12/03/00

Love beyond the grave: praying and giving

Through the month of November, several baskets of cards filled with prayer intentions from people around the Archdiocese have been in the back of the chapel in my residence. Many ask for prayers for the living, but just as many ask for prayers for the dead, especially for those recently deceased. Our faith shapes these requests, for in faith we believe that those who have died forgiven of their sins still might need to be purified of the consequences of their sins in purgatory before attaining the beatific vision in heaven. We believe as well that, through our prayers, we can be of help to those who have died and that they, in turn, can pray for us. Death does not create a barrier higher than love’s reach. In the love of the risen Christ, even death no longer totally divides those who live here fully integrated with their body and those who, before the resurrection, do not.

Death occurs when the soul is separated from the body so that the integrated whole that is the personal self disintegrates. This is not an observable event, but its effect on the body can be observed and measured. For most of the history of the human race, the moment dividing life from death was calculated by the stopping of the heart. If the heart ceases to beat and blood no longer flows through the body, a person ceases to breathe and has certainly died. But the heart and lungs are not the only vital organs; so is the brain. In recent decades, because medical technology can keep a heart beating and lungs pumping even though a brain is dead, the certification of death has begun to be calculated from the time total brain functions shut down. Calculating this shut down is complicated, because brain functions are bound up with neurological functioning, which is diffused throughout the body.

Moral theologians have been discussing “brain death”
as a biological sign that death has occurred for many years, and Pope John Paul II addressed the issue a few months ago. Before an international gathering of organ transplant specialists last August 29, the Holy Father spoke carefully: “Here it can be said that the criterion adopted in more recent times for ascertaining the fact of death, namely the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity, if rigorously applied, does not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology. Therefore a health-worker professionally responsible for ascertaining death can use these criteria in each individual case as the basis for arriving at that degree of assurance in ethical judgement which moral teaching describes as ‘moral certainty.’ This moral certainty is considered the necessary and sufficient basis for an ethically correct course of action. Only where such certainty exists, and where informed consent has already been given by the donor or the donor’s legitimate representatives, is it morally right to initiate the technical procedures required for the removal of organs for transplant.”

The donation of one’s bodily organs for transplant after death in order to save another human being’s life is an act of charity, a sign that love reaches beyond the grave. What is totally unacceptable morally is to kill a person either deliberately in order to harvest human organs, as happens sometimes in fetal experimentation, or to do so inadvertently, because one has not read accurately the biological signs that the person has died. The Church follows carefully the discussion about the calculation of the signs of death because she wants to encourage organ donation as an act of charity but wants also to be sure that the person whose bodily organs are taken is, in fact, dead. In saying that one can use the cessation of all brain functions as criterion for determining death, the Church opens up the possibility for many people to consider donating their bodily organs to others at the time of their death. In Illinois, your willingness to donate bodily organs at death can be indicated on your driver’s license. It would also be good, as we leave the month of November, to draw up instructions for family and medical personnel to follow when you die.

Besides prayer for the dead and organ donations for the living, there is a third way to express the love that unites the living and the dead. In making a will, people donate property and financial assets to those whom they have loved in this life. Making a will is an act of charity, and careful consideration should be given to it. Many people, from what I’m told, have not made a will. Dying without one can cause family dissension; dying with one assures that one’s charitable intentions reach beyond the grave. Again, before November gets too far behind us, this is a good time to draw up your will. The Archdiocese offers a service to those who want to know how to remember the Church or her charitable activities in their will. The contact person is Rich Goode at (312) 655-7848.

Praying for the dead and planning to donate your bodily organs and earthly property after your death are all signs that our life on earth is a journey toward eternal life. On that way, we journey together in Christ. God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

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