Crucial Time for Terri

The latest from Fr. Rob:

On Wednesday [Mar. 9], the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) will go before Judge Greer regarding their motion for a stay on the removal of Terri's feeding tube pending their investigation of abuse charges against Michael Schiavo. Some have theorized that Judge Greer is legally bound to grant the stay, but what Greer will actually do is anyone's guess.

This afternoon [Tue. Mar. 8] at 3:00, the Schindlers attorney David Gibbs will once again go before Judge Greer, this time to request that further testing be done on Terri to ascertain her real condition. The Schindlers, as well as a number of doctors, have long disputed Judge Greer's ruling that Terri is in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS)....

Also, Bill Cork blogs a statement, Mar. 7, from Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace:

In the wake of appalling statements — or lack thereof — in the US, Cardinal Renato Martino's advocacy on behalf of Terri Schiavo stands as a beacon of light and a rebuke to the US Catholic Church....

And thanks to Margaret for forwarding yesterday the following e-mail message, originally from (I gather) Deacon Bob Ellis.

Dear Fellow Catholics,

This message is going out to my most trusted Catholic friends. Terri Schiavo and her parents Bob & Mary need your help. I strongly encourage you to share this with other trusted Catholics far and wide because we really want the folks who read this to write as instructed — and we want a massive Catholic response.

We are asking the Vatican to speak out once again from their offices that defend and promote human life and the family on behalf of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. We are very grateful that Cardinal Martino has interceded for Terri — now it is time for others with appropriate authority in the Vatican to speak up as well: The Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pontifical Academy for the Family. They need to know we desperately need their moral voice here in the US, especially since the appeal to the Supreme Court defending Terri's religious rights will be filed in the next week.

Bob and Mary Schindler just Federal Expressed their own letters which will arrive on Tuesday March 8th to be hand delivered to Cardinal Trujillo and Bishop Sgreccia. You can help Bob & Mary tremendously by showing your support for their family and their daughter Terri.

Following are the explicit instructions from those within our Church helping us:

Concerned citizens are requested to directly email the Vatican offices tasked with the protection of human life and dignity.

1. They should beg a direct Vatican intervention in the same way that the Vatican has been known to intervene to save the life of criminals on Death Row.
2. The head of the Pontifical Academy for Life is Bishop Elio Sgreccia. The head of the Pontifical Council for the Family is Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo.
3. They are requested to use urgent but respectful language such as the following — but please do not use this word for word — we do not want this to appear as a "form letter" to our holy Catholic leaders. Please write from your heart!
4. For those who are unsure of protocol, Bishop Sgreccia is addressed as "Your Excellency"; Cardinal Trujillo as "Your Eminence".

Your Excellency/Eminence:

I beg you, in the Name of Jesus, to defend the life and dignity of Terri Schindler-Schiavo who looks to the moral authority of her own Church for protection. The Holy Father has frequently interceded with the leaders of sovereign states for the protection of criminals: please let the voice of the Vatican resound for the protection of an innocent woman unjustly condemned to death.

Sincerely,

The e-mail of the Pontifical Council for the Family and His Eminence Cardinal Trujillo is: pcf@family.va. The e-mail of the Pontifical Academy for Life and His Excellency Bishop Sgreccia is: pav@acdlife.va.

Thank you in advance for your help, prayers and support!

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 03/09/05 07:51:39 AM
Categorized as Terri Schindler Schiavo.