Apart from Him, we can do nothing...

Ten years ago, JPII wrote in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel Of Life): "Here we are faced with one of the more alarming symptoms of the 'culture of death,' which is advancing above all in prosperous societies, marked by an attitude of excessive preoccupation with efficiency and which sees the growing number of elderly and disabled people as intolerable and too burdensome."

Father Williams added that the problem in the Schiavo case is being posed incorrectly.

"It's not a question of Terri's parents being right and Terri's husband wrong," he said. "The problem lies in giving anyone the power over another's life.

"Society must not permit that a person's life or death hang in the balance because of the way others feel about them. All human life must be defended and protected in law, not for what it means to others, but for what it is in itself."

All we can do is pray now, for Terri, her loved ones, and for all the people influenced by the twisted media, and for the murderers involved in this sad day for our country and world. I can't think of a better prayer than the Sacrifice of Christ which we enter into in Holy Mass. Please offer your prayers this Holy Week for this tragic situation which has so blatantly revealed the horror and sickness of sin and evil in our midst.

In anticipation of the newest in the Star Wars series.

Too little, too late... "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."

This Holy Week truly is a Passion for many of us. Not only is our country participating in the direct killing of an innocent person (Terri Schiavo), but they are doing so in such a way that she will painfully die of starvation, dehydration, and all the accompanying suffering that accompanies this slow, agonizing way of dying. If we put deathrow inmates to death this way, there would be an uproar, but no, not for Terri.

Think about this as well. What took the Republicans and the few Democrats who supported them so long to finally make their last ditch effort to save Terri? Don't tell me they hadn't heard about the case. Don't tell me they couldn't have pushed for this earlier. Supposedly we elected them because they had foresight, vision, and were men and women of integrity who would stand up for the good of society. This kind of effort only makes them look good to a naive public, and assures them of votes next time around. Think about it. At least the politicians who voted against this measure have had the guts to be pro-death all along. I don't commend them at all, and they actually tick me off. But I don't commend supposed pro-life politicians who have no guts and no vision either. Too little, too late, and too bad, because we are all going to be held accountable in the end.

The Wrong Attitude

The 58 Congressmen Who Voted For Terri Schiavo To Die

The following list is taken from the Congressional Roll Call. These 58 Congressmen (53 Democrats and 5 Republicans) voted to allow the starvation of Terri Schiavo to continue. Is your Congressman on the list?

Baldwin (WI) Berkley (NV) Bishop (NY) Brown-Waite, Ginny (FL) Butterfield (NC)Capuano (MA)Cardin (MD) Carnahan (MI)Carson (IN)Castle (DE)Clay (MO)Cleaver (MO) Clyburn (SC)Conyers (MI)Davis (FL)Dent (PA)Dicks (WA)Doyle (PA)Evans (IL)Frank (MA)Gutierrez (IL)Hastings (FL)Holt (NJ)Hoyer (MD)Israel (NY)Kaptur (OH)Kennedy (RI)Larson (CT)Levin (MI)Lewis (GA)Matsui (CA)McDermott (WA)McKinney (GA)Miller (NC) Moran (VA)Murtha (PA)Nadler (NY)Olver (MA)Pallone (NJ)Pascrell (NJ)Payne (NJ)Price (NC)Reichert (WA)Rothman (NJ)Schiff (CA)Schwartz (PA)Scott (VA)Shays (CT)
Spratt (SC)Strickland (OH)Thompson (MS)Van Hollen (MD)Visclosky (IN)Wasserman Schultz (FL)Watt (NC)Weiner (NY)Wexler (FL)Wu (OR)

The Right Attitude

"...I feel the duty to reaffirm strongly that the intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being do not change, no matter what the concrete circumstances of his or her life. A man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a "vegetable" or an "animal".

Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a "vegetative state" retain their human dignity in all its fullness. The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as his sons and daughters, especially in need of help."

-His Holiness, Pope John Paul II