Slide towards barbarism

In his article of April 5, Kenneth Zammit Tabona writes that "as Catholics we are taught we must prolong life as far as medical science is able to do so".

This is incorrect since the Catholic Church, in her teachings, emphasises that overzealous treatment does not need to be resorted to and can be refused. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that "discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate".

Providing liquefied food cannot be termed overzealous treatment. There are countless human beings who would die if they were not fed such food by others and that includes babies, the physically disabled, the sick and the elderly. The fact that a bottle or a spoon is put to one's mouth and a feeding tube is inserted elsewhere really makes no difference. Terri Schiavo's husband was unwilling to look after his wife anymore but her parents were. There should have been no problem really and there was no expensive treatment involved.

The harsh reality is that humanity is slowly sliding downwards towards barbarism, that same barbarism that we so often pat ourselves on the back for having defeated 60 years ago with the fall of Nazism. The bitter truth is that the weak and the defective have no place in our society because we deem their lives as being useless and unworthy. We seek to kill them off not for their own sake but because we cannot bear the pain of seeing their deteriorating state and the bother of caring for them. One shudders to think what would have been the reaction if instead of this poor woman, created in the image of God, an animal had been condemned to slowly die of thirst and hunger. One can safely say that Adolf Hitler did indeed lose World War II militarily but his moral victory is being completed today.

Furthermore, Mr Zammit Tabona asserts that "we believe in an afterlife simply because total cessation of one's existence is unacceptable". This might hold true for those who have no faith in Christ, God made Man, but for believers the picture is a completely different one. They certainly dread pain and illness and death as much as anybody else but they are comforted by the thought that even the Lord Himself experienced feelings of desolation and fear before His Passion and Death.

Having their eyes fixed on eternity, knowing full well that they have "no lasting city here" believers are certain that in their hour of need, Christ's help, through His Church and her sacraments, will not be found wanting. Moreover, they yearn for the day when they shall meet the Lord face to face, hopefully to be told, as the Pope certainly has been: "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Master".