END OF LIFE: STILL SACRED Church’s beliefs reviewed for health professionals A pillar of the Catholic faith is the sanctity of human life – “from con- ception to natural death; from the “There is no exception to the doc- tor-patient relationship,” he reminded those physicians present. “This relation- ship needs to be broadened and nourished over time.”
Stories and photo BY PAUL BINZ
Commit to carrying a cross Apostolado Serra hopes to draw Spanish-speakers to religious life
Martin Lopez, vice president of Apostolado Serra, holds a crafted wooden cross that will travel around the diocese for placement with families to encourage prayer and foster vocations.
Museum in San Juan, keynote speaker Caporusso, a specialist in podiatry with a 30-year practice, introduced his presenta- tion. He called it “… a topic we sometimes don’t want to talk about, we don’t want to discuss, for many different reasons, but nonetheless, one that we need to think about and prepare for.” Caporusso, a member of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in McAllen who is in formation for the permanent diaconate, began by asserting that the overarching importance of life must not be lost amid advances in science, medicine, and tech- nology. He also warned against the increas- ing acceptance of euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as fallacious thinking about quality of life as a measure of its value. “There is no room in our faith for us to consider assisted suicide or euthanasia as an option to end-of-life choices,” Caporus- so said. “We as Catholics need to continue following the teachings of our God and our Church. … We as Catholics under- stand the sacred value of human life.” “Pope Francis has spoken about our throw-away culture … a culture of death,” Caporusso said. “This is how assisted sui- cide emerges – as an erroneous solution to the challenge that we face in the care of a terminal patient.” “As the Catholic Church teaches, hu- man compassion consists of not causing death, but embracing the sick.” He outlined the patient’s limited com- munity in the twilight of life: physician, caregivers, family members, clergy, and the patient. He said doctors today are chal- lenged “to make sure we are not reducing our care to a merely technical service in place of a personal relationship with our patients.”
womb to the tomb.” Dr. Joseph Caporusso of McAllen provided medical professionals with a broad review of the Catholic per- spective on a closely related but uncomfort- able subject – end-of-life issues. Addressing a crowd of 300 attending the post-White Mass conference and din- ner Oct. 16 at the Gelman Stained Glass
Caporusso also noted that Catholicism does not oppose progress in science and medicine, but wants to see that a proper perspective is maintained. “Keep in mind that the Church regards scientific research and technology with hope and opportu- nities to serve the mutual good of life and dignity of every individual,” he said. “It should be taken into account, though, that these advances, although important, do not define the proper meaning of human life, nor its value. “As we see the growth on the techno- logical horizon in health care, we must increase our growth in moral discernment so that we avoid an unbalanced and dehu- manizing use of these technologies. This is especially true when we’re talking about end-of-life issues.” Caporusso described obstacles that in- terfere with what should be priorities. “In our culture, we have a notion of dignified death, which is measured by a standard on the quality of life … the enjoyment of physical life, forgetting the more profound interpersonal spiritual and religious di- mension of our existence,” he said. “With this thought process, we see a life … judged in ability not to continue, and do not consider human life as a value in itself.” “Another obstacle presents a false sense of compassion when facing unbearable suffering,” he said. “No one likes to see a fellow human being suffer.” Drawing from official Catholic docu-
V ocations in the Diocese of Browns- ville have gained a new level of support with the chartering of Apostolado Serra, which becomes just the second Spanish-language chapter of Serra International in the United States. The chapter formed this year with 38 members dedicated to reaching out to the parishes, with the goal of finding and en- couraging those with possible vocations. It received its charter from the Vatican in October. The chapter was chartered in time for National Vocation Awareness Week, Nov. 3-9, an annual weeklong celebration of the Church in the United States dedicated to supporting, promoting and praying for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life. However, the incipient Apostolado Serra was already active: For weeks, work was under way on an initiative to encour- age vocations among families around the diocese. Key to that effort was Martin Lopez, the chapter vice president and maintenance director for the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle-National Shrine. With the blessing of his boss and the basilica’s rec- tor, Father Jorge Gomez, Lopez crafted a number of large, elaborate wooden crosses
in the carpentry shop he supervises. An- other Serra member, Mario Verduzco, also made some. The crosses will travel around the diocese for placement with families to encourage prayer and foster vocations. Lo- pez noted that vocations are not strictly for priests and religious, but can also be voca- tions for marriage or even living the single life. The crosses will remain with each fam- ily for one month before moving on to the next home. Francisco Pacheco, a McAllen Realtor, is the first president of Apostolado Serra. With the crosses, Pacheco said, “We try to promote the faith within families so the kids can consider the life in the Church, so teenagers can at least think about it and give it a good talk with God. … Hopefully we can get a few more priests for this dio- cese.” Father José Garza, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church in San Carlos, has al- ready placed three of the crosses with fam- ilies in his parish. At the charter ceremony and dinner Oct. 26 at the Basilica Auditorium, a doz- en of the crosses were displayed along one wall. Addressing the membership, Lopez urged them to take immediate action and commit to carrying the crosses out to their various parishes for placement in homes.
Very quickly, all 12 were spoken for. “Prayer has to do something,” Lopez said recently. “I’m confident that all these people, all these crosses going into differ- ent homes, will spread the word that being a priest is OK, being a priest is cool. Hope- fully we can make a small mark in the Val- ley, to begin with. “That’s the hope.” Pacheco explained that Serra chapters work mainly with children, young people and pastors to encourage vocations, and this one will do so primarily with commu- nication in Spanish. “Basically, we are trying to concentrate on the kids who speak Spanish … main- ly in the churches that have more Span- ish-speaking parishioners,” Pacheco said. “We don’t want to overdo it and go over the other (Serra) clubs that are also working.” Serra, the global lay apostolate for vo- cations within the Catholic Church, had its origins in 1935 in Seattle, with founders choosing the 18th century California mis- sionary, Father (now Saint) Junípero Serra, as their namesake and patron. Serra chap- ters already exist in McAllen, Harlingen, Brownsville, and Rio Grande City, with a satellite club in Weslaco.
Dr. Joseph Caporusso, speaking at the White Mass conference Oct. 16, said there is no room in our faith to consider assisted suicide or euthanasia as an option to end- of-life choices.
Stories and photo BY PAUL BINZ
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DIOCESE OF BROWNSVILLE
THE VALLEY CATHOLIC
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