is a diocese-run hospice center people can receive end-of-life care consistent with the Catholic understanding of human dignity and the afterlife, regardless of race, illness, or financial status. The center will host up to twelve terminally ill residents at any given time, with 200-400 people expected annually. Those admitted to the center are expected to die within a matter of days or weeks.
"What's valuable to this is that it sends messages to the entire diocese that it's okay to die," Bishop Slattery said. "We're all going to die. And stop pretending that you're not."