Contrary to this position, he said, people of faith who oppose physician assisted suicide hold human dignity up as intrinsic and separate from issues of personal choice.

He said proponents of the ballot misuse the idea of human freedom, by proposing that helping someone end their own life or giving them the means to do so is a kind of advocacy for the dying.

"To be good stewards of life means to always care for life, not to eliminate life or end it in the name of stewardship. That is a false stewardship," he said.

He said proponents rest their argument on the idea of preserving self-determination and ending or preventing suffering.

"When you look at it carefully and closely, physician assisted suicide does not end suffering. It is directed at ending the patient, which should not be confused with ending suffering," Cataldo said.

In a discussion during the meeting, pastors, priests and other religious leaders expressed their own concerns regarding the issue.

Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Dorchester and a cofounder of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, expressed concern that the public discourse regarding physician assisted suicide presents it as a Catholic issue, and said he would like the public to see the face of diversity united in the meeting to oppose the measure.

"This is a diverse interfaith campaign for life, in opposition to Question 2, the ballot question. There is a diverse unified opposition to physician assisted suicide," he said.

Rev. Rivers also added that the challenge created by the controversy creates an opportunity for the broader community of faith to come together.

"The smart way to fight this campaign is to do everything we can to not have this perceived as a Roman Catholic initiative. It is an ecumenical and interfaith initiative, and that is how we ensure our success in terms of the ballot question. I think that is a tactical imperative," the pastor said.

Pastor William E. Dickerson, senior pastor at Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester, added to the call for a unified stance by people of faith against physician assisted suicide.

"When we say 'physician assisted suicide' or any other label we put to it, suicide is suicide. Suicide is wrong," the pastor said.

"Who should call a shot or make a decision on somebody else's life? That's not fair. So, I think morally we need to stand together and unify ourselves and recognize that to say 'No' is the only rational and best thing to do for everybody involved," he said.

He said in his ministry he has observed inconsistency in six-months-to-live diagnoses offered by physicians -- a stipulation presented in the wording of the bill concerning patient access to life ending drugs.

"I have known people that I have worked with that were terminally ill, and the doctor said they only had six months or even less to live, but they are still living to this very day. So, we can't try to put ourselves before God or in the place of God and disrespect the process of life," he said.

Director of communications and past president of the Islamic Center of Boston, Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal worked as a physician for just over 47 years and said the idea of suicide is antithetical to the basic principles of his training as a physician and the tenets of Islam.

"Suicide and Islam are not compatible, and certainly, in that sort of thinking, physician assisted suicide is no better," he said.

Metropolitan Methodios said he admired the unity displayed by the religious leaders.

"I was very pleased with the response, first the people that came, the diversity of the people that came. There weren't just Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants, but brethren of other faiths that were here," Metropolitan Methodios said.

"I was thankful to God for the unanimity of spirit that was shown and that everyone contributed to the meeting," he said.

Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley used the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola to describe the struggle of people of faith against physician assisted suicide.

"We must pray as if everything depended upon God, and work as if everything depended upon us," he said.