In response to my last blog on Dying with Dignity (I always cringe when I repeat those words--how can you die with dignity when someone kills you?) below are some comments I received from Fr. Tony Van Hee. With Fr. Tony's permission I post them below.
"It seems to me that it [the paper] is rife with wokeism, in the sense that it replaces objective reality with subjective reality.They define "the relevant type of harm as the subjective experience ...", and "one's subjective well-being ... as one of the central justifications for MAID", in their "argument from harm reduction."Although they use the word subjective only once in the rest of the article, namely, "Trusting a person with a disability's subjective reports ... (p. 4, top para, column b.), their whole concept of autonomy is subjective.As long as their is a semblance of "meaningful", "self-determination", "hope", "self-governance", "choice", "option", "self-trust", self-worth", "what one cares about", "what matters to them", "agency", autonomy not being "entirely undermined", "capacities and self-regarding attitudes", "the ability to understand, appreciate the consequences of their choice, the capacity to value, the ability to reflect on the values guiding their decision, as well as the attitudes of engaged hope, self-worth and self-trust", "the 'most salient dimensions' of autonomy ... competency and authenticity", etc., etc., as long as there is a semblance of any of these, regardless of unjust social conditions, these persons have sufficient personal autonomy to choose to have themselves killed by MAID.That is replacing objective reality with subjective reality.In regard to being deceived "under the guise of good," I refer to Ignatius' Rules For Discernment Of Spirits II, 332:"It is a mark of the evil spirit to assume the appearance of an angel of light. He begins by suggesting thoughts that are suited to a devout soul, and ends by suggesting his own. For example, he will suggest holy and pious thoughts that are wholly in conformity with the sanctity of the soul. Afterwards, he will endeavor little by little to end by drawing the soul into his hidden snares and evil designs."I find this very relevant to these industrious and determined people, such as these two authors, and Joyce Arthur.Ultimately, we are really up against Satan, and we are no match for his cunning.In my opinion, our only hope is to be able to expose his cunning by the discernment of spirits.I know for a fact that even very intelligent good people, faced with the same facts, can come up with directly opposite conclusions.There has to be something other than reason by which we decide what is true and what is false.The only tool I, personally, have is the [St. Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises] discernment of spirits. I don't know of any other reliable tool.329 of the above rules helps me:"It is characteristic of God and His Angels, when they act upon the soul, to give true happiness and spiritual joy, and to banish all the sadness and disturbances which are caused by the enemy."It is characteristic of the evil one to fight against such happiness and consolation by proposing fallacious reasonings, subtilties, and continual deceptions.""Fallacious reasonings, subtilties, and continual deceptions" are what I experience when I read Joyce Arthur, these authors, and others like them."
