Andy Drozdziak
Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan has delivered a hard-hitting message to Catholics in Guernsey: Beware-your life is in danger.
As the island prepares for elections, the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia have become key issues. As Guernsey prepares for a possible general election in June 2025, Bishop Egan warned that ‘dark clouds’ are approaching Guernsey due to the assisted suicide issue.
In a letter to Canon Christopher Rutledge, the Dean and parish priest of churches in Guernsey, and parishioners, Bishop Egan wrote: “I write because dark clouds are threatening the beautiful island of Guernsey. There are now dark forces at work in Guernsey in the media and public life actively seeking to undermine these principles. I refer here to the campaign to legalise euthanasia, or mercy-killing, and assisted suicide.”
Campaign group Dignity in Dying said that 70% of respondents to a survey in Guernsey believe assisted suicide should be debated this political term. Bishop Egan outlined four reasons why it is ‘gravely wrong’ and why Catholics should oppose its legalisation.
First, he said that it places an ‘intolerable and immoral demand’ on medical staff, doctors and nurses. Secondly, to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide ‘would undermine palliative care and the work of care-homes’. Thirdly, assisted suicide ‘puts intolerable pressure on the sick and the elderly’. Fourthly, the bishop said that the legislation would ‘gradually keep creeping forward, expanding to cover more and more categories’, citing examples of Belgium and Canada, where almost 5% of deaths are now by lethal injection.
He ended by calling on Catholics to reject the ‘alarming proposals’ and to take steps to combat the proposed laws.
“This is chilling stuff. Let there be no death-clinics in Guernsey. Don’t let Guernsey become a destination for suicide tourism. The right to die would inevitably become the duty to die – and the right to make another die,” he wrote.
“I appeal to Catholics to mobilise. Don’t be persuaded by emotional pitches in the media. Speak out against this sinister proposal. Raise it with the candidates in the forthcoming elections. It is never permissible to use an evil means to do good.”
“Suicide is a mortal sin and helping someone commit suicide is a mortal sin. For we believe in assisted living, not assisted dying. Death is not pain relief; it is the transition to a glorious new life in heaven with God our Father and Creator.
