RIGHT TO LIFE UK–
A Canadian church has hosted an assisted suicide ceremony for one of its members..
The Churchill Park United Church of Winnipeg held what it described as a “Crossing Over Ceremony” in which an 86 year old, Betty Sanguin, ended her life through an assisted suicide in the church sanctuary.
Minister of Churchill Park, Rev. Dawn Rolke, said that it “seemed appropriate” to hold the ceremony in the sanctuary, as churches are often “host and home to all the raggedness of our lives and to some of our significant life rituals: baptism, marriage, ordination, funeral or memorial services”.
“For us, it was perfectly natural to hold this service for Betty in our sanctuary because death is a natural part of life and Betty had lived a good part of her adulthood in this faith community”.
According to the Christian Post, the typical sanctuary seating was removed and replaced by comfortable chairs, tables, flowers and a recliner, which Sanguin occupied during the ceremony as people came to visit her.
The lethal cocktail of drugs was administered at 1p.m. and Sanguin, who had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, was dead within the hour.
“The children and some grandchildren went back into the sanctuary to be with Betty”, recalled Rolke. “And people began to quietly come and go from Betty’s side as the medicine took effect. It was like a wake”.
Betty’s body was removed at 4p.m. by staff from a funeral home.
Rolke said that while one congregant did express concerns about the assisted suicide being performed in a church, no one approached her with objections to the ceremony as such. Continue reading…
