FATHER. Quentin Dupont, SJ, occasionally (once a month) assists the pastor of a Catholic church in Seattle by celebrating one of the Sunday masses. On May 5, 2019, he was asked to bless Robert Fuller after Sunday mass; he was told that Mr. Fuller was a member of the parish who was dying. Fr. Quentin led children who had just received their First Holy Communion to gather around the man and to extend their hands while he prayed a blessing.

THE priest was surprised that photographers and videographers were present to record the event: he later discovered that one was an AP journalist who did not identify herself as such. After mass Fr. Quentin was "stunned" to learn that the man he had blessed intended to commit physician-assisted suicide. Sometime earlier the pastor of the parish had unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade Mr. Fuller from this course of action. He only learned the whole story several weeks later - including the fact that the photographer was an AP journalist.

ON May 10, five days later after the mass and blessing, Robert Fuller legally married his male caregiver and held a party at which members of the church choir sang. He then ingested a lethal dose of medication and died surrounded by his friends.

In mid-August the event was nationally publicized in various media, alternately praised as heroic and condemned as blasphemous beneath headlines such as:

In the face of death, man celebrates a marriage and throws the party of a lifetime (Heraldnet, Aug 30,2019)

https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/in-the-face-of-death-the-party-of-a-lifetime/

Jesuit Priest Blesses Gay Man Just Before His Assisted Suicide (Church Militant, Aug 27, 2019)

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/jesuit-priest-blesses-gay-man-with-suicide-plan

THE diocese of Seattle subsequently investigated these reports and publically reaffirmed Catholic teaching concerning the sinfulness of suicide. Fr. Quentin later explained his ignorance of Mr. Fuller's intentions in a magazine interview

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/08/30/father-quentin-dupont-responds-ap-story-assisted-suicide-catholic-man-seattle

The Archdiocese of Seattle is facing questions after a local man received a formal Catholic blessing at Mass shortly before committing medically assisted suicide.

An Aug. 27 Associated Press profile of Fuller’s final days included a photograph and account of the blessing he received at St. Therese Parish in the Seattle archdiocese, five days before he ended his own life.

“The Associated Press story about Mr. Fuller is of great concern to the Archbishops because it may cause confusion among Catholics and others who share our reverence for human life,” the Archdiocese of Seattle said in an Aug. 27 statement.

After Fuller attended a final Mass at his parish, Fr. Quentin Dupont, SJ, led children who had just received their First Holy Communion to gather around the man. The priest, the children, and members of the parish extended their hands in blessing over him. This act was recorded and photographed by an AP journalist.

Later that afternoon, after marrying his caregiver and partner and enjoying a party, Fuller plunged two syringes filled with [seconal] — a [barbiturate] drug combination mixed with Kahlua, his favorite alcohol — into a feeding tube in his abdomen. He was one of about 1,200 people who have used Washington’s Death with Dignity Act to end their lives in the decade since it became law.

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