Maryland
Maryland bishops call assisted suicide legislation ‘deadly proposal’ putting vulnerable people at risk
As Maryland lawmakers again consider legalizing physician assisted suicide, the state’s Catholic bishops issued a statement Jan. 30 calling on Marylanders to reject this “deadly proposal” that puts “our most vulnerable brothers and sisters at risk of making decisions for themselves that are manipulated by factors such as disability, mental instability, poverty and isolation.”
“We urge all people of good will to demand that our lawmakers reject suicide as an end-of-life option and to choose the better, safer path that involves radical solidarity with those facing the end of their earthly journey,” the bishops wrote in their statement. “Let us choose the path that models true compassion and dignity to those facing end of life decisions and protects the most vulnerable from the deadly proposition of physician assisted suicide.”
Titled “A Better Way Forward,” the statement was signed by Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, and Wilmington Bishop William Koenig. Those three dioceses encompass the state of Maryland.
“In 2024, medical advancements and improvements in pain management mean we can make individuals with terminal illnesses comfortable and improve the quality of the remainder of their lives without them feeling the need to reluctantly choose a ‘dignified death’,” the bishops said. “It is incumbent upon each of us to ensure that those at the end of their lives can experience a death that doesn’t include offering a form of suicide prescribed by a doctor.”
The statement was issued as state lawmakers will deliberate allowing licensed physicians to legally prescribe medication at the request of a patient who has been deemed to have “the capacity to make medical decisions,” and “who has a terminal illness with a prognosis that likely will result in the individual’s death within six months.”
“It is deeply illogical for the State of Maryland to be seeking ways to facilitate suicide for those with a terminal illness, all the while claiming such preventable and unnecessary deaths are somehow dignified,” the bishops said.
Called the “End-of-Life Option Act (The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings and the Honorable Shane E. Pendergrass Act),” the bills are SB0443 with Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (District 18 – lower Montgomery County) as the primary sponsor in the Senate, and HB0403 with Del. Terri Hill (District 12A – Howard County) as the primary sponsor in the House.
The Senate version of the bill is scheduled for a Feb. 8 public hearing before the Judicial Proceedings Committee. A joint committee hearing before the House Government Operations Committee and the House Judiciary Committee is slated for Feb. 16.
Last year, similar bills received public hearings, but did not advance out of their respective committees.
Jenny Kraska, the executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC), noted that the measure is “the same bill that’s been introduced in past years.” Frequently called “medical aid in dying” or “death with dignity,” similar bills have been introduced in Maryland in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2023.
The MCC is the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, including The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. which includes five Maryland counties, the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, which includes the Eastern Shore.
It has joined with Maryland Against Physician Assisted Suicide (MAPAS), a nonpartisan coalition of health care professionals, disability rights advocates, mental health professionals, advocates for seniors, and members of faith communities that was organized in opposition to the push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Maryland.
“In every state or country where this dangerous policy has been legalized grave abuses and expansion have occurred, making assisted suicide available to far more people and not just those facing imminent death,” the Maryland bishops said in their statement.
Only 10 states – California, Montana, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii and Oregon – and the District of Columbia have legalized physician assisted suicide.
With physician-assisted suicide, a doctor prescribes a lethal drug cocktail of up to 100 pills that a person picks up at the local pharmacy, grinds up and mixes into soft food.
“There’s been instances that I’ve heard anecdotal about people who have had reactions to the medication,” Kraska said. “And it burns the inside of their mouth, so they’re not able to consume all of the food. And that causes problems, people regurgitate some of it. There’s a lot of issues with this, as there should be.”
She noted that proponents of physician-assisted suicide “package this as a very nice – you say goodbye to everyone you know, you get your last hugs and well wishes and you just sort of fall asleep and don’t wake up.”
“That’s probably the furthest from the truth of what actually happens,” she stressed. “It takes anywhere from hours to days to pass away, and during that time it can be painful. It can be excruciating. People you know – your loved ones– are having to watch you have a hard time catching your breath or breathing… This isn’t just a peaceful take some pills and you slowly pass away and go to sleep.”
The Maryland bishops, in their statement quote Pope Francis who said, “We must accompany people towards death, but not provoke death or facilitate assisted suicide… life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not administered.”
The complete text of “A Better Way Forward,” the message on physician assisted suicide from the Catholic Bishops of Maryland, can be found at https://www.mdcatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Md-bishops-pas2024.pdf
The MCC has an online toolkit for those who seek to work against legalizing physician assisted suicide. Visit www.mdcatholic.org/pas. It also has an active action alert to write legislators. Log on to https://p2a.co/WK2gk7Q .
The Catholic Advocacy Network helps Maryland Catholics learn about the issues and provides an opportunity for constituents to be heard by their legislators. Parishioners can join the Catholic Advocacy Network at mdcatholic.org/joincan.
The state said the five recently traveled together to “a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak.”
Maryland health officials confirmed five more measles cases, all in Carroll County.
“These individuals recently traveled together to a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak,” the state Department of Health said in a release.
The agency said others may have been exposed on the afternoon of July 13 in the emergency department waiting room at Carroll Hospital Center in Westminster.
Another measles case recently prompted warnings from health officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District. On June 17, a Maryland resident traveled through Dulles International Airport and visited a D.C. urgent care clinic.
Measles is highly contagious. It can spread through the air through coughs, breathing, and sneezes. Early symptoms can include fevers of over 101 degrees, coughs, runny noses, watery eyes and face or body rashes.
It can take up to 21 days after exposure for the first symptoms to appear, and those who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles are especially vulnerable.
The five new measles cases in Maryland bring the state’s year-to-date total to nine. The state health department confirmed three cases in 2025, and one in each of the previous two years.
“All Marylanders should review potential exposure times, watch for symptoms, and confirm they are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations,” the health department said.
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Baltimore may be under an extreme heat alert, but residents can dream about autumn, as tickets are now on sale for the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show returning to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in October.
This three-day celebration of home and garden takes place from Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Expect hundreds of exhibitors, local makers, home improvement experts, family-friendly experiences and celebrity guests. The show offers everyone the chance to explore the very latest in home improvement, landscaping, outdoor living and decor, the chance to take part in hands-on experiences, and do some holiday shopping all under one roof.
This year’s show will have more than 300 exhibitors, including more than 100 crafters from around Maryland in the Makers Market. There will be unique exhibits, stage presentations and a special appearance by Chase Morrill, Ashley Morrill-Eldridge and Ryan Eldridge from Magnolia Network’s hit series “Maine Cabin Masters.” The three will have two Main Stage appearances, one on Friday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. and the second on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12 p.m.
“As temperatures start to drop and the holiday season comes into view, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show is a place to gather ideas, meet local experts and get inspired before the busy season begins,” said Dave Paul, show manager, in a statement. “Whether attendees are planning a home project, looking for outdoor living ideas or getting a head start on holiday shopping, the show brings together resources and experiences for every kind of homeowner, maker and DIY enthusiast.”
In addition to the Makers Market and stars of “Maine Cabin Masters”, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show will have a petting zoo, a Kids Market where attendees can shop from local children, and much more.
Tickets are available online and at the door. Prices are as follows:
Online:
- Adults: $8
- Senior Citizens (60+): $6
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- 4-Pack Online: $30 for four tickets, valid for one admission each and one day only
At the door:
- Adults: $10
- Senior Citizens (60+): $8
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- Friday & Saturday: $4 after 4 p.m. at the door only
Special Offers:
- Active and retired military personnel, veterans, firefighters and police officers receive free admission all weekend, along with one guest, with valid ID at the box office.
- Attendees who show a CharmPass app, Light RailLink ticket or eligible transit pass at the box office receive free admission any day of the show. One admission is available per pass.
The Maryland State Fairgrounds is located at 2200 York Road in Lutherville-Timonium.
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Maryland
Maryland police arrest alleged bank robber wielding stolen cat: ‘Tried to use her as an accessory’
Law enforcement agencies are accustomed to dealing with cat burglars – but now a Maryland police department is saying it grappled with a cat-wielding bank robber.
The Prince George’s county police department said its officers arrested a man suspected of stealing a cat and then taking the animal with him to a PNC bank branch in the local community of Beltsville to rob the establishment on Monday morning.
“The cat was returned” after the suspect was arrested, the police department said in a statement to the Guardian on Tuesday. The agency said no injuries were reported, and it declined to name the suspect or release additional details, saying the case – bound for a spot in the annals of bizarre reported US crimes – remained under investigation.
Nonetheless, a social media post from rescue shelter Beltsville Community Cats provided more information.
A Beltsville Community Cats Facebook page post on Monday identified the cat at the center of the alleged botched caper as Magnolia, a three-and-a-half-month-old tuxedo kitten. The shelter recounted how the suspect first snatched Magnolia from her “adoption habitat” at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store, took her across the parking lot to a PNC branch, and “tried to use her as an accessory in [an] attempted robbery”.
“He asked the bank manager to hold the kitten while he wrote a note, then handed the note to a teller demanding all the cash,” the post continued. “Thankfully, the robbery was unsuccessful, the suspect was arrested, and Magnolia was found safe and sound in the bank manager’s office, where the two had bonded over their shared ordeal.”
Pet Supplies Plus store employees told the NBC affiliate in nearby Washington DC that Magnolia’s cat napper had come in daily for about two weeks and focused on the kitten each time.
Finally, on Monday, he managed to use a key to open a cat adoption area and whisked Magnolia away, store employees said to the outlet, WRC.
Store manager Aaron Kurkowski told WRC that Magnolia’s thief “came in and saw none of my team was nearby the front – and he just went right to her and ran right on out”.
According to WRC, Stephanie Stullich of Beltsville Community Cats then received a call from a pet store employee who alerted her to Magnolia’s plight.
That prompted Stullich to run over to the store, where she said to WRC that she “immediately saw all of these police cars and … thought, ‘Wow, that’s a heck of a response for a stolen cat’.”
“But then I realized they all were going down to the bank,” Stullich recalled to WRC. “They came back out a few minutes later and said, ‘Yes, there is a cat inside the bank.’”
Two days before her catnapping, Magnolia was the subject of a Beltsville Community Cats Facebook post inviting people to see her at Pet Supplies Plus and consider adopting her.
Magnolia as of Monday was still waiting to be adopted, Beltsville Community Cats said in its post detailing the bank robbery.
The non-profit organization offered members of the public the opportunity to apply to adopt Magnolia by emailing rescue@beltsvillecats.net.
Beltsville Community Cats’ post also joked that Magnolia’s “brief ‘life of crime’ is behind her” – except for undoubtedly “stealing” hearts, treats, toys and cuddles wherever her forever home may be.
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