Priest Calls for National Response to Catholic MAID Use

Fr Thomas Lynch wants a national initiative as Canada recorded 16,499 medically assisted deaths in 2024.

Updated on Nov. 15, 2026 in Catholicism

Priest Calls for National Response to Catholic MAID Use

Live Poll

Should Canada restrict medical assistance in dying for people with religious objections?

Fr Thomas Lynch, president of Priests for Life Canada, has called for a national initiative to address Catholics accessing medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said it continues to publicly oppose MAID and offers the Horizons of Hope toolkit for parishes.

Why it matters

The call reflects continuing debate within the Catholic Church in Canada over MAID, which Parliament legalized in 2016. Federal reporting does not track the religious affiliation of people who die by euthanasia, leaving the scale of Catholic participation unmeasured.

Canadian federal reporting recorded 16,499 MAID recipients in 2024, but the system does not track religious affiliation. How many of those recipients were Catholic remains unknown.

The players

Fr Thomas Lynch

Fr Thomas Lynch is president of Priests for Life Canada and a priest of the Peterborough Diocese in Ontario, who has presented on Catholics accessing MAID at many priest study days.

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the national body of Catholic bishops in Canada, which has long opposed MAID and offers the Horizons of Hope palliative care toolkit to parishes.

Deacon Laurence Worthen

Deacon Laurence Worthen is executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada.

The details

Fr Lynch made the call in an interview with Canadian Catholic News, citing his experience presenting at a large number of priest study days on Catholics accessing MAID. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, responding by email to Canadian Catholic News, said it has opposed legalized euthanasia through formal statements, briefs, letters to government and pastoral messages over the past decade.

2016: Parliament passed MAID legislation.
2024: 16,499 Canadians received MAID.
November 15, 2026: Canadian Catholic News published Fr Lynch's call for a national initiative.

Legal Context

The call follows Parliament's 2016 legalization of MAID, which set the framework now operating across Canada. Church opposition has continued in the years since, with the bishops' conference maintaining formal positions against the practice.

Canadians considering MAID for themselves or a family member face a legal framework that has been in place since 2016, and the church's palliative care resources are available free to parishes. Anyone seeking palliative options can ask their care team about the range of end-of-life services available locally.

The takeaway

The debate over MAID in Canada now includes questions about how many Catholics use it, a figure current federal reporting cannot provide. Palliative care resources such as the Horizons of Hope toolkit offer parishes one way to engage with end-of-life decisions.