Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell’s comments by about the treatment of suicide victims, for which he has since apologised, have their roots in Christian tradition. However, those traditions have changed in the recent past and are not common in the 21st century.
The parish priest of St Michael’s in Rotorua, Mark Field, said he could understand Mr Flavell’s frustration but the Catholic Church changed its stance on the treatment of suicides at least a generation ago. He said he felt Mr Flavell’s frustration, knowing he had had to attend funerals of young suicide victims, “seeing the cream of Maori youth disappearing”.
He said in the past the church taught people that suicide was a sin and was treated the same as abortion or euthanasia. “There was no requiem and victims were often buried outside the church,” he said. “Now the Catholic Church offers families the full rites of the church and a Christian burial.”
“I must stress the churches’ compassion for both the person who has taken their own life and also their family,”
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News category: New Zealand.
