The Catholic Weekly 17 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 3 17, May, 2020 QLD euthanasia push Labor and GreensMPs in sunshine state join to recommend legalisation of voluntary assisted dying JUST A week after Tasmania unveiled a proposed law to enable euthanasia, Queens- land has moved one step clos- er to legalising it as well. On 31 March the Queens- land Parliamentary Health Committee recommended “Voluntary Assisted Dying” legislation to be passed. The recommendation was the conclusion of an End-of- Life inquiry which covered issues including aged care, palliative care and voluntary ¾ ¾ David Ryan assisted dying - the euphe- mism for assisted suicide and euthanasia.  However Queensland medical prac- titioner Dr Donna Purcell, a staunch opponent of eutha- nasia and President of Cher- ish Life, said she was deeply concerned by the recommen- dations. “The ... recommen- dation to legalise assisted suicide, or so-called “volun- tary assisted dying”, during a deadly pandemic – no less – is very disturbing,” said Dr Pur- cell. “It’s also a slap in the face to the vast majority of the medical fraternity, including the Australian Medical Asso- ciation, which is opposed to euthanasia of any kind.” The five member bi-par- tisan committee three Labor MPs and a Greens MP sup- porting euthanasia. Greens MP Michael Berk- man said he had hoped for a more permissive legalisation frame than what was recom- mended, including assisted suicide being made available to youth aged less than 18 years.   Liberal National Party MPs on the committee,MarkMcAr- dle and Marty Hunt, wrote a dissenting report highly crit- ical of what they described as a lack of due process and bias in the final recommendations. Dr Purcell said a serious lack of funding for palliative care in Queensland had been disregarded in the Commit- tee’s recommendations. “The AMA recommends $254 million funding per year in Queensland, compared to The Queensland Parliament Health Committee’s recommendation to legalise assisted suicide, or so-called ‘voluntary assisted dying’ during a deadly pandemic no less, is very disturbing.” Dr Donna Purcell, Cherish Life Mums’ pics become Mary’s face We may be separated physically from our churches at the moment, but we are the Church, and that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the wonderful mothers and women in our lives ...” Jemille West SYDNEY CATHOLICS thanked God for the gift of mothers in many ways this year, with some seizing the initiative under pandem- ic restrictions to say ‘thank you’ to mothers in novel ways. At Ryde-Gladesville par- ish hundreds of people emailed photos of their mothers and motherly fig- ures in their lives along with messages of love. Parish youth coordinator Jemille West compiled the photos to create a collage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which could be seen during the live-streamed Mass cel- ebrated by assistant priest Fr Daniele Sollazzo. “We may be separated physically from our church- es at the moment, but we are the Church, and that doesn’t mean we can’t cel- ebrate the wonderful moth- ers and women in our lives this Mother’s Day,” she said. At Rookwood Cemetery, the Mother’s Day Mass is one of the most popular Sydney Catholic events and this time was no different. The traditional Mass is a highlight in the Cemetery’s calendar with more than 360 people in attendance last year, but organisers were forced to cancel it due to the pandemic. Not wanting to disap- point those wanting to mark the special day which carries mixed emotions of love and loss for so many, Catholic Cemeteries or- ganised a pre-record of the Mass in the cemetery’s his- toric St Michael the Archan- gel Chapel. Celebrated by Bishop Terry Brady and augment- ed by an online Mass book- let, it was viewed by almost 500 people including some from as far away as Ireland, England and France. Bishop Brady said it was once again a “very special occasion” and celebrated for the first time in one of Sydney’s oldest chapels. “What a privilege to sim- ply say thank you to God, for our wonderful mothers and grandmothers and oth- er very special women who are now with Him in heav- en,” he said. “These are women who have given us so much in this world and continue to care for us from above. My own mother, Mary Brady, used to say Mother’s Day should be every day and I agree whole-heartedly. “Thank you to all who make this special Mass each year possible.” At St Joa- chim’s in Lidcombe, more than 100 families wrote the names of loved ones and heartfelt messages of thanks on cardboard flow- ers which were positioned in the church pews, allow- ing parishioners to be pres- ent spiritually with Father Eduardo during the live- streamed Sunday morning Mass on 10 May. the actual health budget allo- cation of just a little over $100 million in recent years, but the Health Committee end-of-life inquiry failed to recommend any specific funding increase.”  “We only have the equiva- lent of 0.7 palliative care spe- cialists per 100,000 of popula- tion, when we should have the equivalent of two.” With a state election due on 31 October it is unknown whether Queensland’s Labor government will move to le- galise euthanasia in that state. MONICA DOUMIT P11 Hundreds of small photos of mothers from Ryde-Gladesville parish form a montage of Mary created by JemilleWest. ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues Catholics asked to register for Mass CATHOLICS ARE being asked to sign up to a new nation- al register to streamline the Church’s adherence to Federal guidelines as churches reopen to small groups. Following theGovernment’s announcement to slowly ease restrictions of public gather- ings due to COVID-19, church- es are beginning to re-open across Australia, and religious gatherings including Masses, first-rite Confessions, prayer andBible study groups are now able to be held. In most places, including NSW, Mass congregations and other religious gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people not including clergy. The Government’s 3-step framework for relaxing restric- tions released on 8 May re- quires that every religious gath- ering record contact details of every person in attendance. Catholics are asked to regis- ter their attendance and list the parishes they usually attend at a national registration website developed by the Archdiocese of Sydney at the address www. massregister.com.au It will also allow people to keep in touch with their lo- cal parish, to be alerted when Mass is available. “By registering your contact details and the parish/es you usually attend, you are helping to keep you and your fellowpa- rishioners safe and will make it easier to notify you if you have come into contact with some- one who tests positive for COV- ID-19,” says the information posted on the Mass register website. Bishops and priests are urg- ing parishioners to take every precaution and heed Govern- ment guidelines as churches are re-opened. “The regulations are the price of us being able to be open,” wrote Father Stephen Hill administrator of St Joseph’s Newtown to his parishioners last week. “We must treat them seri- ously.” NEWS