Terri Schiavo denied Last Rites

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | October 19, 2003 | Sarah Foster

[dsc]

Saying she was only following court and doctor's orders, an attorney for Michael Schiavo yesterday would not allow a revered Roman Catholic priest to administer Holy Communion to brain-disabled Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who is being slowly starved to death following the judge-ordered removal of her life-sustaining feeding tube on Wednesday.

Attorney Deborah Bushnell told Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, who has been Terri's spiritual provider for three years, that ''because of court order and doctor's orders, you can't put anything in her mouth,'' not even a morsel of moistened communion wafer.

Malanowski recounted the bizarre incident for WorldNetDaily. ''I felt that time was of the essence at this point and made a decision that because she is not going to live much longer, I might not have another opportunity to give her Holy Communion,'' he said.

As he had done almost every Saturday for over three years, the priest accompanied Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, to the Hospice of the Florida Sun Coast in Pinellas Park, Fla, where she has been a patient since April 2000. Because so little time is left for the family to be with Terri, her brother Bobby and sister, Suzanne, were there as well.

Plus there were two police officers in the room and a woman who was said to be Schiavo's ''representative.''

Malanowski spoke with Bushnell outside the room, explaining that he wanted to administer the Sacrament of Annointing of the Sick or the Viaticum, the last communion for a Catholic before death. Bushnell contacted Schiavo by phone to make certain he would allow it, and he gave his permission.

Wanting to make it a prayer service, the priest invited the family into the room to share the sacrament with Terri, but Bushnell demanded to know what the priest was going to so.

Malanowski explained he was going to give her: ''a small, tiny particle of the consecrated Host. And I'll moisten my index finger [in water] to make sure the Host will stick to it and that it will stick to her tongue.''

Bushnell said he couldn't do that, but suggested he ''take the Host, touch her lips with it, and you consume it.''

Malanowski protested, ''I'm not here for that. I am here to bring her communion, not me. I went to communion this morning. This is communion for her.''

Contacted by telephone, the priest of the local parish told Bushnell there was an ''alternative'' called ''spiritual communion'' for people who can't receive communion – ''She receives the Lord in her heart.''

''I told attorney Bushnell, I've been doing that for over three years,'' Malanowski exclaimed. ''Every Saturday I give her spiritual communion, and I want her to receive communion in the mouth. She hasn't received communion for 13 or 14 years. She's dying. She's on her deathbed, and with dying people – whether it is a male or female Catholic – I'm obligated to take care of their religious and spiritual needs when they're dying. They get absolution, Holy Communion, and Annointing of the Sick.''

Malanowski argued the matter with the parish priest, but realized he was ''following the party line about spiritual communion.''

''I told him I'd been doing that for two-and-a-half years – and he said, 'Well, the doctors say you cannot put anything in her mouth.'''

Malanowski said he would do it, ''because she has the constitutional right to follow her religious beliefs, she has the right to receive communion and I have the obligation as a priest to give her communion. This will be perhaps the last time in her life on earth that she receives communion.''

But the priest didn't agree. ''I sensed that, because he was saying, 'Otherwise you can't do it. If the court-order says so and the doctors say so, you can't do it.'''

Unwilling to argue points of theology and constitutional issues on the phone, Malanowski tried Bushnell again, but she was adamant. ''She wouldn't let me do it.''

There were two police officers, and he asked them, ''What if I go in there now and give her communion?'' And they said, ''We will deny you access to her. You will not be able to put it in her mouth.''

At that point Bobby and Suzanne, said, ''Father, let's go.''

And they did. While Bushnell was talking with the priest, they had had a prayer service and the ''spiritual communion'' – but many Catholics do not regard that as the same as communion with a consecrated host.

Outside the hospice a scheduled press conference was about to begin, and Malanowski found himself in front of the TV cameras.

''I told them [the media] the whole story, that she was denied her religious privileges and I was denied the right to take care of her religious needs,'' he said. ''I told them, that the attorney had some suggestion about me touching Terri's lips with the wafer, and then I was supposed to consume it. What does she know about Catholic ritual or rites?''

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Schindlers had been fighting their son-in-law for 10 years over the lack of care and therapy Schiavo as her guardian provided for their daughter, who suffered massive brain damage when she collapsed at her home 13 years ago under mysterious circumstances at the age of 26.

The ongoing dispute escalated five years ago when Schiavo petitioned the court for permission to end his wife's life by removing her feeding tube, insisting she is in a ''persistent vegetative state'' and had told him years before she would not want to be maintained ''by tubes'' and ''artificial means'' Although Terri breathes on her own and maintains her own blood pressure, she requires a simple tube into her abdomen to her stomach for nourishment and hydration.

The Schindlers fought tenaciously to keep their daughter and the case alive in the courts, but they have been basically blocked at every turn in particular by probate judge George Greer, of the Pinellas County Circuit Court, who has had charge of the case almost from the beginning. When the seven-member Florida Supreme Court in August turned down a petition to review the case, the way was clear for Schiavo to starve his wife to death.

On Sept. 17, Greer scheduled Oct. 15 as the day Terri's feeding tube would be removed. At the same time, in separate rulings, he denied any rehabilitation for the disabled woman or a chance to be spoon-fed.

[dsc]

Sometimes we lose sight of just how downright mean Satan really is.

[drstevej]

Your fraith teaches a baptism of intent. Would this not be a case of last rites of intent?

[dsc]

I'm not an expert, but I believe so.

Current status of WND poll:

Why do you think Gov. Jeb Bush hasn't intervened for Terri?


Heartless coward 15.81% (164)


Has no choice, it's up to the courts 15.24% (158)


He's another phony politician, what do you expect? 12.05% (125)


Easier to do nothing 11.57% (120)


Afraid of offending potential voters 10.80% (112)


He's a pathetic excuse for a leader 9.84% (102)


He's respecting the separation of powers 7.71% (80)


Other 7.14% (74)


Doing his job by upholding state constitution 6.36% (66)


He was long ago 'bought off' by the lawyer lobby 3.47% (36)

---

TOTAL VOTES: 1037

[drstevej]

Put me in the other category. I am not knowledgeable enough on Florida law to evaluate his actions.

[dsc]

It seems to me that if Florida law requires this murder, it is morally corrupt and disobedience is warranted.

I think he should act, even if that requires calling out the National Guard and saving her life at gunpoint.

[drstevej]

***It seems to me that if Florida law requires this murder, it is morally corrupt and disobedience is warranted. ***

The problem is the law and the judiciary not the governor. I lived in Florida five years under Lawton Chiles as governor. In any state that could elect Lawton and allow the current Bozos that wear black robes and call themselves Supreme, the problem is not Jeb Bush.

Change the laws and clean out the judiciary seems to be the real actions needed in the wake of this horrific situation. Systemic change is vitally needed to combat euthanasia. Hopefully her case will make people mad enough to demand change. She will not be the last case.

[dsc]

If the governor fails to act, he shows himself part of the problem.

He could--I say "could," as in, it is within his power--roll up to the hospital with a battalion of combat troops and remove her to a safe place.

He could say, "This is murder, and I won't stand by and see murder done."

[drstevej]

I disagree. Sounds like Janet Reno not the rule of law.

[dsc]

Oh, please, I would have thought the false moral equivalence beneath you.

Force itself is as morally neutral as a hammer.

It is the intention with which it is used and its outcome by which it must be judged.

There is a difference between pushing a little old lady into the path of a speeding bus and pushing a little old lady out of the path of a speeding bus.

The rule of law is essential to a free society, but it is equally essential that the law which rules must not be corrupt. When the law becomes corrupt, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, even if that requires recourse to force of arms.

Jeb Bush using force of arms to prevent corrupt law from murdering an innocent woman is in no way morally equivalent to the abuses perpetrated under Beelzebubba and Reno.

[Conservative til I die]

''I told them [the media] the whole story, that she was denied her religious privileges

Wrong. She was denied her religious RIGHTS.

[narses]

Note the response of the Diocesan Priest.

[OpusatFR]

I'm not versed in theology, I'm just a servant, but

Our faith states that even in the most minute speck of consecrated host, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus is present completely, undiminished. A flake or speck of the Host would accomplish as much as though the entire Host was consumed. I doubt a speck would have caused any physical problem. She probably swallows lint or dust anyway, or it slides down her throat.

Of course there is Spiritual Communion when one is unable through some unabsolved sin that one says an act of Contrition for, or physical impediment, but I don't see why this is forbidden now. Spiritual Communion would not be preferrable for the dying.

This action is just horrendous.

[Askel5]

I thought Communionis spiritualis actus was initated by those desirous of the sacrament who had no priest or ability somehow to receive the Eucharist. Maybe someone else knows more about its being some kind of alternative sacrament a priest dispenses.

[Salvation]

We really need to contact the Church about this. It is outrageous!

[OpusatFR]

Time for Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Please pray for Terri and defend her. Lord, have mercy.

[MarMema]

Change the laws and clean out the judiciary seems to be the real actions needed in the wake of this horrific situation.

When Roe vs Wade is struck down, then we have a shot at this.

She will not be the last case.

No she won't and she was far from the first as well.

[jmc159]

This case is a more than a wake up call. These people care nothing for the rule of law - if they did, the pig Michael Schiavo's guardianship would have been revoked long ago for his refusal to secure the therapy he promised. Instead his little enabler, Judge Greer, let him go ahead and starve his wife. These people have no honor, no integrity, and no dignity. They lie whenever it serves their purposes. The notion that Communion is a "privilege" that Terri can be denied for her "peace of mind" is proof of this. They cannot be reasoned with. They can only be fought. It is time we pulled our heads out of the sand and realized what we are dealing with - a battle to the death against pure evil. The politicians will not fight for us unless they are members of our faith and firmly under our active supervision and control. The ruling classes cannot be trusted - the bureacrats, the judiciary, the lawyers - all of these should be regarded as the enemy from now on. There is no third side in this, no neutrality. Everyone who is not with us is against us. This is a civil war. Be ready. Things like this always start small, but the persecution against Christians is already underway, and so is the mass slaughter of the weak, helpless, and inconvenient.