By Peter Oliver, Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan
On March 25th, 2025, the Feast of the Annunciation, the Bishops of Saskatchewan published a pastoral letter on assisted suicide.
Don’t read it!
That should strike you as a very odd statement, especially as opposition to assisted suicide is one of the highest priorities of the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan (CHAS) and our association has been very supportive in the development and promotion of the letter.
Let me add a few more thoughts to this “don’t read it” statement.
Don’t read the 2025 Saskatchewan Bishop’s letter on assisted suicide titled, “Dying with Hope: Living and Walking Together,” unless you are genuinely interested in grounding yourself in the vision of this letter.
The title of the letter points us toward its vision: “Dying with hope” – in other words, sincerely adopting a stance that is rooted in Christian hope – “Living and walking together”- together is the operative word.
This is a letter about the communal heartache that is at the centre of this issue and a prophetic and pastorally sensitive invitation to concrete action on behalf of the elderly and vulnerable in our communities.
To make it more accessible, the bishops have made it available in English, French, and Ukrainian (it is unprecedented in Saskatchewan to have a bishops’ document published in three languages).
The first subtitle in the letter is, “We Begin by Listening.”
Here is a list of the things the bishops have heard:
- the painful experiences of losing loved ones to assisted suicide,
- the varied and emotionally charged responses to assisted suicide,
- “the feeling of being shut out of end-of-life decision-making,”
- the feelings of “guilt over not being able to prevent a medically administered death,”
- “anger and sadness when supporters of assisted suicide portray the Christian gift of accompaniment to natural death as merciless, even cruel,”
- the misrepresentation of the Church’s rejection of assisted suicide, “as insistence on using every possible means to prolong life, despite burden or cost,”
- the struggle of “strained caregivers [who] sometimes feel that death would be preferable to providing inadequate care,”
- the impoverished conditions of our healthcare system which seeks to normalize assisted suicide and fails in its “support for chronic pain management, daily living, and palliative care,”
- the plight of vulnerable people who are increasingly “forced into terrible choices by a system that offers aid in dying but fails by not always offering aid in living,”
- the witness of “faithful health care workers, [who are] heirs of a long and proud tradition of compassion and care in our province” and who “seek the support and resources to provide dignified, life-affirming care,”
- and finally, and most importantly, the “Word spoken by God, the Lord and giver of life, defender of the weak and the oppressed, who calls us to “never tire in firmly speaking out in defense of life.” ( John Paul II, Address to Visiting Bishops, 3 February 2001).
That’s a lot of listening in four short paragraphs!
The following section, simply titled “Christian Hope,” is equally dense.
It tells us hope is grounded in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ’s victory over death, and it asserts that, ‘Christians are uniquely qualified to imbue the experience of suffering and dying with hope.”
It clearly states, Christ is “the guarantor of our hope”. And it reminds us of God’s unwavering love and guidance – and here the bishops quote Matthew 14:27: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid,” as well as highlighting, 1 Samuel 17, Exodus 14- 40, Luke 13:10-17, Acts 3 and John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Added to these witnesses, the bishops challenge the popular notion of autonomy by asking, “What meaning does ‘autonomy’ have when death is offered while support in living is withheld?” and they go on to state, “Our hope is manifest in concrete actions (my emphasis). Every kindness, smile, word of encouragement or difficult administrative decision that testifies to our hope is an embrace, wrapping vulnerable people in the warmth of our love.”
The Saskatchewan bishops’ letter on assisted suicide enters into the complexity of the issue and invites listening, hope and action.
Do read the letter if you want to take some concrete steps toward solidarity with the vulnerable and you sincerely want to work toward “a vision of healthcare as medical assistance in living,” a vision in which the “genuine autonomy of vulnerable persons” is met with “uncompromising support for them and their families to live fruitful lives.”
Dying with Hope: Living and Walking Together is not a long letter – three pages – and it ends with three practical actions that it encourages the faithful to embrace. As I don’t want to spoil the ending, I leave it to you to decide if you want to read the letter and hear what the Catholic Bishops of Saskatchewan are recommending.
Personally, I think their recommendations are just excellent!
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Peter Oliver is the Executive Director of the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan – chassk.ca.
Catholic Saskatoon News and the diocesan Communications Office in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon are supported through gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal – dscf.ca/baa.