Today we have a recurring guest blogger: Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Submission to the blog of Dcn. Thomas Tortorella for Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity 2025 by Fr. Arthur F. Rojas and with permission to publish on the blog
© All Rights Reserved personally by Rev. Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, June 10, 2025
At times in our country, the local authorities have been referred to as the “town” or “city fathers” and the Framers of the United States Constitution as the “Founding Fathers” of our nation. Yet most of our state legislators recently have served a Vampire State instead of our once-Empire State by passing the Medical Aid in Dying Bill over to Hon. Kathy Hochul, our governor, for her signature into law. How many of our elderly, disabled, poor, lonely, or frail fathers (and mothers) have the majorities at Albany placed on the altars of “individual autonomy,” “choice,” and “death with dignity” as Canada and western Europe have shown that the “right” to die becomes inevitably the “duty” to die? I am reminded of the end of the science-fiction movie Soylent Green as the protagonist played by Charlton Heston announces the terrible secret on his way arguably to euthanasia, “Soylent Green is people!”
Let us extol anew the prayerful fortitude and talent of St. Athanasius, St. Hilary of Poitiers, and other Catholic heroes in the first several centuries of the Church as they upheld the Nicene Creed and our profession of faith in the mystery of one God in three Divine Persons against powerful forces wanting to feed humanity lies about God instead of His Revelation. Truly the prelates Ss. Athanasius and Hilary have been called fathers…an Eastern and a Western Father of the Church among others so honored with the title. So may we committed Catholics and other New Yorkers of good will today attest to the intrinsic worth of human life from the womb to the tomb, in light of the recent travesty at Albany, and treat our elderly and our disabled not as burdens to our comfortable way of life or as mere liabilities to corporate bottom lines but as opportunities to be truly human, truly loving to each other as God expects of us.
Firstly, let us pray for the conversion of Governor Hochul, that she may veto the bill instead of becoming complicit in this sordid affair. The votes are arguably in both chambers to sustain that move. Then, call her office at 518/474-8390 to convey your insistence – firmly but respectfully – that she decide with a view to history and the hereafter and not just the elections in 2026. Next, all Catholics should consider a Catholic-oriented Health Care Proxy to sign and distribute to their relatives and attorneys. The website of the New York State Catholic Conference (nyscatholic.org) has a booklet offering Catholic guidance, including a draft Health Care Proxy, that is downloadable from the website in English and Spanish. Moreover, Catholics in the healing arts and sciences should learn and insist on their conscience rights under applicable laws, policies, and union contracts to take no part in procedures arising from this bill or related decisions made by insurance companies. Finally, Catholic investors and stockholders should sponsor resolutions at annual meetings and elect directors who will not cut costs or raise profits by eliminating people who suffer instead of treating suffering patients.
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