Crown Catholic Financial Ministry

There is still leftover turkey from Thanksgiving in the refrigerator, and the whole world is already in a headlong rush toward Christmas Day. It’s that one day when everything is PERFECT. And on this special day you will have the perfect family who just opened the perfect gifts under the perfectly decorated tree in the perfectly adorned house, and….we all know this is a myth. Unfortunately it’s a myth all too many people believe. This year, bust the myth and take time to celebrate the real joys of this special day. Here are some practical ideas to help you slow down and enjoy the real Christmas. read more…

As a Catholic with a mind towards stewardship, I was surprised to read that the Living Will that is part of my Revocable Living Trust promotes euthanasia.  I thought that there must be some mistake, but much to my chagrin, the author of the book I was reading - Finish Faithful by Mark Henry - was absolutely correct!  And he had never seen any of my documentation!

I learned that the format of a typical Living Will spells out (once you have signed it) that the doctors have the right to deprive you of food and water if you are “deemed” to be “terminal”.  What is terminal?  You and I, all of us, are terminal!  It’s just a matter of time until we go to our eternal rest.  If you have been deemed terminal, are in a hospital, and have signed a Living Will the doctors have the right to starve you and dehydrate you until you die!

Deuteronomy 32:39 says, “Learn then that I, I alone, am God, and there is no god besides me. It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, and from my hand there is no rescue.”  It is clear that only God has the right to determine when we die.  ”Now this doesn’t mean that as Catholics we are required to heroically fight death by employing every available medical procedure. In the Declaration on Euthanasia, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith states, ‘When death is clearly imminent and inevitable, one can in conscious refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted.’  Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia, 1980″  Finish Faithful by Mark Henry, 2003.

Copies of Catholic Living Wills can be found on the following websites:

http://www.culturalcatholic.com/CatholicLivingWill.htm

http://www.orlandodiocese.org/departments/advocacy_justice/life/downloads/livingwillformENGLISH.pdf