By Franco Cudini
Recently, the Parish of Christ the King (Wangaratta area) held a ‘Hospitality in the Pub’ event after a few years in recess. This informal evening was started a few years ago by a group of enthusiastic parishioners who wanted to organise informal evenings where important and relevant spiritual and faith matters could be discussed. It was thought that this would be a great activity to revive as an aid in our journey of faith as Catholic Christians.
Around 25 parishioners attended the event. These evenings are now planned to be held bimonthly, with a guest speaker and a topic of interest. The evening began with dinner at 6 pm, and a presentation from Monsignor Crisologo Manongas at 7 pm, followed by questions and discussion.
The topic for the evening was "Organ Donation: Is the Donor Really Dead?" Monsignor Cris delivered a highly informative and enlightening presentation, drawing in part on his PhD dissertation.
Monsignor Cris highlighted some of the serious ethical, moral and legal issues that arise around the proclamation that a person is dead prior to the removal of organs. He noted that evidence exists suggesting that a donor may not always be dead at the time organs are removed, raising significant questions for consideration. The concept of "brain death" is often used by clinicians as ‘permission’ to proceed to organ extraction.
Drawing on his research, Monsignor Cris shared several heart-rending and, at times, confronting cases of patients who had been declared brain dead but later regained consciousness. As a consequence, those present were invited to reflect on and discuss a range of concepts, terms and definitions under the guidance of Monsignor Cris. These included patient consciousness, legal death, acts of self-sacrifice, brain death, euthanasia, and medical and financial powers of attorney.
The evening provided much food for thought on a topic that affects us all. Our thanks go to Monsignor Cris for generously sharing the insights from his research.
The next Hospitality in the Pub evening will be held on the last Wednesday in July and will feature another interesting topic.
Franco Cudini is Chair, of the Christ the King Parish Pastoral Council in Wangaratta