Dignity of human life events scheduled for Sept. 8

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Dr. Natalie Rodden

By Linda Petersen

Intermountain Catholic

SANDY — As the modern world diverges more dramatically from traditional values, it becomes especially important for today’s Catholics to know and understand what the Church teaches about the sanctity of life.

On Saturday, Sept. 8, Dr. Natalie Rodden, a palliative medicine physician at Saint Anthony North Health Campus in Westminster, Colo., will speak on the Church’s teachings on end-of-life issues including euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, along with hospice vs. palliative care (comfort care for the dying).

The event is sponsored by St. Thomas More Parish’s Respect-For-Life Committee, which was formed in January.

“End-of-life issues seem to be something people really want to talk about,” said Barbara Granja, the committee chair. “It is important to understand the value of the human life that God has given to us and to take that understanding and respect to the end of life, to be connected to Christ and his suffering and not to try to control our own end of life.”

Rodden, who leads an inpatient palliative care consultation service and serves as co-chairperson of St. Anthony Hospital’s ethics committee, has a strong connection to Utah. She completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Utah and worked at the U. of U. Hospital, Intermountain Medical Center, the V.A. hospital and Huntsman Cancer Center. She then completed a palliative medicine fellowship at the Mayo Clinic Arizona.

Rodden said she was drawn to that area of medicine because she felt patients had many needs that weren’t necessarily being met.

“Our culture often makes people feel like a burden when they reach that stage in life,” she said. “I want people to realize the dignity they just have intrinsically in being human and that life can still be  worth living. Palliative care can be a beautiful antidote to that in walking with people and accompanying them on their journey.”

Although St. Anthony’s is a Catholic hospital, since physician-assisted suicide became legal in Colorado two years ago Rodden has seen the issue come up more frequently with her patients and she spends a lot of time educating them on palliative care and on the Church’s teachings, she said.

“There is a real role for advocacy in this area,” she said. “It’s important in helping patients realize what they really want, that just because they could have that option doesn’t mean they should.”

“It’s valuable for people to better understand what palliative care is and I hope this presentation will help them down that road and provide them with an appropriate guide,” she added. “I also hope to be able to help people understand the Church’s teachings on end-of-life issues.”

The St. Thomas More Parish’s Respect-For-Life Committee has invited members of the neighboring LDS ward and members of St. Anna’s Greek Orthodox Church, who have worship space at the parish, to the event.

The committee, which has chosen St. Theresa of Calcutta as its patron saint, plans to sponsor future presentations on abortion and human trafficking, two issues identified by a parish survey as concerning to parishioners, and to engage in projects to support programs such as the Baby Bottle Campaign, Granja said.

Also on Sept. 8, which is the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, there will be a memorial service for victims of abortion at Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery with speaker Fr. John Evans, pastor of St. Thomas More Parish.

A separate event regarding the dignity of human life will be a presentation by Fr. John Norman, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, on the Catholic Church’s teachings on the death penalty. He will speak Tuesday, Sept. 4, 7 p.m. in the gathering space of St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, 170 University St., Salt Lake City.

WHAT: Presentation on end-of-life issues

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 8, 3 to 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: St. Thomas More Parish Meyer Hall, 3015 Creek Road, Sandy

Natalie Rodden, MD, will be the speaker. Free and open to the public.

WHAT: Memorial service for victims of abortion

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 8, 11 a.m. to noon

WHERE: Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 275 U St., Salt Lake City