Posted on 03/21/2005 12:22:00 PM PST by cpforlife.org
|
|
|
A Media Relations Service
|
Congress and President Praised for Schiavo Action; Bishops Blasted For Inaction "The overwhelming, bipartisan support for the measure is encouraging," Scott said. "It indicates that most Americans understand that Mike Schiavo and his lawyer simply want to kill this wonderful woman whom they apparently believe is in the way of their personal agendas." Scott said that anytime you can get a unanimous vote in the Senate and nearly 80 percent of the House to agree on a bill, it is clear that a consensus exists. Scott said Congress and the President have every right to intervene in what Mike Schiavo is calling a "personal and private" affair. "If a judge takes an action to kill an innocent human being, it is not only the right of the elected representatives of the people to intervene, it is their sworn duty." Scott urged the President and Florida Governor Jeb Bush to use any means necessary to save Schindler Schiavo's life. "This case may lead to a constitutional crisis, pitting the executive and legislative branches against the judicial branch. But this would be a good time to make it very clear to activist judges that they are not gods. These judges need to understand that no matter how they choose to interpret the letter of the law, it is quite possible that they are mistaken." "The judicial branch does not have an army," Scott said. "If it becomes necessary, the President or the Governor should use the National Guard to physically protect its citizens. We should say to Judge George W. Greer, 'Thank you for your opinion, but those men and women who were elected to make and enforce laws could not disagree with your more.'" At the same time, Scott said he wanted to condemn, "in the strongest possible terms," those who have threatened to do physical harm to the judge or his family. Scott urged everyone to remember that even if Terri Schindler Schiavo had prepared a written directive saying she would not want to live in such a condition, the response should be the same. "Thankfully, physician-assisted is illegal in Florida. Terri is not terminally ill. Terri is not in pain. Terri simply needs nutrition and hydration like the rest of us. Regardless of who thinks Terri would be better off dead, even if this included Terri herself, no one is permitted to take an action or inaction that will kill someone." While Scott had praise for Congress, the President, and Governor Bush, the pro-life leader continues to be critical of the Florida Catholic Conference and Bishop Robert N. Lynch in particular. "If the Florida bishops had any moral backbone and leadership, they would physically stand at Terri's door and say they will do everything in their power to protect this child of God," Scott said. "This is not a case of stepping back and letting Terri 'go be with God,' this is a case of killing her. Bishop Lynch should stand at Terri's door and say, 'Anyone who professes to be Catholic but is working to kill Terri will be excommunicated, period, and I will personally do it!'" Scott said that urging people to pray is wonderful, but "true leaders would not tell people to pray and do nothing more." Criticism of Bishop Lynch was not restricted to his inaction. "Maybe Bishop Lynch can explain why we have received confirmed reports that students who were distributing pamphlets at St. Petersburg area parishes on March 13 were physically turned away at many parishes? Why did a priest at St. Jerome's order the students to leave? Why were police called to order students to stop passing our flyers at St. Matthew's? Why did a priest at another area parish say to the Catholic school students, 'Our people here do not want to know about Terri Schiavo' before being ordered off church property?" The flyer in question consisted of a depiction of Jesus on the cross on one side and Terri Schindler Schiavo's on the other with the caption, "I thirst." "Bishop Lynch, I have one more question for you," Scott said. "Did you or anyone working on your behalf, including your lawyers, give a directive that the distribution of materials regarding Terri Schindler Schiavo was to be barred?" Scott said he would like to hear from Bishop Lynch on this matter. "If the bishop did not take such action, maybe he can explain why students were met by the same response at virtually all of the parishes. If the bishop did take such action, maybe he can explain why he would do something so incomprehensible." Scott realizes that Terri Schindler Schiavo's fight is not yet won. "We are all thrilled, but there are other battles ahead. This may just be a stay of execution." He also said Terri's plight "does not show that people should write a living will. Rather, this situation shows that people should be very careful about the kind of person they marry. If a person is not 100 percent certain that his or her fiancé is of strong moral character, it is time to say, 'Next!'"
|
|
I think the image below, which has been around for a long time is the most accurate:
'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006450
Terri Schiavo and the Law
The case for life.
Monday, March 21, 2005 12:01 a.m.
Today will be Terri Schiavo's fourth day without food or water. By the end of the day, both Houses of Congress are expected to have passed, and President Bush is expected to have signed into law, a bill that will allow a federal court to review her case. The hope is that a federal judge will order that her feeding tube be reinserted.
And then it will be off to the races again as her case works its way through the federal judiciary, perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court. In Florida so far, at least 19 judges in six courts have weighed in on Mrs. Schiavo's case since 1990, when she suffered the heart attack that left her severely brain damaged.
Since then her parents have been locked in a highly public legal battle with her husband, Michael, who says that Terri would not have wanted to live in an incapacitated state. Mrs. Schiavo was a practicing Catholic and she left no living will, but a Florida judge years ago agreed with Mr. Schiavo--a finding of "fact" that has made the subsequent appeals difficult.
Another judge might look differently today on Mr. Schiavo's right-to-die claims given his apparent incentives to be rid of the burden of a severely disabled wife. He lives with a girlfriend, with whom he has children. It was not until 1993, after a medical-malpractice jury awarded him roughly $1 million for Terri's long-term care, that he began to seek his wife's death.
A Florida court has twice before ordered Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube removed--in 2001 and 2003. Six days after the latter episode, the Florida legislature passed "Terri's Law," which allowed Governor Jeb Bush to intervene. Last year the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Terri's Law was unconstitutional.
We review this history both to show how poorly Florida's legal system has served Mrs. Schiavo, and to explain the reasons that Congress is taking the extraordinary step of intervening in what normally would be considered a matter solely for a state's judicial system. The conservative Republicans leading this effort--Senators Bill Frist and Rick Santorum, Representative Tom DeLay--are taking hits for supposedly abandoning their federalist principles.
We'd have more sympathy for this argument if the same liberals who are complaining about the possibility of the federal courts reviewing Mrs. Schiavo's case felt as strongly about restraining the federal judiciary when it comes to abortion, homosexuality, and other social issues they don't want to trust to local communities. In any event, these critics betray their lack of understanding of the meaning of federalism. It is not simply about "states' rights." Conservatives support states' rights in areas that are not delegated to the federal government but they also support federal power in areas that are delegated.
Think of an analogy to the writ of habeas corpus. As John Eastman of the Claremont Institute points out, "We have federal court review of state court judgments all the time in the criminal law context." The bill before Congress essentially treats the Florida judgment as a death sentence, warranting federal habeas review. Mrs. Schiavo is not on life support. The court order to remove the feeding tube is an order to starve her to death. Moreover, Mrs. Schiavo is arguably being deprived of her life without due process of law, a violation of the 14th Amendment that Congress has the power to address.
The "right to die" has become another liberal cause, part of the "privacy" canon that extends through Roe (abortion) and Lawrence (homosexuality) and the Ninth Circuit's views on assisted suicide that the Supreme Court is taking up this year. Of course, it gets a little messy when someone is actually being killed, and a husband with a conflict of interest is the one who claims she wanted to kill herself, but the left apparently believes these are mere details that shouldn't interfere with the broader cause. Thus the discovery of federalism.
Terri Schiavo's case is a tragedy for her and her family. Beyond the immediate question of whether she lives or dies, her case may well have the salutary effect of demonstrating to the elites who want the right to kill oneself embedded into law that there is another side to the debate that is going to be heard.
I see that this week the Bishops are beginning an all out campaign against the Death Penalty for Convicted Murderers.
I wondered why (with the exception of a few with huevos) the life of Terri Schiavo, guilty of only being a person of diminished mental capacity was so insignificant to most of them they would remain silent while a sheep of their own flock was starved to death.
Excellent post! Thanks.
Ping
"'Anyone who professes to be Catholic but is working to kill Terri will be excommunicated, period, and I will personally do it!'" Scott said that urging people to pray is wonderful, but "true leaders would not tell people to pray and do nothing more.""
Another completely ignorant statement in this mass hysteria. The Church is in the hospital business and knows the issue well. Went through it in the '70's they have there own standards. Plus they're not going to come out and say Terri's wishes should be ignored, ie hubby is a liar.
Words from a few are not enough. They should be down in Florida, giving witness.
I weep for the spineless, amoral leadership of our Church.
Some are trying to save life, and some are trying to kill.
Mark 3: "4": And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
God knows who the evil ones are, who are trying to kill.
God help us all!
"Even IF Terri had a written will asking to be dehydrated and starved to death that would be tantamount to assisted suicide."
If one accepts there's a constitutional right to life as many do here now that applies to Terri that's certainly true. I've noted that about living wills. So far, people don't like that logical ramification of the constitutional position they take.
No one in the USA should have to be fightlng for the life of another human, unless it is a convict, condemnd. It is a disgrace for an innocent person in the USA to be forced to fight, just to live.
It's about time someone calls the fat, morally-lazy Bishops out, if they were doing their jobs in the first place The Catholic Church would be much stronger.
they are all dragging their feet hoping she dies as they have been for the last few years...
Terri is showing them all..phony lying do nothing politicans and clergy for the cowards they all are...
imo
I'll bet it would be interesting to look at Michael Schiavo's tax returns for the last five years. I wonder how many exemptions he has claimed
The international Catholic pro-life organization called "PRIESTS FOR LIFE" has been sending out educational literature about Terri Schiavo's case to hundreds of thousands of people and have raised tens of thousands of dollars for her defense fund. And they've been actively involved for YEARS.
The head of this organization, Fr. Frank Pavone, has personally visited with Terri at least twice. And the bishops of Florida HAVE spoken out in Terri's defense, and spoken very clearly. For more information on Priests for Life and how you can help them help Terri, go to:
www.priestsforlife.org
If you want a helpful fact card issued by 'Priests for Life' relating to Terri Schiavo's case go to:
orders@priestsforlife.org
"Terri Schindler Schiavo has been the center of national media attention, and the focus of a debate that touches all three branches of government. Mrs. Schiavo is not "brain dead" or comatose. She has lived in a nursing home for years, presently a hospice facility, generally needing only nursing care and assistance in receiving nourishment. Some experts say she is in a "persistent vegetative state;" others say she is not. Her husband wants to remove her feeding tube, insisting she expressed clearly this would be her wish; her parents and siblings vigorously disagree, and have offered to care for her as long as she lives. Questions about her prognosis and wishes persist, raising doubt as to what she would truly want."
"No longer able to speak on her own behalf, Mrs. Schiavo is a defenseless human being with inherent dignity, deserving of our respect, care and concern. Her plight dramatizes one of the most critical questions we face: To be a truly human society, how should we care for those we may not be able to cure?"
"In our past statements concerning Terri Schiavo, as well as those by Bishop Robert N. Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, we have made it clear that there should be a presumption in favor of providing nutrition and hydration even by artificial means as long as it is of sufficient benefit to outweigh the burdens involved to the patient. We reiterate our plea that Mrs. Schiavo continues to receive all treatments and care that will be of benefit to her."
"In a statement provided in March 2004, Pope John Paul II urges us to see every patient in a so-called "vegetative" state as a fellow human being, retaining his or her full dignity despite diminished abilities. Regarding nourishment for such patients, he said:
"Simply put, we are called to provide basic means of sustenance such as food and water unless they are doing more harm than good to the patient, or are useless because the patient’s death is imminent. As long as they effectively provide nourishment and help provide comfort, we should see them as part of what we owe to all who are helpless and in our care. In certain situations a patient may morally refuse medical treatment and such decisions may properly be seen as an expression of our hope of union with God in the life to come."
"We pray that Terri Schindler Schiavo's family and friends, and all who hold power over her fate, will see that she continues to receive nourishment, comfort and loving care."
Archbishop John C. Favalora, Archdiocese of Miami
Bishop John J. Nevins, Diocese of Venice
Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, Diocese of Pensacola/Tallahassee
Bishop Robert N. Lynch, Diocese of St. Petersburg
Bishop Victor Galeone, Diocese of St. Augustine
Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito, JCL, Diocese of Palm Beach
Bishop Thomas G. Wenski,Diocese of Orlando, Auxiliary
Bishop Felipe J. Estévez,Archdiocese of Miami
Now that we know the article is b.s. and the cartoon is an ugly and undeserved lampoon, I'dlike to know where is the article chastising Mister Billa Graham and Pat Robertson for not chaining themselves to Terri Schiavo's door and standing up the law enforcement community??????????????
Stop wondering, neither the Catholic Church nor the Florida Bishops have 'remained silent'. READ MY POST # 19 for the truth.
The Catholic Church, through Fr. Frank Pavone and his organization "Priest for Life", has been deeply involved in saving Terri Schiavo's life for many years now, including raising money for her defense fund, issuing tens of thousands of 'Terri Schiavo Fact Cards', holding special prayer sessions for her, getting Catholics to write to their Representatives, and giving educational speeches on Terri's case all accross the nation.
FR is a great source for news, opinion and action, but unfortunately there's a fair share of B.S. that flys around in here too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
