PINELLAS PARK (FBW)-Calling the Terri Schiavo situation "one of the most profound moral and ethical issues of our time," civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with Bob and Mary Schindler and their family today in Pinellas Park, spending a few hours outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo, 41, is in her 12th day of a court-ordered starvation.
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Under a sweltering Florida sun, Jackson told dozens of reporters he has been watching and praying from a "distance," but finally made the trip when the Schindler family called.
"I've come quickly and I've come gladly," Jackson said, calling on a bi-partisan approach to find a solution to what he said is a dilemma over a healthcare issue.
The Schiavo issue has focused the world's attention on end-of-life issues, Jackson said, and as she lay dying of starvation and dehydration inside the hospice, she is the "singular person that brings clarity" to the issue.
"There are congregations of people coming together to pray for her who ordinarily wouldn't pray together," Jackson said.
Photo by Joni B. Hannigan
Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the family of Terri Schiavo outside the Pinellas Park hospice where she is being starved to death on a court order. On Jackson's left is Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri's younger sister, and Suzanne's husband, Michael.
Photo by Joni B. Hannigan
Bob Sr. and Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's parents, continue to fight for her life outside of the Pinellas Park hospice where she is in her 12th day of being starved to death.
Photo by Joni B. Hannigan
Bobby Schindler Jr. (center) tells reporters retired Catholic chaplain, Thaddeus Malanowski, was threatened with arrest for seeking to give Terri Schiavo communion each day until she dies. Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and guardian, has refused the family's request.
Jackson said he called members of the Florida Senate and asked them to work on a solution, although the body has twice rejected legislation offered by Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden. The Florida House adopted a bill March 17 sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, only to have similar legislation stall in the Senate.
Jackson contacted the senators - who he declined to name - after praying with Schindler family members in a thrift store across from the hospice where the family has been staying on and off since March 18. That was the day when, acting under court order, hospice workers removed Schiavo's feeding and hydration tube and began a process which medical experts have predicted will lead to her death at any time.
Barred from visiting Terri by Michael Schiavo, whom Jackson said also declined to pray with him about the situation, Jackson said he believes there is evidence that Terri's life can still be preserved and that there could be a legal remedy.
So far, Terri's plight has been pleaded in state and federal courts, and has been to the U.S. Supreme Court and back several times. Congress acted more than a week ago to request a full review in federal court, but judges have found that the issues lie within state court jurisdiction.
"Things are not now what they were a week ago," Jackson said. "You can't hide behind the law and not have mercy. It takes the law and mercy."
Describing Terri's situation, Jackson said she is not on a breathing machine, or did she already have an illness that would have led to her death if the feeding tube had not been removed.
"Unless we are anxious for her to die, we must not be this callous about human life," Jackson said.
Bob Schindler told reporters that although Terri is "failing" she looks "pretty good" under the circumstances. He said her bodily functions are still working.
"You can still see the impact 12 days without food and water is having," Bob Schindler said. "I pray to God that she continues to have the strength to go on. …It's not too late to save her."
Mary Schindler, who has spoken only briefly to the press in the past week, pleaded with state lawmakers to do all they can to save her daughter.
"Please, please pass this new bill," Mary Schindler said, pausing briefly to look down. "Terri is still fighting; she is still alive she's trying with all her might. She does not want to die."
In a new development late this afternoon at the hospice, Thaddeus Malanowski emerged from the hospice and said he had been told he may not administer communion to Terri—and was threatened with arrest if he proceeds to administer the sacrament.
Terri, as a Roman Catholic, has the responsibility and right to receive communion once a day, said Malanowski, especially since her death is imminent.
“Every citizen in this country has a right to their religious practices and beliefs,” Malanowski told reporters. He said Michael Schiavo had forbidden the practice to continue.
Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother, said he was told by hospice personnel that since Terri had received a drop of consecrated wine—which Catholics believe becomes the actual blood of Christ--through her feeding tube just before it was disconnected March 18, and on Easter Sunday, Michael Schiavo had fulfilled his obligation to a court order on the matter issued by Sixth Circuit Court Judge George Greer.
Schindler said he believes “only God knows” if Terri is in danger of passing away soon, but said, “we all know Terri is dying.”
Malanowski confirmed, “We think her condition may be getting worse.”
Paul O’Donnell, a Franciscan monk from Minnesota who is a family spokesperson, said he believes “no court, no congress, can tell another human being” how to practice their religion.
“This is not a legal issue,” O’Donnell said. “No court should have any authority.” He called it a religious liberty issue and said people who believe in the separation of church and state should be alarmed at this turn of events.
St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Schindler family attended a special Mass on Tuesday, which marked the fourth anniversary of the painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death of Terri Schiavo. Ave Maria University, a Florida-based Catholic college, hosted the mass, which saw the entire Schindler family attend.
