Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 75(4) November 2025
Editorial
Cuomo Catholics and the vote for assisted dying
Dr Pravin Thevasathan
Many
of us can recall New York Governor Mario Cuomo's famous speech at Notre
Dame University forty years ago. He described himself as a devout Catholic
and while he personally agreed that abortion is to be avoided, he would
not "seek to translate our Catholic morality into civil law." He was
personally opposed to abortion but would not wish to impose his morality
on others.
What is wrong with that? The essential issue is that abortion is an act of intentionally killing an innocent human being. It is wrong for human beings to engage in acts of intentional killing. It is wrong not only for Catholics.
Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking, voted in favour of assisted suicide. He was therefore denied Holy Communion by his local Catholic priest. Mr Coghlan was appalled by this and he said that other parishioners were also "pretty appalled." If he is correct in his analysis, it would appear that the parishioners need a better formation: you cannot support an MP who votes in favour of intentional killing. You need to be appalled by his action, not the action of the priest.
According to Mr Coghlan, his bishop had told him that "it is not the Church's position to deny Holy Communion over this." If Mr Coghlan is right, my old university lecturer who described himself as a devout Catholic and who did abortions during the week and received Holy Communion every Sunday was in the right and I was wrong to challenge him.
We urgently need some clarification from our Church leaders.
Reference
1 July, 2025, The Catholic Herald.
Note
The Assistant Editor wrote to the
parish priest's Ordinary - Bishop Moth.
Bishop Moth replied that he
would indeed be seeing and supporting Fr Vane.
Fr Vane has been
heroic and we pray for him in his ministry.