BELGIUM: Brothers of Charity, Catholic psychiatric hospitals to provide euthanasia

A couple times lately, in reaction to a seriously messed up claim (HERE) about downward trend of priestly vocations and how wonderful everything would be if only we could throw off the bad stuff that Vatican II tried to get rid of, I’ve mentioned Belgium. Belgium: a place where the liberal agenda has worked so well for the Church that now only 5% of Catholics go to Mass.

This is a really disturbing sign of the times. Once again, dear readers, Belgium.

From BioEdge:

Belgian Catholic psychiatric hospitals ‘adjust’ their view of euthanasia

One of the last substantial barriers to increasing the number of euthanasia cases for non-terminally-ill psychiatric patients in Belgium seems to have crumbled.

A religious order in the Catholic Church, the Brothers of Charity, is responsible for a large proportion of beds for psychiatric patients in Belgium – about 5,000 of them. The international head of the order, Brother René Stockman, is a Belgian who has been one of the leading opponents of euthanasia in recent years.

Nonetheless, in a surprise move this week, the board controlling the institutions of the Brothers of Charity announced that from now on, it will allow euthanasia to take place in their psychiatric hospitals. [I wonder what the local bishops and the CDF have to say about this.]

In a statement posted on their website the Brothers of Charity explain the policy shift. “We take seriously unbearable and hopeless suffering and patients’ request for euthanasia. On the other hand, we do want to protect lives and ensure that euthanasia is performed only if there is no more possibility to provide a reasonable perspective to treat the patient.”

Euthanasia for psychiatric patients has already happened dozens of times in Belgium. But from now on it will probably be easier for people suffering from schizophrenia, personality
disorders, depression, autism, or loneliness to access it. In fact, it will be hard to find an institution in Belgium where euthanasia is not being offered as an option.

[…]

The liberal agenda has been such a great success.