I'm home from Terri's Memorial Service. There were 800 plus in attendance, some spilling onto the lawn. Fox news is showing portions of it now. I've never been to such a gathering.
The service was heard by the spillover crowd & media outside on speakers. Applause broke out every time Father Pavone spoke about juditical tyranny and about who the real Judge is.
A Vietnam Vet mailed Terri a Purple Heart stating that Terri was a victim of domestic terrorism.
This is just going to get worse for those who did nothing to protect her.
Monsignor Malanowski blessed me since I couldn't take Communion as a non-Catholic. The service was about the Pope and about Terri. Terri passed on Easter Thursday per Father Pavone. Father Pavone read to us his last words and hymn he sang to Terri before she passed; so moving.
The media not allowed in the Church were to our right as we entered the Church. Fox News was allowed in.
Another tribute:
March 31, 2005
Feminists for Life Honors the Life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo
http://www.feministsforlife.org/news/HonorTerri.htm
Feminists for Life expresses our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Terri Schindler-Schiavo on her tragic passing. We extend our deep regrets to all who worked to save Terri's life.
Her gentle and joyful spirit, though impaired and imperfect, touched many hearts. She reminded us that life is a precious and fragile gift that needs to be respected and protected--sometimes through great and heroic efforts. We mourn Terri's passing with deep sadness. Patricia Heaton, honorary Co-Chair of Feminists for Life, joins us in saying that "We have to honor her, and honor her life."
It is our hope that Terri will be remembered as a remarkable woman with an undeniable strength to live despite tremendous odds. We will honor her as we advocate for greater protection for the disabled and oppose increasing moves to deny any individual their right to life based on a quality of life judgment.
We are concerned that Terri did not receive justice. She never had an independent attorney who was solely concerned for her interests. Her statements to family and friends prior to her collapse about wanting a divorce were not considered pertinent. There was conflict between her husband and her family and friends as to what she would have really wanted.
Let Terri's case motivate us to make our end of life wishes known to family and friends. It is so important that you write out your wishes and review them with your loved ones and doctors. Please carefully review the documents you sign to be sure they reflect your deeply held pro-life convictions. If you need guidance, National Right to Life's "Will to Live" (http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/) may be a good place to start.
In honor of Terri's life and the fight to save her, let us prepare ourselves and those we love with a "Will to Live" and recommit our lives to protecting the weak and vulnerable.
Serrin M. Foster
President
I'd love to hear what that song was .. if dear Pope John II did that, I'm just crushed again with sadness and melancholy.
Rev. Msgr. Thaddeus Malanowski presides over the Liturgy of the Eucharist during the funeral Mass for Terri Schiavo in Gulfport, Florida, April 5, 2005.
...
SWEET TERRI, ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS
...
Kristol: Why No 'Evolving Standards of Decency' for Terri Schiavo
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that convicted killers who have been sentenced to death by state courts could not, in fact, be put to death if they were juveniles when they committed the crime.
That's because, the court ruled, "evolving standards of decency that mark a maturing society" make such sentences unconstitutional. So, the death penalty laws of 19 states suddenly became moot, and scores of convicted killers were given their lives back.
Yet, notes Weekly Standard co-founder William Kristol, there were no such "evolving standards of decency" applied by federal courts in the case of Terri Schiavo. In fact, despite an extraordinary law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush requiring federal courts to re-examine her case, federal jurists repeatedly blew off those instructions and, in essence, declined to step in to save her life.
"In a series of decisions in Florida state courts, Circuit Judge George Greer and his colleagues have chosen to credit the claim of Michael Schiavo that his wife long ago" expressed a will to die, Kristol writes in the April 4 issue of the magazine.
Those same courts "have chosen to deny efforts by Terri Schiavo's mother and father to assume responsibility for their daughter's care. They have chosen to strike down legislation passed by the Florida legislature, and signed by the governor, to permit the governor to allow water and nutrition to be given to patients who leave no written directive, and to allow some recourse for family members who wish to challenge the withholding of nutrition and hydration."
Federal courts did the same thing, notes Kristol, though they "chose not to explain why 'evolving standards of decency' might not allow Terri Schiavo to be kept alive until the case was argued in federal court."
Among the courts failing to employ the "evolving standards of decency" for a woman who had never committed any crime, who was unable to speak for herself, and who had parents willing to accept responsibility for her care: The same U.S. Supreme Court that ruled "evolving standards of decency" made it unconstitutional to put killers to death.