Keep us posted. We want to do something!!! Thanks.
This leaves a wide range of possibilities for action.
;)
In a wait and see mode. Terri's Law is pending and Judge Greer back in Pinellas has a week or two to decide if a discussion in court about Terri's religious freedoms will GO FORWARD. I'd like to know who made him god? What's happened to Terri is what JUDICIAL TYRANNY looks like for her which is premeditated murder. If this is not stopped, picture judicial tyranny of this type on a grand scale.
Brothers cite Floridas Schiavo case
as euthanasias Roe v. Wade
October 7, 2004
By Julie Carroll
The Catholic Spirit
http://www.thecatholicspirit.com/archives.php?article=2899
After 12 years of caring for the late founder of their St. Paul community after an illness left him severely brain damaged, the Franciscan Brothers of Peace now have turned their attention to Terri Schindler Schiavo, a 40-year-old Clearwater, Fla., woman whose case they say is the Roe v. Wade of the euthanasia movement in the United States.
Schiavo, who has had limited brain function since collapsing in her home for unknown reasons in 1990, lives in a Clearwater nursing home. She can breathe on her own but requires nutrition and hydration through a feeding tube.
On Sept. 23, the Florida Supreme Court overturned an October 2003 ruling that mandated reinsertion of her feeding tube six days after her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, had the tube removed by court order so she could die.
A spokesman for Flordia Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that the governor will ask the Florida Supreme Court to reconsider its 7-0 ruling against a law designed to keep Schiavo alive.
Michael Schiavo, who now has two children by another woman, says Terri would want the feeding tube removed. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say that she would want to live, in part because of her Catholic beliefs.
Medical experts have disputed Schiavos hope for recovery.
While speaking at the National Right to Life Convention in July, the Franciscan Brothers of Peace met Terris brother, Bobby Schindler, who is fighting for guardianship of Terri.
We visited at the convention with Bobby and said we wanted to support the family and pray for them, said Brother Paul ODonnell, the communitys leader. After caring for Brother Michael, . . . all of us were just profoundly convicted that we had to do something.
Since the convention, several of the brothers have traveled to Florida to visit with the Schindlers. Theyre planning to return to Florida on Oct. 13.
The brothers latest newsletter is devoted entirely to Terri Schiavo. They also have raised funds for the Schindlers legal defense.
We felt compelled to share our resources as a living memorial for Brother Michael, Brother Paul said.
The brothers say there is never a situation where it would be ethical to deny nutrition and hydration to someone in what some medical professionals call a persistent vegetative state.
At a hospice home, there are times when a person cant eat and they dont feel like eating and theyre dying, Brother Paul said. But Terris not dying, and thats the difference. Were not talking about someone thats terminally ill. Were talking about someone that can live another 20, 30, 40 years.
Mercy killing is wrong, Brother Paul added, because it creates a false sense of compassion. Its leaving ones own personal suffering one cant bear. But you have to realize that quality of life is not a Christian value. Its a secular value. . . . Gods divine purpose is being carried out no matter what happens.
The brothers believe Schiavos case could set a precedent for future euthanasia cases in the United States.
In a talk earlier this year at the Vatican to more than 350 physicians and medical ethicists from 42 countries, Pope John Paul II said: The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality.
Brother Conrad Richardson, who traveled to Florida with Brother Paul, said it is important to respect all people because they are made in Gods image.
In spite of the difficulty [of caring for a disabled person], one of the greatest gifts is that it challenges us as caregivers, friends and loved ones in a position to care for them to have pity and mercy and to reach out to them in love, Brother Conrad said. In my six years of caring for Brother Michael, that was the greatest lesson to love someone who isnt able to express appreciation for your help. It saddens me greatly that there are some that dont see that same gift in Terri.