Hundreds Mourn Schiavo at Mass in Florida

Reuters ^ | April 5, 2005 | Robert Green

[FairOpinion]

GULFPORT, Fla. (Reuters) - Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose fate sparked a bitter and highly politicized family feud, was sent by God to deliver a message about life's meaning, a priest said at a funeral Mass organized by her parents on Tuesday.

Schiavo, 41, died on Thursday, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed under order from a state court that had long sided with her husband in ruling that she would not have wanted to live in her condition.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, spent years in court trying to keep her alive in a cause that was championed by the Christian right as symbolizing the "culture of life" and that drew in the U.S. Congress and President Bush.

Hundreds of people, some listening on loudspeakers outside the Florida church, attended Tuesday evening's funeral Mass, which reflected the feelings of those who believed Schiavo should have been kept alive.

"God sends us people like Terri to remind us of the meaning of life," Father Frank Pavone, director of an anti-abortion group called Priests for Life, said in a homily.

"God calls us to go forth from this place and build a culture of life so that what happened in this tragic case will never happen again," said Pavone, who earlier in the day issued a statement defending his stance that Schiavo's death was "murder."

The service was held at a Roman Catholic church in Gulfport, a suburb of St. Petersburg, where Schiavo's parents worship.

About 600 people, including the Schindlers and Schiavo's brother and sister, filled the church. Many others listened outside.

Pavone recalled that Pope John Paul II, who died on Saturday, wrote that life has meaning even for those who are disabled or are suffering.

Schiavo had been in what courts ruled was a persistent vegetative state since suffering cardiac arrest in 1990. The bitter wrangling over her fate endured beyond her death.

The Schindlers wanted to bury their daughter in Florida but Circuit Court Judge George Greer, who presided over the case and ruled five years ago that Schiavo should be allowed to die, granted Michael Schiavo permission to have his wife cremated and to have her ashes buried in his home state, Pennsylvania.

The body was cremated on Saturday after an autopsy was performed by the county medical examiner's office. The results of the autopsy are not expected to be made public for several weeks.

Michael Schiavo has not made any public comments since his wife's death and has not said when he will take her ashes to Pennsylvania. He is required to notify the Schindlers of his plans. His lawyer, George Felos, has said Schiavo died peacefully and with dignity.

[FairOpinion]

May God keep her soul and comfort her birth family and those who cared about her.

Please don't forget about terrisfight.net, the Terri Schindler-Schiavo foundation, which is planning to carry out the fight for other unfortunatel defenseless victims.

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation

Terri's family and the volunteers of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation have vowed to focus the Foundation, named for her, on assisting other desperate families in their efforts to protect vulnerable loved ones. Updates will be posted soon.

Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
4615 Gulf Blvd #104-103
St Petersburg Beach, FL 33706

[FairOpinion]

Terri PING for your list

[Siobhan]

Ping

[Ohioan from Florida]

Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!

[uvular]

One did not need to be a member of the 'Christian right' to champion this cause, Reuters.

Glenn Beck was invited by the Schindlers to speak; I look forward to his comments tomorrow.

[Ohioan from Florida]

My heart goes out to the Schindlers. They are a wonderful, faith-filled family.

[FairOpinion]

And it's a very sad day for the country, if only the "Christian right" is willing to stand up for the life of a defenseless disabled innocent woman.

[Slyfox]

My prayer is that hearts and consciences are pricked and that the Schindlers recieve some justice from this whole thing.

[Aussie Dasher]

May Terri's memory - and what happened to her - inspire us to establish firm and strong stautes that respect ALL human life.

[STARWISE]

And as typical of all the news on the funeral, most were reported by KRT (Knight Ridder Tribune, I believe) and NONE told of Bobby's emotional presentation of the Purple Heart that a Viet Nam sent to the family. I searched all the stories. The small number who did just said the Bobby said she deserved one, but didn't give the whole story that it was sent by a vet .. typical of the MSM. It may have been because fv said that only Fox was allowed in .. but I haven't found their version yet.

[Bellflower]

Actually many, many disabled organizations rallied for Terri. The media kept this hush because they wanted the opposition characterized as right wing Christians. I remember that there was a lady in a wheelchair in with the protesters who sign said "atheist liberal-feed Terri" or words to that effect.

[FairOpinion]

It was probably she:

"Then Eleanor Smith, a self-described liberal agnostic lesbian, whose childhood bout with polio left her confined to a wheelchair, argued that "At this point I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member." Ms Smith protested last week outside the hospice where Mrs Schiavo lay dehydrating and starving. "

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=348632005

[djreece]

Thank you for the info. I had wondered what the Foundation planned for the future.

[NYer]

Rev. Msgr. Thaddeus Malanowski presides over the Liturgy of the Eucharist during the funeral Mass for Terri Schiavo in Gulfport, Florida, April 5, 2005. Schiavo, 41, died last Thursday, 13 days after the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube was removed under a court order granted to her husband Michael Schiavo. REUTERS/Jim Stem

Father Frank Anthony Pavone, the dedicated National Director of Priests for Life from New York, gives the Homily during the funeral Mass for Terri Schiavo in Gulfport, Florida April 5, 2005. REUTERS/Jim Stem

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[I still care]

"His lawyer, George Felos, has said Schiavo died peacefully and with dignity."

Amazing, I didn't know houseplants had dignity. That's what Felos called Terri in court.

[dsc]

Parn my iggernunce, but shouldn't those priests be in black for a funeral?

[TheSpottedOwl]

"Then Eleanor Smith, a self-described liberal agnostic lesbian, whose childhood bout with polio left her confined to a wheelchair, argued that "At this point I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member." Ms Smith protested last week outside the hospice where Mrs Schiavo lay dehydrating and starving. "

That about sums up the real feelings of average Americans. No wonder why the Village voice is angry. I am not advocating her lifestyle, but her concerns are the same as ours.

[TheSpottedOwl]

God bless you, Terri. No one can hurt you now...

[goldstategop]

A lot of people wished this had gone differently. But the fight will NOT end. It will continue until every incapacitated, disabled and comatose person in America is assured the right to life that was denied by our courts to Terri. As Rabbi Tarphon said more than two millenia ago, "You may not have not have begun to do this obligation though now that you have assumed it, you're not free to desist from fulfilling it." Let us go forth resolve to affirm the triumph of the Culture Of Life in our society. Our conscience demands no less - we must see to it that Terri and the late Pope John Paul II have not died in vain.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Scarlet7]

A priest may wear white, violet or black vestments at a funeral mass. White vestments suggest the Resurrection.