A Test for Us All (Terri Schindler-Schiavo)

Priests for Life ^ | Mon, 27 Oct 2003 | Fr. Frank Pavone

[cpforlife.org]

A Test for Us All

Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life; President, National Pro-life Religious Council

The case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo is a test for all of us.

It's not a test of whether we will kill cognitively disabled people by refusing them food and water. That's a test we've already failed, because it happens routinely throughout the country.

Rather, Terri's case is a test of whether we will wake up and realize that letting patients decide they want to be killed means that some patients will be killed against their will.

People often leave advance directives saying what treatment they do or do not want. But Terri had no such directive, and her parents and siblings say she never indicated she wanted to be dehydrated and starved to death. The problem, of course, is that if dying is a "right," then why take it away from those who forgot to tell us they want it? Should this "right" be exercised only by those well enough to express it?

For that matter, why should the right to escape a burdensome existence be limited to those with cognitive disabilities or other illnesses? What about the teenager whose life has suddenly become burdensome because he lost his girlfriend, failed his courses, and got thrown off the football team? If such a student indicates a desire for death, we call the suicide hotlines. Yet we are paving the way for courts to decide that such teens should be free to end their lives.

One advocate for Terri's death, reacting to the re-insertion of her feeding tube, declared that it is "simply inhumane and barbaric to interrupt her death process." But Terri Schindler-Schiavo is not a dying patient. She simply doesn't function at the same level as the rest of us. There was no "death process" underway until her food and water were taken away. That's what is inhumane and barbaric. And this is a test for all of us, to see if we remember the difference.

While there are such things as worthless treatments, there is no such thing as a worthless life. Food and water, furthermore, constitute the most basic care. We don't come back from a meal saying we just got our latest "medical treatment."

Terri's parents and siblings are heroes. Were it not for their desire to care for Terri despite her limitations, she would have been killed without us ever hearing her name. The future of society is determined by the strength -- or weakness -- of the family, by its readiness to care or its willingness to kill.

Some have said that the government should stay out of this case, and that Governor Jeb Bush had no business ordering that Terri should be given food and water. But Jeb Bush is a hero, too. He understands that no public servant is permitted to turn his back on members of the public who are being mistreated. He, and many others, have passed the test this case puts before us.

It falls to us to do the same.

Contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: 888- PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; Fax: 718-980-6515; email: mail@priestsforlife.org; web: http://www.priestsforlife.org

[cpforlife.org]

A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying. A materialistic view of the human person will concede little value and dignity to either. What is then claimed as a victory for human rights is really the sanctioning of a freedom sundered from truth. In the end, that is no freedom at all but a descent into arbitrariness and the dominion of the strong over the weak.

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER TO THE NEW AMBASSADOR OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE HOLY SEE From the Vatican, 25 May 2000 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2000/apr-jun/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20000525_ambassador-new-zealand_en.html

[cpforlife.org]

Terri PING

Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[goldstategop]

I know how precious human life is. When loved ones and friends die it changes how we see life and we treasure our remaining time on Earth all the more.

[cpforlife.org]

Yes, so very true.

[deannadurbin]

>>We don't come back from a meal saying we just got our latest "medical treatment."

Funniest line. We also cannot find Terri in our local produce department of our grocery stores.

However I have seen a lot of liberal brains in my produce department, looking like brussel sprouts.

[tessalu]

Suicide is against the law, and helping someone to kill themselves is against the law, and murder is against the law, and solicting a murderer is against the law, so what are we talking about now? Michael Schiavo solicted a lawyer to help to kill Terri Schiavo. Since when is this okay? Are we going to kill babies, old people, the ones who just do not fit into our plans? Will we starve them do death, which is too cruel to do to condemned prisoner?
What in the world is wrong with us?

[LadyPilgrim]

All the Death culture has ever done is LIE.
They are of their father, the devil!

John 10:10 says the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.
But Jesus said, I came that you might have LIFE and have it, more abundantly.

I don't know how to express it any better!
I think God's Word says it very clear!

We are of the "more abundantly" living group!

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..what in the world is wrong with us?...

Nothing that can't be fixed- as long as good people are prepared to stand against evil, in the way that some of our fellow Freepers and Governor Bush have done.

[US admirer]

Was it illegal (or morally wrong for that matter) for the folks to jump from the WTC that day? Are cyanide capsules for spies illegal? Are all "Do Not Resuscitate" orders that could be found this morning on thousands of medical charts across the USA illegal? Not quite as cut and dry as you, and some of the others, who would impose their views of right and wrong on everyone else, is it?

[Theodore R.]

Excellent application of Scripture in this case. I hope the people haven't dismissed Scripture. Solzhenitsyn said years ago that horrible things happened in Russia because people there "forgot God."

[NYer]

... there is no such thing as a worthless life. Food and water, furthermore, constitute the most basic care. We don't come back from a meal saying we just got our latest "medical treatment."

TERRI SCHIAVO PING! ­ let me know if you want on/off this ping list

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

Man "finds" Wife unconscious.

Man keeps Wife unconscious.

Man gets malpractice money for Wife.

Man wants Wife's money.

Man wants Wife dead so Man can have money.

Man gets Lawyer.

Lawyer is/was Hospice Board Member.

Lawyer promises Man that Wife will die at the Hospice...

[Ohioan from Florida]

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, remain neutral. - Dante Alighieri.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

Recognize these quotes? They're taken directly from your Freep page. Surely someone who understands the meaning of these words can understand what's at stake here.

[Quester]

Was it illegal (or morally wrong for that matter) for the folks to jump from the WTC that day?

These had no choice in whether they would die that day, ... their only choice was how.

Are cyanide capsules for spies illegal?

These too, likely have no choice in the matter of whther or not they will soon die ... only how.

Are all "Do Not Resuscitate" orders that could be found this morning on thousands of medical charts across the USA illegal?

Resuscitation involves rescuing someone out of the death process. A "Do Not Resuscitate" order restricts the use of extraordinary means to accomplish this end. The provision of food and water is something every living organism requires ... and certainly would not be considered extraordinary.

[shhrubbery!]

Thanks for this post. Father Pavone is a rock. I miss seeing him on television (when we got DirectTV to see the Yankees, we lost EWTN -- drat).

[US admirer]

I would suggest to you that I understand all too well what is at stake here. Unfortunately, I suspect that you and I will forever disagree on what that is. All I can do is propose that you challenge that which is inculcated and accepted on faith, in and by you, with reason and the humility that accompanies uncertainty.

BTW should I take it you don't like Twain?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Ethan_Allen]

"Not quite as cut and dry as you, and some of the others, who would impose their views of right and wrong on everyone else, is it? "

Who should impose who's views here is, I suppose, the central question. Have you seen 'The Starving of Hugh Finn'? Hugh Finn had someone else's views imposed on him. Kind of curious as to how you would view this set of circumstances:

http://www.catholicmediacoalition.com/euthanasia.htm

[ljswisc]

"Terri's case is a test of whether we will wake up and realize that letting patients decide they want to be killed means that some patients will be killed against their will."

I think this is an excellent point, and I would say lends reason to question the validity of even living wills. Events in peoples lives are perfectly capable of influencing their opinions which can be changed by yet another event.

A young happy girl has a stubborn will to live. A girl who is trapped in a miserable, abusive marriage? May be thinking there's not much here to hold on to. Been there.

How often does a person decide to end their life.. only to change their mind when they get to the moment of truth? I would say more often then not!!

What if a person even goes as far as to create that living will.. but suddenly the time comes and they don't want to go through with it? What if they seem to be in a coma...but are actually aware of what people around them are discussing...? I don't know how even a living will created perhaps years in advance could be assurance of what a person wants when they've become incapacitated. God forbid that something I said during some casual conversation would become my own death warrant!

[Ohioan from Florida]

I think you may be right in that the two of us may not agree on what's at stake here, but that's just a guess. It could be that we agree more than we realize. And I propose that you take yourself up on your challenge as well, because if you knew me, you would know that I do that very thing in my life. I do challenge what is being spoon-fed to me almost every hour of the day, and you can ask my husband for verification on that. He'll tell you that research is my middle name. Oh, there are times when he'd love for me to not be this way, but then he realizes that he never wanted to be married to any other woman. IOW, I'm not a person says yes just because I'm told to. FWIW, I do love Mark Twain and his wit, but school boards didn't seem to be the focus of what's at stake here.

[JustPiper]

Terri Schindler-Schiavo is not a dying patient

Bump!