QUOTES TO LIVE BY

"Both the artificial extension of human life and the hastening of death, although they stem from different principles, conceal the same assumption: the conviction that life and death are realities entrusted to human beings to be disposed of at will.

The Dignity of Older People

and Their Mission in the Church and in the World -

Pontifical Council for the Laity 1998

"We cannot draw back from the dying, as though their state in life made them different. We must embrace them; we are they, but for the passage of time."

The Manner of Our Dying -

National Conference of Catholic Bishops (United States)

Committee on Science and Human Values 1998

"The sickness of a family member, friend or neighbor is a call to Christians to demonstrate true compassion, that gentle and persevering sharing in another’s pain."

Ad Limina Apostolorum to Bishops of the United States-

Pope John Paul II -1998

"The old and the sick can be persuaded that their lives have become burdensome both to themselves and their caregivers - that they have lives not worth living. But those who would remove through killing, the disability, pain, or depression of the young or the elderly often act with a conflict of interest they do not see - that it is not the lives of those they care for that are unbearably burdensome but their own lives. "

Faithful for Life -

National Conference of Catholic Bishops (United States) 1995