Kansas bishops offer guidance to help Catholics plan for death

Published: 2006-01-24

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (CNS) -- As the debate over removing Terri Schindler Schiavo's feeding tube demonstrated, you cannot leave decisions about your life and death in others' hands. And this leaves faithful Catholics with a important question: What is the right thing to do? The four bishops of the Catholic dioceses of Kansas have answered that question by announcing the publication of "The Catholic Declaration on Life and Natural Death," a document written to assist Catholics in making end-of-life decisions. Released Jan. 20 through the Kansas Catholic Conference, copies of the Catholic declaration and a letter from the four bishops to the state's Catholics are available on the Web at: www.kscathconf.org. The three-page declaration -- a revision of a similar document issued by Kansas' Catholic bishops during the 1980s -- opens with a prologue proclaiming the signer's Catholic faith and continues with a six-point declaration.

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