Wednesday, February 02, 2005
TERRI'S PLIGHT
The other blogs, including Fr. Rob Johansen, have been covering the deteriorating hope for Terri Schiavo, and so I have not blogged anything recently. I'm blogging a portion of Michael Brown's comments on Terri because I don't expect anyone else to do it:
That brave father, Robert Schindler, describes how he has a priest, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, former head of chaplains for the Pentagon, and a one-star general (now retired in St. Petersburg), by on a regular basis to anoint Terri with chrism and Holy Water. Her husband, Michael Schiavo -- who wants to remove the feeding tubes -- won't let his wife, in a severely disabled state since 1990, receive Communion or be brought to Mass.
"He has the authority," laments her father. "He literally owns her body. I don't really know why he doesn't allow Communion."
Yet there is every sign that the Catholicism lives within the poor woman. When Monsignor Malanowski comes, says Schindler, Terri -- who many mistakenly believe is vegetative -- strongly reacts. "To show you how deep her Catholic faith is," says Schindler, "whatever distractions there are, she concentrates on monsignor solely and the different prayers he says with her. She is very attentive."
But she remains in a tiny room her husband won't allow her to leave. Michael is from a Methodist family but as far as Schindler knows, is not practicing. He is living with a woman who is Catholic (and by whom he now has two children).
Does Schindler detect the presence of an evil spirit around the situation?
"I pray to St. Michael to drive the devils out of the courtroom," says the beleaguered father. "I can feel them and almost see them."
