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"I'm assuming the Schiavos are Catholic, since the Catholic Church has issued statements on this specific case."

Yes, they are indeed Catholic. That is the main justification for her parent's stance, that Terri was Catholic and that her husband's statement concerning her desire to die in such a state are therefore unlikely, as it would constitute a great sin.

I know that the Catholic Church does not balk at someone being denied "extraordinary measures". Someone would not be required to be kept in an iron lung, for example. But I can't imagine any way in which simply being -fed- would count as extraordinary measures, especially since no attempt has ever been made to rehabilitate her enough to eat and drink.

What precisely was the Church's statement on this, if I may ask? I'm curious.

Oh, by the way, to those who said it's okay to kill her because her cortex is "mostly gone"... I would point out that the key word there is "mostly". It's not all gone. That alone should be enough to keep her alive, especially when viewing the films shows she is clearly aware of people around her, and has occassionally shown indications that she may even be understanding speech.

As her doctors pointed out, she can almost certainly be rehabilitated to be able to eat and drink without a feeding tube. The fact that she does not drool shows conclusively that she has not lost the ability to swallow. The fact that she has not even been -permitted- to test this is what I find the most apalling, and I can't understand what would motivate someone to deny even the opportunity to determine this. If it turns out she can't even swallow food or water, FINE.... but why would someone like this judge be so maniacally opposed to just testing and finding out?

Qwinn

What precisely was the Church's statement on this, if I may ask? I'm curious.

To discuss this issue without flame wars ;-)

STATEMENT OF BISHOP ROBERT N. LYNCH CONCERNING THE TERRI SCHIAVO CASE

Excessive rhetoric like the use of “murder” or the designation of the trial judge or appellate judges as “murderers” not be used by anyone from our Judeo-Christian tradition. This is a much harder case than those who use facile language might know.

Click on the link to read the whole statement. It's balanced and fair to both sides.