By Deacon Robert F. Ellis
http://www.schiavoprayercampaign.org/
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer declined to grant Terri Schiavo's
parents an emergency stay that would have barred removal of the feeding tube
which provides her nutrition and hydration. He ordered removal of the tube at
1 p.m. March 18, 2005. Everyone knows Terri Schiavo will die an agonizing
death from lack of nutrition and hydration within 3 weeks of the carrying out
of this order.
The judge's order reads as follows: "Ordered and Adjudged that absent a stay
from the appellate courts, the guardian, Michael Schiavo, shall cause the
removal of nutrition and hydration from the ward, Theresa Marie Schiavo, at
1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2005"
If Judge Greer's order is carried out, the world will witness the first known
murder by judicial fiat executed in the United States of America.
If our nation's citizenry, its civic and religious leaders, and its social and
political institutions do not intervene in whatever manner is necessary to
prevent the cold blooded murder of Terri Schiavo, we will have been reduced to
the equivalence of German society during Hitler's reign of Nazi decadence, if
not worse.
Terri Schiavo is NOT in a coma. She is not brain dead. She is NOT in a
persistent vegetative state. She has NO terminal illness. She is NOT on ANY
form of life support. Feeding tubes are NOT life support. They are widely used
means of nutrition and hydration - no different in essence than crutches,
wheel chairs, hearing aids, pacemakers, prosthesis, etc. used by millions and
variously disabled persons. She has NOT indicated a desire to die. She IS
simply DISABLED like millions of other American citizens.
Removal of Terri's feeding tube would be nothing other than an act of
premeditated, cold blooded murder. And the foreknowledge of the horribly
agonizing and torturous process of this kind of death would make the crime
exceedingly atrocious and disgraceful, reducing its perpetrator/s to the
lowest levels of degradation and depravity imaginable.
And who will be guilty of Terri's murder? Every last one of us will share a
measure of guilt! We've wallowed in opulent, hedonistic depravity for so long
we've barely even noticed the vile and pervasive corruption enveloping our
very souls and eroding our societal foundations. We've become so engrossed in
the instant gratification of every whim that we've abandoned our civic
responsibilities as well, if any of us even know what they are any more.
If history will judge us by the way we treat or weakest, and it will, our
legacy will be contemptible shame. If God judges us by what we did NOT DO for
the least among us, and He will, many will suffer the loss of heaven and the
pains of hell.
Every last one of us, from the lowliest peon to the president, can and ought
do something. We better all wake up, NOW.
Judge Greer's order is completely void of authority, for no one has competence
to order the brutal killing of another. No one has any obligation whatever to
carry out such an order. And EVERYONE has an obligation to intervene.
Oceans of legal mumbo-jumbo, deceptively nebulous medical jargon, highly
nuanced media reporting slanted to an agenda, and deplorably tepid spiritual
leadership have confused the masses so much so that the average citizen thinks
himself incapable of understanding and rendering judgment in the Schiavo
affair. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Forget all about the medical jargon and legal mumbo-jumbo. Forget the media
and pray for the gift of Episcopal timber for our spiritual leaders. You don't
need a Ph.D. to figure this out. A defenseless, innocent woman is about to be
murdered in cold blood by order of a member of the judiciary.