Life is 'larger than one's own ownership of it'

Notes: "Excerpts from an interview with the 'Anglican Journal' and from his column in the 'Algoma Anglican' (April 2014)" in which Bishop Stephen Andrews talks about the death of his father Irving Andrews in October 2014. "There was a sense in which, in his need and suffering, he was contributing to the depth of human community around him. He gave us the opportunity to care for him. I saw my aunts minister to my dad in a way that has completely changed my relationship with them, and so there's a sense in which it is not just about the individual". "[T]wo Anglican bishops in Quebec, Dennis Drainville (Quebec) and Barry Clarke (Montreal), have weighed in on the discussion. In October (2013), they expressed concern that the bill presents 'risks for the vulnerable, including the elderly, people suffering from clinical depression and those with disabilities'". "St. Paul wrote, 'We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves' (Rom. 14:7) .... Our General Synod acknowledged this interdependence in a resolution on assisted suicide passed in 1998: 'The Christian vocation is to keep faith with and show respect for another by keeping company with them through the terminal stages of a disease or the life-span of a disability .. The Christian response is always one of hope. This hope exists in the context of the physical, emotional and spiritual support offered by the community'."

Subjects: Andrews, Irving, d. 2014; Euthanasia - Law and legislation - Canada; Euthanasia - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Death - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Terminal care - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Palliative treatment - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Suffering - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Drainville, Dennis (Dennis Paul), 1954-; Clarke, Barry (Barry Bryan), 1952-