From the Archbishop
Keeping important
conversations going
The Most Revd Kay Goldsworthy AO, Archbishop
Dilemmas and contradictions are an inevitable part of life and the human condition – including anyone whose life has a spiritual or faith dimension! The psalms offer those of us who read them thousands of years after they were written, a deep sense of such human struggle.
How can an experience be a struggle, a gift and a privilege all at the same time, for example? Or are those descriptions not as contradictory as they may seem?
In the weeks ahead, two important events in the Anglican Diocese of Perth focus attention on very different experiences, both of which have been described in those terms.
The legalisation of voluntary assisted dying in Western Australia in July 2021 was preceded – and followed – by intense, often emotional debate and discussion across the entire community and certainly within our own Anglican community.
Five years after more than 120 people attended an initial symposium hosted in the Diocese of Perth, and more than three years after the VAD laws were passed in this State, clergy members will gather at Wollaston Theological College to again explore different facets of voluntary assisted dying.
There is much to consider, think about, talk and pray about. There is much to explore in a new context, where VAD is now a legal option for any eligible Western Australian.
Now that new legislation is in place, what does that mean for clergy who may be asked to be alongside someone who has chosen a voluntary assisted dying pathway? Who is eligible? What are the theological implications? What are the ethical issues and concerns for clergy?
These are just some of the questions to be canvassed by a panel of experienced speakers, and clergy who hold firmly to the Christian belief that life is a sacred gift and are also working hard to ensure everyone has access to pastoral care … to carry out the Anglican Mark of Mission to ‘respond to human need by loving service’.
Walking beside people experiencing death and dying has always been a challenge, a gift and a privilege – and it now has the added dimension of a very different 21st century context.
According to the 2022-23, Voluntary Assisted Dying Board (WA) Annual Report, In the first two years of the new law, some 1,120 people requested voluntary assisted dying and 446 people exercised their choice to die by voluntary assisted dying.
When the VAD laws were introduced Heads of Churches called on the community to ‘keep the conversation going’ and the November 19 seminar, coordinated by Amana Living’s Senior Chaplain, The Revd Jeni Goring and others, will do just that.
And, as I said at that time, ‘Death and dying is part of life which we do not approach lightly or take for granted. We will continue to care for people, whatever the choices they are making, in a spirit of love and compassion’.
A month earlier, on 19 October, the focus will be on people, carers, families and friends impacted by a disease sometimes referred to as ‘the long goodbye’.
St George’s Cathedral will host Dementia Awareness Training presented by Dementia Training Australia and designed for anyone in the community touched by this still baffling syndrome.
At the end of Dementia Awareness Week last month (16-22 September), the Weekend Australian Magazine took readers inside the lives of two families impacted by younger onset dementia. It was tough but important reading and underlined that dementia is not exclusively a condition afflicting the elderly, and the heartbreak of “an extended period of anticipatory grief”.
It is estimated there are more than 400,000 people living with dementia across Australia. It is the leading cause of death for Australian women, and the second leading cause of death of all Australians, according to Dementia Australia. More than 1.6 million people are involved in the care of someone living with dementia.
In Western Australia alone, the number of people living with all forms of dementia is projected to more than double in the next 30 years.
The Amana Living team are some of those involved in the care of people living with dementia. In last month’s Messenger, Amana Living CEO, Stephanie Buckland, said 68% of their residents and about a third of their home care clients are living with dementia or some form of memory loss – and she spoke of their firsthand experience of the impact on many of their residents, clients and their loved ones.
The experts say there is still much to learn about dementia, but what they know for sure is that early identification and diagnosis is really important for everyone concerned. So the more aware and informed we can all become, the better.
In the light of these and so many other issues many face, besides the hard decisions, the grief and questioning, there are spaces for learning, listening, conversation, and others who are walking a similar path. These are important conversations to keep going. Psalm 23, the most used and well known of the bible, speaks reassurance for any who are vulnerable, offering the comfort of trust in God, the loving shepherd who watches over all his sheep.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
for you are with me, your rod and your staff comfort me.
You spread a table before me
in the face of those who trouble me:
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup will be full.
Surely your goodness and loving- kindness
will follow me all the days of my life:
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
You can find out more about both these events on the News and Events page.
+Kay
Archbishop