Review: Law's Virtues, Part II | National Catholic Reporter

Review: Law's Virtues, Part II | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: First of all, the United States Supreme Court has no obligation to follow Catholic teaching on any matter, particularly assisted suicide - particularly as the Church insists upon a moral authority that trumps natural law reasoning if the two should conflict. While that is really all that must be said, the question than reverts to whether or not it is a private matter between a doctor and patient -and if abortion is I fail to see how suicide cannot be - and if it is a moral matter, or even a Catholic matter, one must again ask why God has an interest in whether an individual who is in pain and has no hope is allowed to end their sufferings when they are unbearable.

This leads to the question of the merit of suffering and whether human suffering has meaning besides the calling the soul to the awareness of a dependency on God - the question of whether we can add to the merits of Christ. This question depends on whether the merits of Christ are punitive to satisfy an angry God or whether they are a reaching out by Christ to instead take on our sufferings, as He could not approach them in the ultimate happiness of His divinity. In other words - is God an Ogre or not? While it is a bold act to say He is not and commit suicide early in a disease, it is certainly should not be considered particularly brave morally to lessen the sufferings of others. It should be considered a mercy.