All Diocesan Articles

Help Stop State-Sponsored Suicide: Sign the Petition

Posted on February 17, 2021 in: News, ProLife

Help Stop State-Sponsored Suicide: Sign the Petition

Help Stop State-Sponsored Suicide

   Politicians in Hartford are again considering assisted suicide legislation. The Public Health Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly is considering legalizing a form of suicide in our state commonly referred to as "aid-in-dying" or "physician-assisted suicide". The Committee has raised House Bill 6425 "An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients".   

    Modern hospice care and the proper use of pain medications render suicide unnecessary, and we need to be mindful of the threat that a suicide mentality poses to vulnerable people and to people with disabilities

    Many people believe that a physician is deeply involved in this process. This not true. The physician orders the mixture of medications, the patient must then consume the deadly cocktail of drugs without assistance, many times without even a physician or nurse present.

  We should never allow legislators to establish suicide as a solution to medical issues. Don’t let the state persuade us that it’s dignified for an ill person to sign their own execution order. Don’t let the state create an environment where ill people will feel they have a “responsibility to die”.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Catholic teaching condemns physician-assisted suicide because it, like murder, involves taking an innocent human life:

       Suicide is always as morally objectionable as murder. The Church's tradition has always rejected it as a gravely evil choice: To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called "assisted suicide" means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. Saint Augustine writes that "it is never licit to kill another: even if he should wish it.”  True "compassion" leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.  (John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, no. 66).

TAKE ACTION:  
 

Please go to the website below, read more on the issue and then sign the petition to stop the legalization of assisted suicide in Connecticut

www.ctstopsuicide.org

 

Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference


Most Viewed Articles of the Last 30 Days

January 1: A Holy Day of Obligation

Posted on December 23, 2025 in: News, Events

10271

January 1: A Holy Day of Obligation
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God On January 1, Catholics honor Mary’s unique role in salvation history with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a Holy Day of Obligation. This feast underscores Mary’s title as Theotokos, or “God-bearer,” a doctrine officially declared at the Council of Ephesus in 431. At the close of the council, the faithful filled the streets, joyfully proclaiming, “Praised be the Theotokos!” Mary’s title as “Mother of God” is rooted in the Incarnation, where, as St. Paul teaches: “...

Read More

Celebrate the Closing of the Jubilee Year of 2025
Join Bishop Richard F. Reidy on Sunday, January 4, 2026, at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, Norwich, for the closing of the Jubilee Year with Confessions beginning at 12:30 p.m. (priests available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation), followed by Adoration and choral Vespers (Liturgy of the Hours) at 2:00 p.m. See Letter from the Most Reverend Richard F. Reidy below   “May the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all!” — Pope Francis My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, ...

Read More

Watch the Replay of Christmas Midnight Mass

Posted on December 25, 2025 in: News

575

Watch the Replay of Christmas Midnight Mass
Couldn't Make it to Midnight Mass? Don't worry, we captured it all right here for you. Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Read More

Pope Leo XIV: To Let God Work in Your Life, You Have to Empty Yourself
Pope Leo XIV meets with a group of pilgrims from St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in AlcalĆ” de Henares, Spain, on Dec. 29, 2025, in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media   Pope Leo XIV on Monday explained that in order to allow God’s action in our personal lives, people must “empty” themselves and cultivate a deep inner life. The pontiff made the observation during a Dec. 29 audience at the Apostolic Palace with a group of pilgrims from St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in AlcalĆ” de Henares, Spain. The event took place in...

Read More

As Holy Doors Close, Cardinals Emphasize God's Arms are Always Open
Pope Leo XIV will solemnly conclude the Jubilee Year Jan. 6 at St. Peter's Basilica, but the holy doors at the other papal basilicas of Rome were closed over the last few days by the cardinals who serve as the basilicas' archpriests. ROME (CNS) -- The path to conversion, the door to God's mercy and the call to live in Christian hope all continue beyond the Jubilee Year, said the three cardinals who closed the Holy Doors at three major basilicas in Rome. On the feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, Pope Leo will solemnly close the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basi...

Read More

Prayer for the New Year

Posted on December 30, 2025 in: News

355

Prayer for the New Year
Prayer for the New Year (Used and recommended by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, adapted from the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours) O God of time and eternity, we thank You for all the blessings of the past year and entrust to You the days of the year to come. Grant us Your wisdom to use each moment well, Your mercy to forgive what is past, and Your grace to walk faithfully in Your will. Help us grow in love for You and for one another, to seek justice, practice charity, and place our hope always in You. May the li...

Read More

Annual Catholic Appeal

ACA DONATE

English

EspaƱol

 

Latest Articles
Celebrate the Closing of the Jubilee Year of 2025
Join a Silent Discernment Retreat for Single Catholic Women
We Can Help. Promise to Protect-Pledge to Heal.
As Holy Doors Close, Cardinals Emphasize God's Arms are Always Open
Pope Leo XIV: To Let God Work in Your Life, You Have to Empty Yourself
Prayer for the New Year
Our Lady, Queen of Hope Award to Honor Women of Vision and Faith in the Diocese of Norwich
Calendar of Parish Events from Around the Diocese
Recently Added Galleries
Click to view album: Bowling with Bishop Reidy 2025
Click to view album: Ninety-Fifth Anniversary of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Saint Brendan the Navigator Catholic Community
Click to view album: Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Richard F. Reidy
Click to view album: Students Called to Feed the Hungry
Signup for Weekly Newsletter

     

    Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich
    201 Broadway
    Norwich, CT 06360-4328
    Phone: 860-887-9294