Posted on 01/23/2006 7:12:44 AM PST by NYer
SAFETY HARBOR - Michael Schiavo and Jodi Centonze were married in a private ceremony at Espiritu Santo Catholic Church on Saturday.
"It was very emotional," said John Centonze, brother of the bride, just after the noon ceremony. "It's been a long time coming. A lot of things happened in between."
The wedding came a day after the couple applied for a Pinellas County marriage license and 10 months after the death of Schiavo's first wife, Terri.
Terri Schiavo died March 31, two weeks after her feeding tube was removed, and 15 years after a cardiac arrest that left her in what most doctors called a persistent vegetative state. Her death was a most public process, with the Florida Legislature, Congress, the courts, pundits and interest groups weighing in.
The wedding, in contrast, was private. Mindful of the media circus that had whirled about Terri Schiavo's hospice for weeks, along with throngs of protesters, the families kept the time and location of Saturday's ceremony a secret. Three St. Petersburg Times journalists arrived at the church, but were asked not to go in.
Schiavo wore a black tuxedo and Centonze wore a long, flowing, white wedding gown. Their two children attended. The bride and groom did not make any public comment.
"Except for the fact that the world knows their name, it was like any wedding you've ever been to," said Michael Hirsh, who attended, and who is helping Schiavo write a book titled Terri: The Truth.
Hirsh estimated about 80 people attended. The priest offered no homily. Afterward the wedding party went to a reception at East Lake Country Club.
"It was just a beautiful ceremony," Hirsh said. "Everyone there was just extremely happy for them."
Hirsh said, "There weren't a lot of dry eyes in the place."
Centonze agreed. "I had a couple tears," he said.
Schiavo and Jodi Centonze met in a dentist's office and began dating a few years later. Terri Schiavo already had suffered her accident, and already was living in a nursing home.
Schiavo referred to Jodi Centonze as his fiancee for more than five years, as the Terri Schiavo case worked its way through the court system, and the halls of the Florida Legislature and Congress.
Some of Schiavo's friends compared him during this time to a man whose wife had Alzheimer's disease; he still loved his wife but also wanted companionship. But in the superheated rhetoric of Terri Schiavo's last months, critics called him an adulterer because he had taken up with another woman while still married.
In 1990, cardiac arrest deprived Terri Schiavo of oxygen for five minutes. Doctors eventually diagnosed her as being in a persistent vegetative state, meaning she was not conscious of her surroundings.
However, Terri Schiavo's family sharply disagreed and consulted doctors who disputed or doubted the diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state. They hoped to keep her alive and give her extensive therapy.
An autopsy concluded that Terri Schiavo never would have recovered from the brain damage she suffered during her 1990 collapse. Doctors have never competely understood what brought on her initial cardiac arrest.
But you must care, you reply to me every time!
Ah, you have no argument, so you bring in the nazi's?
Lame argumentation style, or lack there of.
Terri stated her requests to her husband, he was in charge of her, it went through several courts, and everything proceeded the way it was supposed to.
Bringing up Jew killing shows that you have no case, no class, and no ability to carry on an actual argument.
Who says theyre liberal? Quite a few Freepers felt she should be let go. And yes, those freepers were Conservative too!
A substantial segment sad to say. They probably outnumber those who think it is wrong.
Do you know which canon law?
The problem is that apparently neither of those contentions can be proven in this case ... suspected, but not proven
He was the prime mover and shaker in having her killed by the removal of the feeding tube. If that is not murder, I don't know what is. What else needs to be proven? It was center stage for the whole world to witness.
Of course, only the Magisterium in the Vatican can decide, and who knows what they would determine?
I think you are wrong. I'm trying to find out the canon law. I believe I read it is an impediment to marriage is one murders their former spouse.
A sin that public should require some kind of public statement of repentence and sorrow before absolution.
Something like old Henry the Eighth, eh?
The parallel is close. The beds in hospices throughout Florida and the nation are filled with undermenschen who do not deserve to live, who ruin our lives -- they should have yellow badges stuck to their robes so the orderlies and nursing staff will know easily who to kick and spit on for a few laughs.
Yeah, but the church didn't let him get away with it to their credit. It cost them dearly. I thought he murdered all his wives but one, but saw a documentary awhile back where I believe it was two he had put to death. He was despicable. The irony was that a female ended up on the throne.
Now the queen is head of that church. What a legacy!
Don't think that's an accident. This guy is, on top of everything else, mean and spiteful.
I'll go beyond that. Why has the Catholic Church allowed this. IMHO, Bishop Lynch, the pastor of Espiritu Santo, and the priest who "officiated at this mock marriage" there, should have all been given their marching orders. Out with them!
The Catholic Church can hardly expect undying loyalty when they don't abide by what they preach.
I don't understand it.
Forgive me but WHAT are you saying! The Catholic Church would require a murderer to confess the sin and make restitution. He/she would also have to report the murder to the police. I certainly believe that someone not of that faith would have to report this crime to the police before a priest would officiate at his/her marriage.
At this point, marriage by any official would be moved to a far back-burner.
I welcome any clarification of my belief.
Nobody knows except Michael. If he's a murderer he'll have his judgement day. Other than that, he's getting on with his life. Isn't it time to dissolve the cult and get on with your lives?
And I and everyone who think like me regarding this issue are irrational and insane....Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingrahm, Ann Coulter, Bill Crystal, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Peggy Noonan, Glenn Beck, Rollye James Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict, George Bush, and on and on. Somehow, I prefer being in the company of those you define as irrational and insane....
Apparently not enough. He was willing to officiate. Where was his backbone if he objected to this "marriage ceremony"?
The courts had an awful lot to say about slavery and it took almost 100 years to outlaw it. Perhaps, the oponents of slavery should have "moved on."
I truly don't know how they withstood it. And the unfounded and wicked things said about them on this and other CONSERVATIVE forums are an OUTRAGE.
Prayers for them all, always.
That you are concerned about THEIR souls makes you a better Christian than I am. I admit that, while praying daily for mercy and help for a number of people I know, Schiavo and Centonze are not on the list. They both disgust me. Their innocent kids will know the whole story at some point. Probably their version, but they won't avoid hearing the "other side of the story".
LOL I'm with you.
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