April is called the “cruelest month.” I’m not certain why. But we know in our case it’s one of the busiest months with trips, working on two books, Truth Tours, articles, talks –so we must cut Action News to twice a week during April. New Hotlines will be posted Mondays, announcing when the next will be. Sorry, but it’s necessary.
Courts Further Delegitimized by Terri’s Death
We were shocked and saddened at Terri Schiavo’s death Thursday. Only two days earlier we joined Not Dead Yet to urge that Terri’s feeding tube be reattached, and passed out hundreds of flyers. On March 23 we leafleted the Loop and carried “Save Terri” signs. We hoped for a miracle.
But we were glad to hear Fr. Frank Pavone describe her death as a “killing,” and John Kass describe it as “murder.” We’re so sick of hearing chicken-livered politically correct commentaries, it’s good to hear a spade called a spade from time to time.
Terri’s death is as much a court ordered murder as abortion. It is probably going to cost the corrupt judicial system any trust, confidence, or respect it ever had, which isn’t much.
We haven’t trusted a court since the l973 Roe v. Wade decision, and starting even earlier than that—in 1963 when the Court took prayer out of public schools. In fact, go all the way back to Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for the start of the corruption we’re suffering in the courts today.
The Florida court decided Terri should be starved to death on the word of her two-timing husband who suddenly remembered the “I wouldn’t want to life like that” conversation seven years into her illness. Terri’s friends were told by Michael that he and Terri never discussed the issue. No matter to the court.
The fact that dozens of questions about her health went unanswered mattered not to Judge George Greer, or any court. We almost got ill listening to Michael Schiavo’s lawyer trying to explain what a peaceful death Terri had, when her family and friends described her difficult breathing, rolling her eyes, looking like a prisoner from Dachau.
Vatican Denounces Schiavo Killing
The Vatican denounced the death, saying that removing the feeding tube that kept her alive was an attack against God, the author of life. Cardinal Francis George called it a tragic death, but thanked God for the gift of her earthly life and the witness she gave the world during her last days.
The Cardinal said many people saw clearly that her life was valuable and worth protecting. He grieves especially for her parents, brother and sister, and prays that the Blessed Mother who knew the pain of seeing a child unjustly taken from her, will assist them with her prayers.
The Cardinal hopes her death causes us all to recommit ourselves to creating a culture of life, where dignity and respect for all is afforded under the law. It was a year ago that Pope John Paul II reaffirmed that the administration of food and water, even when provided by artificial means, “should be considered morally obligatory.”
Cardinal Keeler quoted the poet John Donne: “Any Man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.” We are all diminished by Terri’s death, which speaks to the moral confusion of today: a culture in which human life is increasingly devalued and violated every day.
We are our brothers’ keeper. May God have mercy on our society.
You can send a card to Terri’s Family to The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, c/o Bob and Mary Schindler, 4615 Gulf Blvd, No 104-103, St. Petersburg Beach, FL 33706.
Falsani on Schiavo’s Death
On a secular front Cathleen Falsani in Friday’s Chicago Sun Times writes: “These are desperate times. I’m not sure how we got here, how we arrived at this particular dark moment in history. But increasingly I’ve been thinking that, as the movie trailer I saw last week for an upcoming sci-fi flick put it, ‘There are places man was never meant to go’ And yet, here we are.”
She says Terri was alive and she should have been given the nourishment needed to keep living. “The way Mrs. Schiavo died diminishes us all as a people. It was tragic, shameful and barbaric.” These are Falsani’s best lines.
Meanwhile, pray for the Holy Father’s recovery.
