UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OFFICIALLY “PRO-CHOICE”

DETROIT, Jan 12 (LSN) – Michigan’s Catholic bishops have issued a 15-page pastoral letter on euthanasia and assisted suicide. Mark Gribben, a spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference,  noted that the letter was necessary because many Catholics are not sure why the church is against assisted suicide. In an obvious reference to the crimes of Jack Kevorkian and his cohorts, the letter said Michigan has become a “high-profile, publicity-driven laboratory for assisted suicide.”  The Church’s position is often misleadingly portrayed as requiring one to keep getting on more and more life-support machines, and that is not true said Ned McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit.  In the letter the bishops said, “As Catholics we believe euthanasia is morally wrong because it is the destruction of life…It also opens the door to other potential crimes against life, especially against those who are chronically ill or disabled.” About 300,000 Catholic families in the Archdiocese of Detroit will receive the letters this month, and Cardinal Adam Maida has asked parish priests to speak about assisted suicide Jan. 17 and 18.