How sad it was to hear of the death of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old woman who ended her own life on November 1 using Oregon’s assisted suicide law.
Maynard suffered greatly from terminal brain cancer, and we can understand her wish to stop her pain and suffering.
More hopeful path
However, the story of another young person who is also facing death shows, I believe, a more hopeful way to face death.
A Catholic News Service article reported on Philip Johnson, a 30-year-old Catholic seminarian in the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., who is facing the same disease as Maynard. He wrote a poignant essay in October responding to Maynard’s decision to end her own life.