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Today, Oct. 15, is St. Theresa's feast day.
 Three years ago, on Oct. 15, 2003, the feeding tube of Theresa Marie Schiavo was removed for the second time by order of Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer. Six days later, the Florida Legislature passed Terri's Law and Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law, ordering the reinsertion of the tube.
Today is the last day of Florida's Respect Life Conference being held in Palm Beach, hosted by the Diocese of Palm Beach.
Each year the state's seven Catholic dioceses, including the Diocese of St. Petersburg and its Bishop Robert N. Lynch, rotate to host the event.
The message is that life is sacred whether it's in a Petri dish, the womb or a nursing home.
But while Florida's Catholic bishops, including Bishop Lynch, recently issued a statement opposing the death penalty and urging Gov. Jeb Bush to stay two executions scheduled this month, Lynch and other Catholic bishops failed to take a strong stance on saving the life of Terri Schiavo.
While the bishops, joined by Bishop Lynch, "implore the governor to listen to the growing chorus of voices calling for a moratorium on executions in Florida and a careful examination of the state's death penalty system, Lynch and others did little to save the life of the disabled woman who died March 31, 2005, of dehydration after being without food and water for 13 days.
A statement issued in August, 2003 by Lynch said simply that it was "sad" that Schiavo's family couldn't come to a "unified….decision concerning Terri's situation" and noted that the case "is especially difficult because her actual medical situation is in dispute".
Many have argued that if the Lynch and other Catholic bishops had taken a stronger stance that Terri Schiavo would be alive today. Lynch's statement was followed up by a similar statement from all Florida bishops with slightly stronger wording, saying that "we reject outright the euthanasia movement and its utilitarian standard that some lives are not worth living".
The Florida Catholic Conference is an agency of bishops that guides public policy for the church.
The bishops decry the death penalty saying that "in this day of heightened moral awareness, with increasing concerns about executive of the innocent and growing doubts about the fairness and effectiveness of the death penalty". They plead with the state and governor to suspend the death penalty. The bishops even go so far as to say that "justice delayed is justice denied".
Justice for Terri Schiavo has certainly been delayed and most definitely denied.
These bishops plead that the Florida law "provides for life imprisonment without parole and allows for justice without the legitimized killing by the state, which coarsens us all".
But Bishop Lynch and the other Catholic bishops didn't plead to Gov. Bush, the courts and Legislature to suspend the death sentence of Terri Schiavo. They didn't oppose the legitimized killing of a disabled woman by the state, by Judge George Greer.
The death of Terri Schiavo coarsens us all.
Florida law prohibits the denial of food and water to anyone, particularly the vulnerable. Florida law prohibits the abuse, neglect and exploitation of the disabled and vulnerable.
Florida law prohibits giving false statements under oath.
Florida law prohibits premeditated murder.
These bishops including Bishop Robert Lynch who stood idly by and allowed the barbaric execution of Terri Schiavo simply because her quality of life was diminished and because her heavily conflicted husband who was living in sin in the eyes of the church claimed she wouldn't want to live, have the nerve to now intone that "we are a government of, for and by the people. Let those speak loudly who agree that these executions are not taking place in our names".
Who spoke for Terri Schiavo? Why didn't Lynch and the other bishops seek to suspend the so very public execution of Terri Schiavo?
Although Lynch was Terri's bishop, he stood by silent while she was forcibly starved to death----after she struggled to declare that she wanted to live. Bishop Lynch issued a statement directly at odds with church teaching that food and water is basic sustenance and cannot be withheld by private choice.
Just days before Terri died last March 31, Lynch left the country. However, he left a statement posted on the Diocese website before Easter in which he didn't seem particularly concerned about the death decree issued and that it was against the official position of the Vatican and the Pope. Lynch's position was contrary to the official Vatican position. Bishop Lynch's position was also directly contrary to "the teaching of the Pope" who had written that food and water is not extraordinary support for life and that it cannot morally be withheld from a dying or incapacitated person.
Scandals would not be new to the St. Petersburg Diocese or to Bishop Robert Lynch. The Diocese has spent more than $1 million in recent years to settle sexual abuse claims. Lynch told the public that all sexual abuse claims have been covered by insurance underwriters or the diocese's insurance reserves.
Bishop Lynch has remained in office after disclosure that the diocese paid $100,000 to a former aide who claimed Lynch had sexually harassed him.
William Urbanski, diocese spokesman and former Lynch aide, filed a complaint with the diocese alleging that Lynch had made sexual advances towards him. He alleged that Lynch forced him to share a hotel room when they traveled on business together and that Lynch had grabbed his thigh as the two drove in a car. He also claimed that on one trip, Lynch had come out of the shower nude to show Urbanski how much weight he had lost.
Lynch denied all the allegations.
Although the Roman  Catholic Church opposes euthanasia, the Florida law firm representing the St. Petersburg and Venice diocese including representing Lynch in the sexual harassment claim contributed to the reelection campaign of Sixth Circuit Court Judge George Greer, the judge at the core of the Schiavo case who religiously and judiciously supported the efforts of Michael Schiavo and his attorney, euthanasia advocate George Felos to end Terri's life.
According to Greer's campaign contribution records on file with Florida's Division of Elections, the law firm of Divito and Higham of St. Petersburg, general counsel for the St. Petersburg Diocese, made the maximum contribution allowable to Greer at approximately the same time that Pope John Paul II had issued his statement disallowing death by starvation and dehydration. Firm principal Joseph DiVito represented Lynch in the sexual harassment claim.
Despite being Terri's bishop, Lynch never made an appeal for her life and in fact, issued a statement asking the public and Catholics not to castigate Greer for his death position, virtually endorsing Greer's decision to end Terri's life.
http://www.dioceseofstpete.org/news.php?NID=9
Both of two major components of today's culture and society, religion and politics, melded into one in the Schiavo case with one common denominator----George W. Greer.
It would appear the law firm's contributions to the judge advocating a position directly opposite that of his client's would be unethical and a conflict of interest.
Douglas Scott, president of Life Decisions International (LDI) severely criticized the Florida Catholic Conference and particularly Lynch for not taking a strong stand against their failure to support the Schindlers in their quest to save Terri's life.
"Where is this Catholic 'leader' when one of his parishioners needs him the most", Scott asked. "Every member of the clergy, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, should be pounding the pulpit every Sunday, insisting that Terri's life be spared. Every member of the clergy should be speaking out about Terri every day until this matter is resolved in Terri's favor. This is not the time for cowardice, complacency or weakness. Terri's life depends on it. Any member of the clergy who does not do all he can to save Terri's life is party to any disaster that befalls her".
It was the alleged false testimony of Fr. Gerard Murphy, a former St. Petersburg priest which played a pivotal role in Greer's death sentence and Murphy's testimony came into play again at a Sept. 11, 2003 hearing when Greer was preparing to withdraw the feeding tube for the second time. Murphy was the priest sent by the St. Petersburg Diocese to testify at trial but his testimony did not reflect the church's position on end-of-life issues.
A firsthand account of the proceedings relates that a hearing, presumably planned for 30 minutes at most, turned into a three-hour struggle between the Schindler's two lawyers, Patricia Fields Anderson and co-counsel Celia Bachman, and Schiavo's right-to-die advocate, George Felos.
"Anderson and Bachman were outstanding in their defense of Terri's constitutional rights. Anderson read into the record the statements of two speech-language pathologists who claim Terri is an excellent candidate for rehabilitation.
"Bachman presented new insights on Florida's guardianship laws, laws that apparently have been flagrantly ignored by Schiavo and the administrative system. The attorney's fiery presentation appeared to catch Judge Greer off-guard, as she forcefully demanded the court do its duty to see that Terri's welfare and rights are secured.
"When a soft-spoken Greer asked shouldn't he schedule a date to remove the feeding tube, Bachman fired back, "…fine, go ahead. But your obligation is to give her a transition into being able to eat naturally, by herself, because doing anything else is against the law, against Florida statutes, and it is state-assisted homicide." Anderson came in with a thrusting challenge, "…guess what - Terri never said she didn't want to eat."
"Felos went pale. "Terri wants to die," he said. He said she must die, because this is what she wanted. "We owe it to Terri." The previously solemn crowd yelled "NO." Felos consistently referred to Terri as PVS and a "lifeless human." He characterized the Schindler's efforts in trying to save their daughter's life as "ludicrous" and a "waste of the court's time." He accused Terri's parents of "creating confusion" with their desperation tactics. Lastly, Felos played the religion card.
Felos claimed that Father Gerard Murphy, a former St. Petersburg priest who gave inaccurate and muddled testimony regarding euthanasia in Terri's case at the 2000 trial was the "end-of-life" spokesman for the St. Petersburg diocese. Felos attempted to use the priest's statement to prove that the Catholic diocese was in favor of euthanasia. He also claimed that former retired Bishop Thomas Larkin, who supported Terri, agreed she should be allowed to die.
"The audience was made up largely of Catholics who were familiar both with Bishop Larkin's support for Terri and Fr. Murphy's alleged false testimony. They had long deplored the fact that Bishop Robert N. Lynch did nothing to correct Murphy's testimony or to support the Schindler family in their battle against euthanasia. In response to Felos' comment on Larkin, they spontaneously shouted, "Not TRUE!" and said "Felos is lying." The bailiffs appeared ready to escort the people out of the courtroom but didn't ask anyone to leave. Two women sat silently praying the rosary. Others were praying silently also. David Pritchard, the Webmaster for the Terri Schiavo Foundation (http://www.terrisfight.org) whispered, "Can you feel the evil in here?"
"Anderson countered Felos' statement regarding Fr. Murphy's testimony saying the priest was not speaking on behalf of the diocese but was expressing his personal views. It is well recognized that the Catholic Church opposes euthanasia.
The noon hour approached; Judge Greer repeatedly looked at his watch. Felos approached the bench and asked that Terri's feeding be disconnected at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Judge Greer's announcement to postpone scheduling until the following week so that he could study the latest presentations came as a much-welcomed surprise to all, probably the first significant set-back Felos and his client Michael had experienced. For once, prayer trumped politics and evil in a Florida courtroom.
It was one of the few times and ultimately, politics and evil trumped all and resulted in the unjustified death of a disabled woman who had committed no crime. She hadn't killed anyone but yet she had been sentenced to death by a probate court judge who never once saw her in person or made any effort to communicate with her although he was acting in the conflicted role of judge and guardian ad litem.
Following his testimony, Fr. Murphy asked for a leave of absence from active ministry. At age 50, Murphy died on May 7, 2004, as the result of a traffic accident.
The Catholic bishops and Lynch are sending a message to respect life?
They didn't do much to respect the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo. 10-15-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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