Posted on 03/27/2005 12:09:42 PM PST by Crackingham
The Terri Schiavo case, for all its legal and political wranglings, is also churning up spiritual questions, ones with particular relevance for Catholics during the holiest days of the church calendar this weekend.
The Roman Catholic Church has taken a strong stance in the saga of Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman whose parents are fighting to keep her alive. Her Catholic faith has been such an important issue in the case that a court ordered doctors to deliver the sacrament of Holy Communion through her feeding tube before it was removed March 18. Pope John Paul II has said feeding tubes are "morally obligatory" for most patients in vegetative states, and high-ranking cardinals have followed up by referring to Schiavo, saying that removing her feeding tube could lead to legalized euthanasia.
Theologians disagree about whether the pope is altering Catholic tradition, but there is consensus across the ideological spectrum that the Vatican's position in the Schiavo case has given Roman Catholics a new calculus for end-of-life decision making.
"This is the most authoritative statement we have to date," said Richard M. Doerflinger, vice president of the Pro-Life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and an opponent of ending Schiavo's feeding.
Before this case, before the pope's statement, even conservatives such as Doerflinger say there was enough of a debate about the Catholic position that a person could choose which side to take: continue or discontinue tube-feeding. But now the pope and the cardinals have made much more definitive statements that Doerflinger and his polar opposites agree seem to require Catholics to continue with tube-feeding, as long as it "provides nourishment" and "alleviates suffering."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Kennedy thinks that the Jesuit heretic is "progressive."
Of course, I give Kennedy the benefit of the doubt by using the term "thinks" in reference to his mental activity.
Bull. This has been the position as far as I can remember, which is about ten years. The pope and the Church has made it clear on many occassions that food and water (even by feeding tube) do not constitute heroic lifesaving measures.
"Theologians" don't determine Catholic dogma, the pope and Church Councils do.
Why? Do people who oppose starving people to death have an obligation to feed every starving person?
Regardless, The Catholic Church is the largest social service provider in the country.
I don't recall anything about feeding tubes in the bible.
Not exactly, but there's this:
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,"
--Jesus
But what about their stance on Terry Schiavo?
It's not the bible.
Dear speekinout,
There are caregivers who testify that they have successfully fed her by mouth. These individuals have said that she enjoyed simple things like jello.
As well, she does swallow, as she does not drool. She has no problem swallowing her own saliva. If you put a little water in her mouth, it is likely that she would swallow it just fine.
The Schindlers actually proposed that the court permit the attempt to feed and hydrate Terri orally, just to see if she could. The court said, no way, no how. I wonder what the murderer greer was afraid of?
sitetest
Would you personally want to be kept alive decade after decade by a feeding tube? Laying in poop and bedsores? I sure wouldn't.
What would Christopher Reeves have said before his accident?
Brain death and ventilators is one thing. Food and water is another.
What is going on here is the (c)hurch of Scientology (Felos, Michael Schiavo etc) versus the Roman Catholic Church (Terri Schiavo, the Schindlers, the Vatican etc).
People who don't understand that Scientology controls many levels of Clearwater and Pinellas don't understand the depth of the evil involved.
Thanks for posting that.
Next, cough up your share of your State/local police, etc., etc.
Yes I plenty enough in taxes. Furthermore the vast majority more much of what goverment does I could glady do without. Its marxists such as yourself you demand others pay for them.
It's not the bible.
As I said, In the Catholic Church...
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