Welcome to the Anglican Church in Topeka, Kansas
Following the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
Welcome to the Anglican Church in Topeka, Kansas
Following the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
About St. Augustine
Our History
Our Ministries
Our History
A BRIEF STATEMENT ABOUT OUR CHURCH
We are Christians who are part of the family of Christ throughout the world and, in particular, of the ancient Church founded by our Lord, Jesu Christ and continuing the Apostolic Tradition which was established by Him as the design for the life of the Church.
We are not a new Church but rather a portion o
A BRIEF STATEMENT ABOUT OUR CHURCH
We are Christians who are part of the family of Christ throughout the world and, in particular, of the ancient Church founded by our Lord, Jesu Christ and continuing the Apostolic Tradition which was established by Him as the design for the life of the Church.
We are not a new Church but rather a portion of the inheritance of Catholic Christendom with our beginnings firmly rooted in the continuing activity of God reconciling His creation with Himself in the life and ministry of Jesus and the first apostles, the record of which is found in the whole body of Holy Scripture. We believe that Scripture contains all doctrine required as necessary for the eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
As Anglicans, we adhere to the ancient and unique traditions of Christianity as found among the English whose traditions were established in the life of the English Church in Roman times and developed throughout the centuries. This lovely tradition is enshrined in the usage and of life in the Book of Common Prayer which was first published in 1549 and is the repository of apostolic faith and order, liturgical magnificence, and ageless language that has no comparison. The edition used by us is virtually unchanged from the origna; even through it was revised as late as 1928.
Our Mission
Our Ministries
Our History
Our Church is part of the Diocese of Missouri Valley, which is also a member of Traditional Anglican Church.
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Our Ministries
Our Ministries
Our Ministries
Sunday 10:00 AM Morning Prayer
Sunday 10:15 AM Holy Communion
Location: 2140 SW Hodges Rd
Topeka, KS
785 478-9231
email: padrevenson@gmail.com
Announcements
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Jan. 26, 2025
"Woman what have I to do with thee? "
The Presentation of Christ
in the Temple
Feb 2, 2025
"...the child grew, and waxed strong
in spirit, filled with wisdo
Sunday 10:00 AM Morning Prayer
Sunday 10:15 AM Holy Communion
Location: 2140 SW Hodges Rd
Topeka, KS
785 478-9231
email: padrevenson@gmail.com
Announcements
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Jan. 26, 2025
"Woman what have I to do with thee? "
The Presentation of Christ
in the Temple
Feb 2, 2025
"...the child grew, and waxed strong
in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the
grace of God was upon Him."
5th Sunday after Epiphany
Feb 9, 2025
"The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto
a man which sowed good seed in his field."
The Bishop Speaks
Responding to Euthanasia
The Rt. Rev. Patrick S. Fodor
PART I
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but
not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”
(2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Euthanasia is intentionally acting to cause death or refusing to take actions
morally required to preserve life in order to remove a person from
suffering. This is sometimes called “mercy killing.” The term “euthanasia”
itself means “happy death.” But it is either murder, plain and simple, or a
withdrawal of food and liquids to cause death by starvation/dehydration.
Euthanasia is a death-causing decision, a judgment that a person’s life is
“not worth living” or (increasingly) is “a drain on society” to be
eliminated. But to get a handle on euthanasia, we need to look at some
essential definitions.
• Euthanasia: Euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or
omission of a morally required act for the alleged benefit of a
dependent human being.
• Voluntary Euthanasia: When the person who is killed has
requested to be killed.
• Non-voluntary Euthanasia: When the person who is killed
made no request and gave no consent.
• Involuntary Euthanasia: When the person who is killed made
an expressed wish to the contrary.
• Assisted Suicide: Someone provides a person with the
information, guidance, and means to take his own life with the
intention that those means will be used for this purpose. When it
is a doctor who helps another person to kill himself, it is called
"physician assisted suicide."
• Euthanasia by Action: Intentionally causing a person's death by
performing an action such as giving a lethal injection.
• Euthanasia by Omission: Intentionally causing death by not
providing necessary and ordinary care such as food and water.
• Ordinary Care: Food/hydration, clothing, and shelter are
historically considered ordinary care, since no human being can
exist without them, regardless of age or medical condition.
• Extraordinary Care: All other forms of care which are not
ordinary care. This includes any medicine or medical machines.
What Euthanasia is NOT: There is no euthanasia unless the death is
intentionally caused by what was done or not done. Medical actions that
are often labeled “passive euthanasia” are not euthanasia, since the
intention to take life is lacking. These permitted acts include not beginning
treatment that would not provide a benefit to the patient, withdrawing
treatment that has been shown to be ineffective or is too burdensome or
unwanted, and giving high doses of painkillers that may even potentially
increase a possibility of earlier death, when they have been shown to be
necessary. All those are part of good (moral) medical practice when they
are properly carried out, though this still requires careful discernment.
People may choose to use extraordinary care measures or not. This is a
matter of prudential judgment, assessed on the basis of a long and often
complicated series of factors. For example, the use of painkillers is moral
as long as the dose is not intentionally so high that its purpose is not to
alleviate pain but to cause death. This is why devices in hospitals allow
patients to self-medicate but limit how much painkiller can be chosen.
Patients may, within these moral boundaries, weigh their options on a
spectrum, from options to be pain free and essentially unconscious all the
way to being very clear headed and aware but in severe pain. You choose.
What we may NOT do is make questions about pain and suffering absolute
and ultimate. To do so ends up rejecting what God plainly says. The idea of
“quality of life” as a measure of a person’s value is a novel invention of
postmodernists. Every single person is valuable, a precious one for whom
Christ died (2 Cor. 5:15). To say suffering is the greatest evil and must
always be avoided by any means possible is false. Generally, we should
relieve suffering when we can. Medical professionals should make the
means to do so known and available. Yet God sometimes allows suffering
to give us opportunity to learn patience, love, and other virtues. Only God
knows all the factors involved. The whole book of Job deals with these
questions. God shows that suffering doesn’t mean the person has been bad,
just as a life without suffering doesn’t mean that the person is good. Also,
we don’t have absolute autonomy and authority over ourselves. We’re
stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It’s not ours
to dispose of as we please. In 1 Cor. 6:19-20 God says, “Do you not know
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
PART II
A major question here is “Who has authority over you?” God says He does.
You have limited authority over yourself, with a God-given right to believe
and to do what is morally or theologically true. No one, including the state,
has a right to ever do what’s contrary to God’s Law. The state holds the
power of the sword to execute those guilty of serious crimes (Rom. 13:1-4;
cf. Gen. 9:6) and to protect her own citizens from harm (through military,
police, etc.). But use of deadly force against innocent persons1
is gravely immoral, a violation of “Thou shalt not murder.” Physical life is not all that
exists, and there are consequences for the soul by what is done in the body.
One of the words that repeatedly is now used in connection with euthanasia
is “dignity.” Many now argue for various forms of euthanasia to allow
people to “die with dignity.” This gravely twists the meaning of the word
dignity. “Dignity,” from the Latin dignitātem, means “merit” and “worth,”
“to take or accept what is fitting.” True dignity is rooted in the protection
of each human person as made in the image of Jesus. What’s fitting is
understood in the context of each person’s inherent worth, which can’t be
taken away by sickness, disability, or anything else. Real dignity is rooted
in God’s call to theosis, the total transformation and completeness of the
person by union with Jesus. By God’s grace (His Presence and help) we’re
designed to achieve complete freedom, the ability to choose only what is
good and right, to be conformed to God’s will and grow in virtue (the
power to know and do what’s good). God will help us to avoid sin and to
be perfected in charity (divine self-sacrificial love). The idea that dignity is
about looking good, feeling well, having the ability to feel or do some
particular things misunderstands the basis for dignity. It’s a violation of
true dignity to murder people, with their own consent or against their will.
Recent postmodern ethicists and books on medical ethics have abandoned
the Hippocratic Oath, which forbids physicians to intentionally cause harm.
They’ve introduced a new term: “Futile Care,” care judged by hospital
panels (made up increasingly of hospital bureaucrats) to be “futile” not
because the care is unsuccessful, but precisely because it IS successful at
keeping a “futile person” alive, whose life has no value on the basis of
subjective “quality of life” or cost criteria set by the panel. Calling human
persons “futile” is an evil attack on inherent human value.
Again, does a person have the moral right to refuse treatments? Yes. We are
not morally obligated to use medicines and machines to keep people alive.
We may morally decline or withdraw any extraordinary care. Doing so
is not euthanasia. “Do not resuscitate” orders are in this same category.
One can decide that life without extraordinary treatment, for as long as it
lasts, is better than life with it. These are simply handing all things over to
the God Who loves us. But we do not take actions which intentionally
cause death rather than asking for God to act, either extend life or to take it.
Whatever God chooses, we live in hope (1 Cor. 13:13; Eph. 1:12-19). We
don’t despair (from the Latin desperare, “to be hopeless, without hope”).
We hope in Christ. He will give us full and perfect healing and raise us up
in glory (1 Cor. 15:35-49). Sometimes, for reasons we can’t grasp, God
allows a person to continue to live in difficult circumstances. God alone
understands what’s best. But we can know that He loves us and will not do
anything which is not for our good. “In this you greatly rejoice, though
now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that
perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and
glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7). God cleanses us,
grows His life in us, teaches us to trust Him through what He allows. So, if
God calls us, we do not resist Him. But we do not take “sending people
to God” into our own hands. We commend all into His care (Psalm 31:5).
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