Eyewitness account of Terri Schiavo's last hours

You should read this. And here's a good quote that applies to us all:

Another aspect of the Terri Schiavo tragedy is that many people misunderstand its cause and therefore its solution. They think the problem was that Terri did not leave any written instructions about whether she wanted to be kept alive. In order to avoid any such problem in their own lives, they are now told that they have to draw up a "living will." This is both erroneous and dangerous.

Terri's case is not about the withdrawal of life-saving medical treatment, but rather about the killing of a healthy person whose life some regarded as worthless. Terri was not dying, was not on life support, and did not have any terminal illness. Because some thought she would not want to live with her disability, they insisted on introducing the cause of death, namely, dehydration.

So what good is a living will supposed to accomplish, aside from saying, "Please don't argue about killing me, just kill me?"

Exactly.

So who's "The Clown" now?

The Chicago Tribune yesterday published a front page photo of a man they identified as Joseph "the Clown" Lombardo, mobster.

Except, he wasn't.

He was apparently an innocent old man who just happens to be a dead ringer for Lombardo, right down to the cigar, the hat, and the Schwinn bike, to the point that even Lombardo's lawyer supposedly identified the photo as his client.

Of course today the lawyer is backpedaling like mad, and I don't mean on a bike. (Wouldn't you, if you were a mob lawyer who made that kind of mistake? And another thing: what kind of lawyer wants to be a lawyer for the mob?)

The amateur photographer who took the photo and assumed it was Lombardo cracked me up, too. When told of the error, she said,

"I guess I'm a little surprised that there are two elderly gentlemen with really great classic style."

Gosh, do ya think there could be TWO old men in Chicago with classic style? Nah, what are the odds, in a city of 5 million people.

In honor of this hilarious mix-up (or is it??) here's a little poll.



UPDATE: This is such a lame survey. I tried to take it myself, and I thought, "What a doofus! There isn't a single good choice here!" Should have added at least a "none of the above". Sigh.

Terri Schiavo

I haven't forgotten.

Haven't blogged about her for quite a while now, but it's not because I've forgotten.

On the same day that she died, Pope JPII began his three-day passion.

Then I stepped out of the blogger's box for about a fortnight because I was helping to plan our homeschool conference on April 15-16 (which was great, by the way!)

Came back just in time to blog about Benedict XVI a little bit.

But I haven't forgotten Terri. Haven't forgotten the horrible way she died, the fact that justice was not served, that her death was ordered up on hearsay that she "wanted" it that way, that her loving parents were denied the basic human right to care for their child when Terri's husband had already taken up with another woman, that the media, as usual, got the most important facts completely wrong.

I haven't forgotten, and neither have they.

Blogging today...

... over at the BBA. That's all I have time for so far today, but hope to get another post in here later on, when we're done with school.

Meet the Press: A Catholic Panel

Wish I'd gotten up a little earlier to catch the whole thing... but what I saw was pretty good.

Fr. Fessio, of Ignatius Press and Ave Maria University, was in Rome; Tim Russert asked him a few questions about why women can't be priests, why no condoms (I'm assuming to fight AIDS), and why no contraception?

Fr. Fessio at first said he needed five hours to answer. Tim Russert replied: all due respect, giving these issues a solid hour was pretty darn good (paraphrasing here).

So Fr. Fessio (good guy, by the way, and you'll have to read that whole article to understand why I selected that particular link for that comment) attempted a short answer on the issue of women priests. He did a decent job of it, but that's not what really struck me.

What struck me was that before answering the question, he first told the viewers: for every one hour you watch TV, spend five hours reading good books.

Which leads me to remember a speech by Fr. Fessio; he said that when we turn on the TV we're letting the barbarians into our homes.

He also said, in that speech, that the original Benedict helped to save civilization from the original barbarians by retreating to a monastic life of work, prayer, and holiness. This simple life dedicated to God soon attracted thousands of others.

Fast forward to Benedict XVI -- I read recently (here's one source for it) that our new Pope predicted a much smaller church in the future, a tiny church. But, he said, it wouldn't be long before that small remnant of holiness would soon become very attractive, by contrast, to "the population of a an entirely planned and controlled world" who will be "inexpressibly lonely". Sounds prophetic.

Just found this comment from Fr. Fessio on Ratzinger's taking the name Benedict: click. I think he chose exactly the right name.

"Sinners Unhappy with New Pope"

This is a headline writer's dream.

But you know, if my last name was Sinner, I swear I would avoid saying anything about the Pope - or anyone else for that matter - just to avoid that kind of punny headline.

Oh, who am I kidding? I can't keep my mouth shut, so obviously I'd have to change my last name.

Hat tip to my husband, via his friend J.F., via Best of the Web.

Blogroll additions

The Anchoress and Professor Bainbridge. Go read 'em!

Oh, and I really should have added Mark Shea... sigh. Back to the template...

UPDATE: And one more I have to add: Blogger Beer. (Hey Marcus!) Will get back to that template after I bake my daughter's b-day cake... first things first...

No Gloat Zone

I didn't gloat about my prophetic dream. But yes, as a matter of fact, I did dream last night that we had a pope -- and today we do.

And I'm trying not to gloat over the liberals' misery (Andrew Sullivan, bless his poor misguided heart, is particularly anguished over this election), but I do admit to a little Schaedenfreude.

Habemus Papam!

How exciting! "We have a Pope!"

As our 6-yo daughter said, "We're not pope-less anymore!"

No, we're not.

And that wailing and gnashing of teeth you hear is from the liberals, who cannot believe that we have another "conservative" pope.

But he's not conservative, nor was Pope John Paul II -- except in the sense of "conserving the truth". They're not afraid to boldly proclaim it.

The Holy Spirit has not abandoned His Church.

I had a dream...

... last night, that I was in St. Peter's Square and saw white smoke coming from the Vatican.

Do you think this is a prophetic dream?

Or just a pathetic post?

And yes, I'm baaa-a-aack! Last night at dinner I said something about how I "used to be" a blogger -- and the family wouldn't hear of it. Every last one of them wanted me to blog again. My husband said absolutely I should continue; my oldest daughter agreed; my second daughter said she wants to still have two bloggers in the family (me and one of her uncles). The two little ones might have been too busy eating their apple turnovers to pay much attention, but I took their silence for assent.

So here I am again, wondering if I remember how to blog. Not the technical part, just the "what to say and how to say it" part. (I guess that's what you would call the "writing" part.)

At least I have some free time again, since the homeschool conference I was helping to organize is over, and it was a success, I'm happy and relieved to say.

Now, what to blog about. As Drudge would say, "Developing...."

Blogging light to non-existent

Way too busy for blogging lately, with homeschooling, the conference I'm helping to plan (expecting about 600 people), and life in general.

And still, I'm kind of overwhelmed by the events of the previous week; Terri Schiavo's death, and then the Pope. Just not ready to blog about it all yet.

So, I'll be back eventually, but in the meantime, check out some of the great blogs on my sidebar.

Mourning

The outpouring of love for the Pope is amazing.

He clearly was "papa" for all of us. Hard to think of a more definitive sign that the Catholic church truly is the "catholic", universal, church.

I heard that every country will have a representative attending the funeral. Every nation in the world!

Millions of pilgrims are making their way to Rome, heedless of whether they'll find lodging, or how they'll get around, or how long they'll have to stand in line.

My neighbor, a Lutheran, expressed his sympathy today. So sweet. But I told him, we were all part of the family; he was the father of us all.

We all need sympathy.

Ortho-blogging

Brought the laptop to the orthodontist's office while 12-yo daughter gets her braces taken off, and yes! They have wireless! So while I wait for my daughter to emerge with sparkling straightened teeth sans-metal, I will post a few links to some good reads:

Patrick has a nice post for this beautiful spring morning: A New Day Dawns.

The Anchoress is going to be blogrolled here soon. She had some wonderful posts about the Pope lately, including one very long "live blogging" post on Saturday.

Rich Glasgow has worthwhile thoughts on various topics, as always, including the ghoulishness of George Felos.

Don't miss the beautiful comment right here on this blog, by my friend Kathy Zap:

What a way to die. What a way to live! When I see how he embraced his suffering with so much love, and still gave himself right to the end, it makes me hope I could someday be at least a little bit like him, if I really let go and live my life.

Exactly. But read the whole comment.

And finally, some thoughts also from a comment here, by my husband.

If someone wants to commit suicide by jumping off a building because they feel emotionally or spiritually disabled, society has deemed that wrong and has prevention mechanisms - Suicide Hotlines and counselors - to try to save them. The same thing applies here, just becuase you write a suicide note in advance about a possible change in your physical/mental status due to an unforseen disability, that doesn't make it acceptable.

I'm so glad he and I are in agreement on these issues!

That's all for now, before my battery runs down here (literally, not figuratively).

But over the next few days (that is, when I have a few minutes free in between working on our tax return...!) I hope to have some posts about the future of this blog.

I don't know if I can return to "ordinary" blogging of the kind I was doing before I began non-stop Terri Schiavo blogging, and before the truly "awe-ful" coincidence of her death and the Pope's. (As I told my husband, if I hadn't blogged it here, I would already be hard pressed to believe that Terri Schiavo died in the morning and the pope received Last Rites in the afternoon of the same day.)

Suggestions, anyone?

The Gift of a Happy Death

I've tried three times to post something about the Pope, and I've failed each time. I have blogger's block. So many others are doing such a good job of putting this man's life into words, and all I've been able to do is read them and nod.

But if I can't seem to say anything yet about Pope John Paul's life, I do have a few thoughts about his death.

And one of the first things that occurs to me is that his death itself was a great gift, just as his life was. Catholics have always talked about the gift of a "happy death", and I think this was just such a thing.

The Pope died at home, with the Sacraments, with people who loved him. Thousands of people who loved him, in fact, gathered in the square outside his window, and millions of people who loved him, gathered around his window on their TV sets everywhere in the world.

He knew he was dying; he had one last chance to prepare himself - though really his whole life was preparation for the moment when he would meet God, face to face - and to say good-bye, just as we did.

When his last moment came, it was on a First Saturday, a day of special devotion to Mary that was revealed to the children at Fatima.

The Pope died late in the evening on Saturday, which means that he also died on the vigil of Mercy Sunday.

What a very personal gift that was, from God to him! John Paul himself instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy in 2001, based on the visions of a Polish nun who he canonized in 2000. He has been called "The Mercy Pope".

Is it any surprise that God called him home on this feast? (Update: Or that He waited until after the Pope had been able to hear the Mass of the Feast of Divine Mercy?)

For us Catholics, the gift was that God gave us three days to prepare for John Paul's death. We had three days to pray for him, to be with him in spirit, to support him and ask God to be with him in his last hours.

And for the world: he showed all of us, one last time, that life is precious, and that the end of life is properly in God's hands and his hands alone.

He demonstrated that enduring great suffering has great meaning, when it's offered up and united with Christ's suffering.

He showed us that dignity does not reside in what we are able to do, but simply in who we are: children of God.

UPDATE: Changed "good death" to "happy death", which is the correct term. I knew that, really, and am embarrassed that I used the wrong word when posting. Chalk it up to the stress of blogger's block!

"Good death" was exactly the wrong term, since "euthanasia" translates loosely into that phrase -- which it isn't, of course. You would think the fact that the Pope actually said, "I am happy, you be it, too" would have clued me in!

UPDATE 2: I see I'm getting referrals from the Pro-Life Blogs aggregator on Terri Schiavo. The sad truth is that Terri Schiavo didn't have a "Happy Death"; she was intentionally starved to death, she was denied the Sacraments other than one last time on Easter, I believe, and those who loved her weren't allowed to be with her when she took her last breath.

I believe that her death was more like a martyr's death; she was a victim of the Culture of Death, a living symbol of all the unwanted, inconvenient lives that have been ended in this country since Roe v. Wade.

God will make something good come of her death. The devil may think he's won something here, but in fact this will be yet another element of his decisive defeat.

We should now begin praying for Michael Schiavo, for a conversion of heart.

Writing in the sand

Sometimes you have to wonder what God is trying to tell us.

You look at events, see some coincidences, and wonder if there's a message.

In Pope John Paul's life, some events speak very clearly; he was shot on May 13th, the anniversary of Fatima, for example. He always said that Our Lady saved him on that occasion.

Today is a First Friday, the First Friday after Good Friday, and the Pope is suffering and near death.

Tomorrow is a First Saturday, dedicated to Our Lady, as revealed to Lucy of Fatima (who died on February 13 of this year). It's already First Saturday in Rome.

Sunday is the great Feast of Divine Mercy. This Pope canonized the visionary, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who had visions of Jesus and Mary in which she was told about the Divine Mercy.

Keep praying for Pope John Paul II, and pray for God's mercy on the world.

UPDATE: I almost forgot: April is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist, and this Pope declared 2005 to be the Year of the Holy Eucharist.

UPDATE II: Minor corrections for editing errors.

John Paul II

This will be like a death in the family. The Pope, "Il Papa", the Holy Father; he has been a Father to the church for so long now that it's hard to imagine the world without him.

Please, if you happen by this site today, pray for him. Pray especially the Divine Mercy Chaplet; click here or here for how to pray it.