Catholic views on assisted dying
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Authors
Mario, Mary Petera
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Degree
Master of Applied Practice (Social Practice)
Grantor
Unitec, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology
Date
2023
Supervisors
Gremillion, Helen
Type
Masters Dissertation
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
Auckland (N.Z.)
New Zealand
Catholics
euthanasia
death and dying
Pasifika people in New Zealand
talanoa
ethnicity
legal status
old age
Pasifika
New Zealand
Catholics
euthanasia
death and dying
Pasifika people in New Zealand
talanoa
ethnicity
legal status
old age
Pasifika
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Mario, M.P. (2023). Catholic views on assisted dying (Unpublished document submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Practice (Social Practice)). Unitec, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology. https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6123
Abstract
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• How do the religious views of elderly Catholic members of a church community in Auckland influence their thinking about assisted dying?
• How do Catholic elders in a church community in Auckland imagine potential influences on their faith and their identities as Catholics, if assisted dying were to become legalized in New Zealand?
ABSTRACT
This study explores the views of assisted dying of elderly Catholic members of a church community in Auckland, New Zealand, examining how their religious faith and identity shape these views. The dissertation also explores the impact of the legalisation of assisted dying on participants' faith and identities as Catholics. The study employs Talanoa methodology as well as phenomenological research methodology, and it involves nine participants.
Thematic analysis of interview data was utilized to uncover trends in participants' views on assisted dying. The following three key themes were identified: religious beliefs, involvement with the health care of loved ones who were dying, and lack of Catholic Church directives. According to the current study, all nine participants generally oppose assisted dying based on the sanctity of human life; its intentional (human) termination is considered murder according to biblical and Catholic teachings. Participants also identified their core values and faith beliefs that impact their views of assisted dying. Moreover, the results of this study show that assisted dying concerns Catholic participants who are part of communities involved in alternative experiences and practices around death and dying. Palliative care is seen as an alternative to assisted dying in the Catholic Church. This study also uncovered views of assisted dying that vary according to ethnicity.
Surprisingly, five Pacific participants were concerned about palliative care or hospices quietly promoting assisted dying and preferred to die in their homes. Pacific participants also raised concerns about assisted death taking away their cultural practices of death and dying, including expressions of grief, singing, praying, crying and mourning. Pacific participants expressed concern about how such cultural practices are restricted in hospitals or care facilities. On the other hand, three out of the four European participants were more open to palliative care or hospice care because of their experience of loved ones who had died in palliative care. One European participant, already in a retirement home, did not support hospice care.
Assisted dying is a complex problem involving multiple legal, moral, medical and social concerns. As a result, arguments against and in favour of assisted dying are likely to continue to clash for the foreseeable future. To capture and address all of these arguments is beyond the scope of this study,
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