The Gift of Life Lecture Series
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The ERCFP Lecture Series on the Catholic response to MAiD, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Saturday, November 4th
St. Anne's Centre
20 Morrison Drive, St. Thomas
12:30 - 4:15pm
REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED
As Catholics, we are a people of hope and understanding.
Our Mission ~Jesus said, “Go make disciples … I am with you always.”
Our Vision ~Strengthened by the Eucharist, we are moved to bring healing to a wounded world.
We do indeed live in a wounded world. And yet, together, we can bring hope and healing as we learn about the Church’s teaching on suffering and Her position on euthanasia and assisted suicide, otherwise referred to as MAiD.
Mark your calendar now and save the date for this life affirming event. We will explore the history of MAID; our beliefs and end of life supports available through Compassionate Community Care and Hospice/Palliative Care.
Watch the bulletin in the coming weeks for links and resources geared to help increase our understanding of the sanctity of life and strengthen our Catholic faith.
The Creation of Man
Genesis 1 26: Then God said; ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground’.
Genesis 2 7: The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.
Video: Bishop Barron on Creation
Does God proclaim Himself in the wonders of creation? No. All things proclaim Him, all things speak. Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, "It is you who made me beautiful, not me myself but you .” St Augustine
In The Image of God
Genesis 1 27: God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #357: Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.
Video: In God’s Image and Likeness (Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT)
“We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved.” - Mother Theresa
“Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but from the persons they are.” - Saint Pope John Paul II.
Life is Sacred Part I - Conception
Evangelium Vitae #61 - Pope John Paul II: Human life is sacred and inviolable at every moment of existence, including the initial phase which precedes birth. All human beings, from their mothers' womb, belong to God who searches them and knows them, who forms them and knits them together with his own hands, who gazes on them when they are tiny shapeless embryos and already sees in them the adults of tomorrow whose days are numbered and whose vocation is even now written in the "book of life" (cf. Ps 139: 1, 13-16). There too, when they are still in their mothers' womb-as many passages of the Bible bear witness - they are the personal objects of God's loving and fatherly providence.
Video: Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Never tire of firmly speaking out in defense of life from its conception and do not be deterred from the commitment to defend the dignity of every human person with courageous determination. Christ is with you: be not afraid! Pope John Paul II
“A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying.” (Address to the New Ambassador of New Zealand to the
Holy See May 25, 2000 - Pope Saint John Paul II)