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October 7, 2021By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – “Our state legislators are Pilates looking to us, the crowd, and asking us what we want them to do. More and more are shouting in favor of assisted suicide.”
Kris Correira, a physician assistant for ReadyMED Urgent Care, made this comparison between Jesus’ Passion and today’s society Monday, a few days after legislators heard public testimony for and against legalizing physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts.
Ms. Correira was the guest speaker for Christ the King Parish’s 10th Annual Novena to St. Joseph, Jesus’ foster father and patron of a happy death. The novena is being held Mondays from 7:15-8 p.m. through Nov. 8 to pray for the sick and dying and to stop doctor-prescribed suicide.
“We always emphasize St. Joseph,” said Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor. A couple speakers so far have focused on St. Joseph, during this Year of St. Joseph, while others talked about physician assisted suicide.
Ms. Correira addressed life issues at Monday’s novena by connecting Scripture and history.
“Scripture is the story of our humanity,” she said, and told of Jesus’ taking on a human body and soul, “beginning as helplessly as we do in our mother’s womb,” to redeem “our fallen human nature.” She said his Incarnation “reveals to us the fullness of what it means to be human – the uniqueness and grandeur of our dignity.”
But the crowds called for his crucifixion and the release of “the murderous revolutionary Barabbas,” Ms. Correira noted.
“Our modern Barabbas was born in Europe early in the 1600s,” she continued. “His revolution was known as the Age of Enlightenment, and it had many prominent disciples. … The core of their revolution is to deny that objective truth exists. … Each person determines what is good and bad. … The Age of Enlightenment handed Jesus over to be scourged. …
“About 100 years ago, the Barabbas revolution became the Progressive Era,” which ushered in the Eugenics Movement, she said. “Infanticide, contraception, abortion, sterilization and euthanasia were all ways of eliminating the ‘unfit’ from society. … Now scourged, Jesus is crucified by the Eugenics Movement. It culminated in the Holocaust. …
“Laws and rights today simply force society to give the strongest what they want, while the weakest suffer,” Ms. Correira said. But, she said, “Laws must be based on the truth of our humanity, on the Natural Law, if all people are to flourish in society.” She said not everyone can understand Natural Law, but God’s word teaches us how to love him and our neighbor; “Jesus teaches us how to flourish as a society.”
Ms. Correira said a civil society requires justice, which depends on truth, and Jesus is the way, truth and life.
“Pilate asks, ‘What is Truth?’ while looking right at it,” she said. “But the crowd wanted Barabbas instead, shouting at the Truth, ‘Crucify him.’ …
“Again and again, the disciples of Barabbas will clamor for the Truth to be crucified,” Ms. Correira continued. “Those leaders of the Eugenics Movement are the same type who want assisted suicide today – statistics show they are overwhelmingly white, wealthy and well-educated.” She said it’s not about suffering; they want control over when they die.
“Their quest for radical autonomy has made anyone concerned for the vulnerable into their enemy,” she said.
She likened legislators to Pilate, seeking what the people want, and said many clamor for assisted suicide.
“Will we scatter like most of the disciples?” Ms. Correira asked. She said she prays that all who receive Jesus in the Eucharist will “ceaselessly call upon our legislators to reject such a law.” She implored, “Do not let assisted suicide be the next nail to pierce our humanity.”
Ms. Correira’s knowledge is also tapped for Emmanuel Radio’s bioethics program “Human Dignity in Sickness and Suffering,” which began in early September.
“Kris is the voice for medical care with dignity,” the “weekly expert,” on the program, which features guests speaking about various life topics, according to Cindy Dorsey, station president.
The program is aired Sundays at 9:30 a.m., Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 4 p.m. on 1230 and 970 AM and 101.1 FM.
– Audio and video of the physician assisted suicide hearing can be accessed at https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/3976.
– The Christ the King Parish website will post a recording of the novena speaker homilies as they become available at ctkworc.org/novena-to-st-joseph.
