Priest releases (SLANDEROUS) "open letter" to Michael Schiavo

[Bluebear]

Contact: Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095

NEW YORK, March 25 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, and an eyewitness to Terri Schiavo’s final hours, released the following open letter to Michael Schiavo tonight. Fr. Pavone will read it to a worldwide audience on an internationally broadcast religious service on Sunday morning, March 26.

Dear Michael,

A year ago this week, I stood by the bedside of the woman you married and promised to love in good times and bad, in sickness and health. She was enduring a very bad time, because she hadn’t been given food or drink in nearly two weeks. And you were the one insisting that she continue to be deprived of food and water, right up to her death. I watched her face for hours on end, right up to moments before her last breath. Her death was not peaceful, nor was it beautiful. If you saw her too, and noticed what her eyes were doing, you know that to describe her last agony as peaceful is a lie.

This week, tens of millions of Americans will remember those agonizing days last year, and will scratch their heads trying to figure out why you didn’t simply let Terri’s mom, dad, and siblings take care of her, as they were willing to do. They offered you, again and again, the option to simply let them care for Terri, without asking anything of you. But you refused and continued to insist that Terri’s feeding be stopped. She had no terminal illness. She was simply a disabled woman who needed extra care that you weren’t willing to give.

I speak to you today on behalf of the tens of millions of Americans who still wonder why. I speak to you today to express their anger, their dismay, their outraged astonishment at your behavior in the midst of this tragedy. Most people will wonder about these questions in silence, but as one of only a few people who were eyewitnesses to Terri’s dehydration, I have to speak.

I have spoken to you before, not in person, but through mass media. Before Terri’s feeding tube was removed for the last time, I appealed to you with respect, asking you not to continue on the road you were pursuing, urging you to reconsider your decisions, in the light of the damage you were doing. I invited you to talk. But you did not respond.

Then, after Terri died, I called her death a killing, and I called you a murderer because you knew – as we all did – that ceasing to feed Terri would kill her. We watched, but you had the power to save her. Her life was in your hands, but you threw it away, with the willing cooperation of attorneys and judges who were as heartless as you were. Some have demanded that I apologize to you for calling you a murderer. Not only will I not apologize, I will repeat it again. Your decision to have Terri dehydrated to death was a decision to kill her. It doesn’t matter if Judge Greer said it was legal. No judge, no court, no power on earth can legitimize what you did. It makes no difference if what you did was legal in the eyes of men; it was murder in the eyes of God and of millions of your fellow Americans and countless more around the world. You are the one who owes all of us an apology.

Your actions offend us. Not only have you killed Terri and deeply wounded her family, but you have disgraced our nation, betrayed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and undermined the principles that hold us together as a civilized society. You have offended those who struggle on a daily basis to care for loved ones who are dying, and who sometimes have to make the very legitimate decision to discontinue futile treatment. You have offended them by trying to confuse Terri’s circumstances with theirs. Terri’s case was not one of judging treatment to be worthless – which is sometimes the case; rather, it was about judging a life to be worthless, which is never the case.

You have made your mark on history, but sadly, it is an ugly stain. In the name of millions around the world, I call on you today to embrace a life of repentance, and to ask forgiveness from the Lord, who holds the lives of each of us in His hands.

-- Fr. Frank Pavone

http://www.earnedmedia.org/pfl0325.htm

[sendero]

1. This from an organization..

... that systematically enabled pedophiles for decades. Fuck you.

[mzteris]

23. and who pulled the plug

on one of their own. . .

[TK421]

2. Spoken like a true christian...fucking hypocrite

:puke:

[Warpy]

3. Fuck you Father, for you have sinned

You can't deny your god what belongs to your god, and what clearly belonged to your god was the dead woman you were projecting your own fears onto.

There was no agony there because there was no capacity left to feel it.

Your penance will be to leave the trappings of spiritual office and go among the poor who are actually still living and to try to relieve the pain of poverty.

Of course, that's what Christ would have you do, so I guess you will never do it.

[WinkyDink]

4. Wonder why this isn't an "Open Letter" to Bush to stop the killing

of tens of thousands+ in his invasion.

[Faygo Kid]

7. Good point. Don't hold your breath.

[tsuki]

5. Does this priest represent the same organization that, after Newt

Gingrich deserted to ill wives, sold, er, granted him an annulment to marry #3?

[hedgehog]

15. Newt Gingrich is Catholic? and got annulments?

I don't think you've got your facts straight there.

[tsuki]

38. He's not. #3 is.

http://www2.jsonline.com/news/gen/aug03/160723.asp?format=print

Gingrich, third wife renew vows in Catholic ceremony
By KATHERINE M. SKIBA
[e-mail]
Last Updated: Aug. 8, 2003
Washington - Newt Gingrich and his third wife, the former Callista Bisek, have renewed their three-year-old marriage vows in a Catholic ceremony in the U.S. Capitol, the bride said Thursday.

Her mother, Bernita Bisek, of Whitehall, Wis., who was a witness, said Newt Gingrich's second marriage had been annulled.

The Hill newspaper first reported the ceremony, held Aug. 1 in the House chapel and conducted by the House chaplain, Father Daniel P. Coughlin, a Roman Catholic.

Gingrich, 60, the former House speaker, and Bisek, 37, the chief clerk for the House Agriculture Committee, were married Aug. 18, 2000.

Callista Gingrich said her marriage was "blessed in the Catholic Church" and that "we had a very small group of family and friends" in attendance.

[demosincebirth]

32. You speak without knowing the facts.

Newt is no catholic and he never got an annulment. He got a divorce.

[tsuki]

39. See below. #3 is Catholic and they had a Catholic

ceremony in 2003. After he got his annulment.

[demosincebirth]

47. You don't have to be Catholic to marry in the Catholic Church.

[PetraPooh]

6. Why do christians get mad about allowing euthanasia, but not

the fact that the medical professions delayed her entry into heaven in the first place? This has always confused me about the christians. If heaven is such a grand place, then why don't they go after all the life saving (even though the quality of life is so often seriously diminished) medical procedures that interfered with "god's plan" for these people in the first place? Seems that if there was a Jesus and IF the NTestament even resembles what he preached; then he preached to be not afraid to die. Of course he also seemed to preach to be more afraid of causing harm to others than to die, and clearly christians don't seem to get that notion either.

[JeffR]

8. "In other words: we tried to make Terry a wedge issue

Back in 2005, to extend the conservative majority. It didn't work. Sadly, the vast majority of Americans, of whatever political leaning, felt this was a private issue and the government had no business meddling in it.

Now we're hoping that by raising the issue again in this extraordinarily provocative and even slanderous manner a year later, what with the nation's and the media's ADHD, we can exploit Terry's death after all and rally our proto-intelligent flock to rush out to the polls to keep the Republicans in power until Jesus returns to cast the liberals into the Lake of Fire."

-- Fr. Frank Pavone, Wedgie Expert and Witness to the Good News

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. excellent translation!

:rofl:

[JeffR]

20. It disturbs me that I seem to be able to translate these things

I worry that I have a right-wing ancestor no-one in the family ever told me about...

[Mr_Spock]

25. Nailed it!

Hehe - Republican evangelicals are the least thoughtful people I have ever met.

[JeffR]

26. That's what their leaders, secular & otherwise, are counting on...

[MissB]

46. Well done!

:applause:

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. Never mind that she was proved to be completely brain dead.

Instead of threatening the wrath of Jesus, Fr Frank ought to go back to something he might be good at,
like child molesting.

[wakeme2008]

10. Yipes

http://www.priestsforlife.org/ web page...

PS if you do their online poll they will not show the results... :grr:

LOL

[Kerrytravelers]

11. She was simply a disabled woman who needed extra care--- huh?

Not a big fan of science or medical facts, is our fr. frank pavone?


Unbelievable... yet, I'm not surprised. Nothing about these people surprise me anymore. But after all the flack and bad poll numbers, I am a bit shocked they would bring up the issue again. They looked stupid the first time and completely out of their minds now.

Maybe they'll put on another show like last time. The pics posted here at DU were too priceless.

:eyes:

[Fridays Child]

12. Pavone is an attention whore who's been in withdrawal for a year...

...and the one-year anniversary of Terri's death is his fix.

[BeyondThePale]

13. Message to Frank Pavone -- "Fuck You"

and your religion.

Cheers!

[Itchinjim]

21. Frank Pavone is not representative of all Catholics.

So don't judge a billion people by the actions of one man

[BeyondThePale]

28. My judgment of catholicism is based on more that Frank!

BTW, my judgment is of the religion, not the believers -- hate the sin, love the sinner! I know, like, and love many catholics (misguided though they may be!).

Cheers,
tk

[Itchinjim]

14. They just can't let that poor woman go, can they?

Just let her rest in peace for pity's sake.

[BeyondThePale]

16. Take the time to drop this POS an email at:

[e-mail]

[NanceGreggs]

34. Thanks for the address!

I'm sending my letter (below) right now. This guy really curdles my blood.

[hedgehog]

18. These people need to read St. Francis' Canticle and learn

not to fear Sister Death. There is a time to die and a time to let die. It's sad that for whatever reason these people just can't see that. The weird thing is that I'm certain that if John Paul II had permitted it, there would be a living corpse in the Vatican today. John Paul couldn't control the statements issued in his name, but he certainly showed how to accept death by his example. No machines, no extraordinary measures.

[janx]

19. Is this the same guy who was always in front of the cameras

last year?

Somebody here referred to him as a drama queen.

[mzteris]

30. Queen's right

he and Bobby Schindler are "very close", doncha know?

[Mr_Spock]

22. Jesus promoted HATE and LYING and BIGOTRY on NON-FORGIVENESS??

Wow, I never knew Jesus was such an evil bastard!

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. Well if the pedophile scandal wasn't enough to keep me from ever returning

to Catholicism, this letter does the trick.

[Swamp Rat]

27. This is harassment

I hope Michael Schiavo does something about it.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

29. If there IS a heaven

and I get there, I am going to look up Terry Shiavo and apologize to her for how her tragedy was USED politically by the right AND by the left. Now a year later we have Michael Shiavo all teary eyed on TV and we have this letter from the priest. Time to let it go and let her rest in peace.

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings, the
sun, for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to
have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be
pardoned and some punished....All are punished. All are punished."

[im10ashus]

31. This is just HORRIBLE!!!!

How fucking dare him. For a clergyman to write such viscous words shows how religion has been hijacked by whack jobs. I would LOVE to get that asshat on the phone. :mad:

[NanceGreggs]

33. My letter to Fr. Pavone:

Father F. Pavone,

It was with absolute amazement that I read your open letter to Michael Schiavo; amazement at your audacity, and at the hate so vehemently spewed by a priest who is meant to be a representative of Christ and his teachings.

You have described Ms. Schiavo as 'simply a disabled woman who needed extra care', a characterization that would be laughable, were it not for the tragedy of this case. The medical specialists who cared for Ms. Schiavo over many years diagnosed her as beyond any meaningful quality of life, a diagnosis which was confirmed by the post-mortem reports.

But that's of no meaning to you, is it? Acknowledging the simple facts of the matter would have seriously undermined your own agenda, which was apparent from the start. A woman beyond all hope of a meaningful life, left to slip away into the arms of her Creator, does not garner much publicity for a hate-mongering cleric like yourself, does it?

"I have spoken to you before, not in person, but through MASS MEDIA."

And doesn't that say it all. The longer you were able to keep Terry alive, under the guise of compassion, the more air-time you got. I seriously doubt that you were thinking about her when you stood in front of the TV cameras, drawing attention to the one person who you felt to be the real 'star' of the piece - yourself.

And I sincerely doubt that you are thinking about her family now, as you dredge up their tragedy and serve it up publicly without regard to their feelings, without a second thought given to their grief, again in a blatant attempt to recapture your now-lost fifteen minutes of fame.

But hey, that's show-biz, right, father? You can't put on a good show without 'props', and that is precisely the way in which you have used, and continue to use, Terry's parents and their family.

You have accused Michael Schiavo of murder. I would remind you that "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." But then, there is no point in discussing Christian behaviour with someone such as yourself, who obviously enjoys making a mockery of such things in a never-ending quest for the public spotlight.

It is futile to appeal to your sense of shame; your actions prove that you are incapable of feeling any.

In a world where the Catholic Church has lost its credibility in the midst of unspeakable scandals, a few Christ-like words would go a long way.

It's truly unfortunate that the only words you are interested in are: "Film at eleven."

May God forgive you ALL of your sins.

Nancy Greggs

[Maestro]

44. Great letter!

I couldn't say it better!

[NanceGreggs]

45. Thanks, Maestro!

[Bluebear]

48. Wondrous.

A terrific letter, Nance.

[justgamma]

35. Mr. Pavone, you have no moral standing on this issue

unless we also see you and your gang protesting the laws of Texas, that allow the hospitals to decide to unplug patients, against the will of the families, because they cannot afford treatment.

[mzteris]

36. hypocrite!

". . . They have come to Florida, they say, because they are staunch right-to-life supporters, because they can help raise money for the Schindlers, and because of what happened to Brother Michael.

In 1982, Michael Gaworski founded the order.

Gaworski suffered a heart attack in 1991 that left him in a condition similar to that of Terri Schiavo - with severe brain damage and dependent on a feeding tube for nourishment. For the next 12 years, the friars cared for Gaworski in their downtown St. Paul friary.

"Through his condition," Brother John Kaspari said Tuesday from St. Paul, "we came to embrace others in similar states."

Gaworski contracted pneumonia and died in 2003 at age 45.

"He would have required intubation to keep him alive," Kaspari said. "We chose not to go that route. His lungs were full of fluid." . . .


http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/23/Tampabay/Friars_at_Schindlers_.shtml

[dogday]

37. The woman is DEAD---can't people

let her rest in peace? All of the problems we have in this country and we even have this is so freaking ridiculous....

[sakabatou]

40. Let ye who has not sinned cast the first stone...

[SomewhereOutThere424]

42. another version of that I've heard...

"Those who carry the most sin throw the first stones"

[SomewhereOutThere424]

41. Being someone who recently lost a loved one who was on machines

I have to say what they did to terri schiavo was the most DISGUISTING practice I have ever seen. Politicizing her, religiousizing her. Then taking her life by taking her off of machines until she slowly died? No food or water? That's sick and it's torture.

I don't blame michael for wanting to watch his wife's suffering end. I blame the beaurocracy who allowed her to suffer in her death and went so far to cause this woman more suffering than she had to endure. And I blame these priests and fanatic nutjobs who seem to have utterly no faith in an afterlife -- or life itself would not mean as much of this negative emotion they seem to dish out.

Terri and Michael suffered most through this. And I hope god himself, or herself, or however you see this divine being, personally enacts upon these people who continue to politicize this the karma they deserve for further antagonizing someone they themselves have helped to torture through this.

If this country made sense, she'd have been given peace years ago and wouldn't have been made to suffer. Everything dies. Does it need to go through agony to realize this?

[DefenseLawyer]

43. I love this letter

From a strictly political standpoint, I want nothing more than for these wingnuts to keep making Terri Schiavo the issue for Republicans. Tell your flock that they can only support candidates that will keep talking about her case and how Republicans tried to "save" her. This issue is a dog for Republicans and they know it (recall Bill Frist running from it on Meet The Press recently). The American people recoiled from their actions, and rightly so. I think when we look back at the demise of the Republicans, the Schiavo debacle will loom as a watershed moment. So please, keep up the good work wingnut priest, don't let the American people forget how Republicans behaved regarding Terri Schiavo.