Jerome Novotny , OMI – Worthy? Who decides? When hospitals, media, and policy accept ending or withholding life for the vulnerable, I see how we begin to treat some people as less than fully human – problems to manage rather than neighbors to love. In this article, I ask who judges a life’s value and moves from institutions to the everyday moments where dignity is made or denied – a hurried bedside conversation, a refused invitation, a steady presence. Drawing on my Catholic faith, Scripture, and stories of the elderly, disabled, and marginalized, I examine how usefulness erodes the worth of a person and show how compassion – listening, shared meals, sacramental care – restores dignity and says, “You matter.”
Sometimes I catch myself standing at a busy city corner, looking into a nursing-home window, or watching people with disabilities – and feel a quiet ache: so many faces, so many lives, and so many who are treated as if they hardly matter.
This ache quietly makes me wonder whether such lives are still “worth living.” Would it be better if people with Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, Parkinson’s, severe disability, or terminal illness were no longer here? Death factories like Abortion, Assisted suicide, Euthanasia, Terminal sedation, or the Withdrawal of ordinary care are increasingly defended in the press, in hospitals, and throughout the world. Who decides when a life is valuable?
In those moments of weakness, my Catholic faith turns that ache into a clear conviction: every person matters – always – because every person bears God’s image. That idea isn’t abstract theology for me; it shapes how I look, how I speak, and how I reach out to lives that the world deems “worthless.”
In short, if I am made in the image of God, my worth cannot be reduced to success, usefulness, beauty, or productivity. A bank account, a job, or public approval do not determine my worth. Dignity isn’t earned – it’s built in and stays with me. When I envision a homeless person shivering through a cold night, a prisoner reduced to a number, an elderly person watching memories fade, or an unborn child utterly dependent on others, I recall that each one bears the mark of God. This mark alone gives every life a dignity beyond anything society could possibly conceive.
Jesus spent his life paying attention to the folks everyone ignored – lepers, tax collectors, the poor, and children. His parables (Good Samaritan, lost sheep, prodigal son) aren’t just stories; they’re instructions in paying attention: stop, care for wounds, share food, and give time. The Church’s teaching echoes that: every person’s dignity must be respected from its very beginning to its natural end. The late Pope Francis consistently encouraged us to reach out to the marginalized members of society, often referred to as “the discarded”, as this is where Jesus most clearly manifests himself.
Here are a few examples (or modern parables) of those on the edge of society that Jesus would have paid attention to.
1. Aging and social isolation
……………* Why: older adults may be considered less relevant, ignored in conversations, or moved out of sight in care settings.
……………* Example: elderly relatives rarely consulted on family decisions or activities…
2. Physical disability or chronic illness
……………* Why: others may view the person as less productive or burdensome, and their accessible needs may go unmet.
……………* Example: a workplace sidelines an employee after an illness instead of offering accommodations, rejecting the disabled…
3. Cognitive decline / neurodegenerative disease (e.g., Alzheimer’s)
……………* Why: communication and memory loss can lead others to ignore, infantilize, or exclude the person.
……………* Example: family members speak over or for a person with dementia rather than involving them in decisions…
4. Homelessness and poverty
……………* Why: people may be criminalized, ignored in public spaces, or treated as invisible.
……………* Example: passersby avert gaze; public services are hard to access…
5 Mental illness and stigma
……………* Why: fear and misunderstanding cause avoidance, blame, and dehumanizing labels
……………* Example: someone with depression being told to “snap out of it, to shape up” and excluded from social planning…
6. Immigration status, race, or marginalization
……………* Why: systemic exclusion, xenophobia, and discrimination send a message that lives matter less to society.
……………* Example: migrants denied access to healthcare, education or legal status…
7. Common behaviors that communicate “you are disposable”
……………* Interrupting, ignoring, speaking for someone
……………* Infantilizing or dismissing preferences and choices
……………* Making decisions without consultation
……………* Using dehumanizing or stigmatizing language
……………* Prioritizing convenience or cost over human needs
……………* Treating people as problems to manage rather than persons to support
Our culture too often judges value by usefulness. What would Jesus do when people can’t contribute economically or when they’re inconvenient? Would He make them feel disposable? The answer is a definite “NO“. He would go out and do something. Jesus teaches us that the answer is compassion – act because God loved us first. Compassion isn’t a bonus; it’s central to Jesus’ parables. Visiting prisoners, feeding the hungry, and caring for the dying – these acts aren’t optional extras. They are how we live out the Gospel and affirm the worth of others. It is how Jesus wants us to say, “You matter.”
Some lives are deemed worthless because their suffering runs deep – addiction, trauma, poverty, or mental illness. It’s important to realize that restoring a person’s dignity is not a quick fix. Sometimes dignity takes a long time – a caring word, a shared meal, a hand to hold, a steady companion. These small acts do not always mean solving a problem. Holding a hand, saying a name, or listening to a story says someone matters even when you can’t “fix” anything. They restore someone’s sense of worth.
The Church’s sacraments can also shape how we see people: ordinary things become signs of God’s presence. People are sacraments too – visible signs of an invisible reality. For example, in baptism, in the Eucharist, and in anointing the sick, ordinary things become signs of God’s presence. In the same way, people are living signs of God’s love. God chooses to meet us in our weakness; that choice confers dignity that no human rejection can strip away.
Seeing the person as a sacrament changes how I treat them: not as a project or problem, but as someone through whom God may work. As Pope Francis has often reminded the faithful, the Church must be a field hospital: close to wounds, offering hope, and calling the world back to the dignity of every human life.
When I meditate on the value of human life, especially each one who crosses my path every day, I fall back on the simple truth my faith teaches me: no life is without value, because each life bears God’s imprint. To live as if some people are worthless is to deny a basic truth of Christianity. To love the lowly, to restore dignity, and to stand with the marginalized is not optional rhetoric; it is the heart of the Gospel lived in a world that too easily forgets what it means to be human.
