Sarah Foster
DAY 5 -
Terri Schiavo denied Last Rites
Sun Oct 19 18:17:41 2003
64.140.158.11
STARVATION DAY 5
Terri Schiavo denied Last Rites
Catholic monsignor forbidden to put crumb of holy wafer in dying woman's mouth
Posted: October 19, 2003 2:00 a.m. Eastern
By Sarah Foster -
sfoster@worldnetdaily.com
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35156
Saying she was only following court and doctor's orders, an attorney for
Michael Schiavo yesterday would not allow a revered Roman Catholic priest to
administer Holy Communion to brain-disabled Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who is
being slowly starved to death following the judge-ordered removal of her
life-sustaining feeding tube on Wednesday.
Attorney Deborah Bushnell told Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, who has been
Terri's spiritual provider for three years, that ''because of court order and
doctor's orders, you can't put anything in her mouth,'' not even a morsel of
moistened communion wafer.
Malanowski recounted the bizarre incident for WorldNetDaily. ''I felt that
time was of the essence at this point and made a decision that because she is
not going to live much longer, I might not have another opportunity to give
her Holy Communion,'' he said.
As he had done almost every Saturday for over three years, the priest
accompanied Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, to the Hospice of the
Florida Sun Coast in Pinellas Park, Fla, where she has been a patient since
April 2000. Because so little time is left for the family to be with Terri,
her brother Bobby and sister, Suzanne, were there as well.
Plus there were two police officers in the room and a woman who was said to be
Schiavo's ''representative.''
Malanowski spoke with Bushnell outside the room, explaining that he wanted to
administer the Sacrament of Annointing of the Sick or the Viaticum, the last
communion for a Catholic before death. Bushnell contacted Schiavo by phone to
make certain he would allow it, and he gave his permission.
Wanting to make it a prayer service, the priest invited the family into the
room to share the sacrament with Terri, but Bushnell demanded to know what the
priest was going to so.
Malanowski explained he was going to give her: ''a small, tiny particle of the
consecrated Host. And I'll moisten my index finger [in water] to make sure the
Host will stick to it and that it will stick to her tongue.''
Bushnell said he couldn't do that, but suggested he ''take the Host, touch her
lips with it, and you consume it.''
Malanowski protested, ''I'm not here for that. I am here to bring her
communion, not me. I went to communion this morning. This is communion for
her.''
Contacted by telephone, the priest of the local parish told Bushnell there was
an ''alternative'' called ''spiritual communion'' for people who can't receive
communion – ''She receives the Lord in her heart.''
''I told attorney Bushnell, I've been doing that for over three years,''
Malanowski exclaimed. ''Every Saturday I give her spiritual communion, and I
want her to receive communion in the mouth. She hasn't received communion for
13 or 14 years. She's dying. She's on her deathbed, and with dying people –
whether it is a male or female Catholic – I'm obligated to take care of their
religious and spiritual needs when they're dying. They get absolution, Holy
Communion, and Annointing of the Sick.''
Malanowski argued the matter with the parish priest, but realized he was
''following the party line about spiritual communion.''
''I told him I'd been doing that for two-and-a-half years – and he said,
'Well, the doctors say you cannot put anything in her mouth.'''
Malanowski said he would do it, ''because she has the constitutional right to
follow her religious beliefs, she has the right to receive communion and I
have the obligation as a priest to give her communion. This will be perhaps
the last time in her life on earth that she receives communion.''
But the priest didn't agree. ''I sensed that, because he was saying,
'Otherwise you can't do it. If the court-order says so and the doctors say so,
you can't do it.'''
Unwilling to argue points of theology and constitutional issues on the phone,
Malanowski tried Bushnell again, but she was adamant. ''She wouldn't let me do
it.''
There were two police officers, and he asked them, ''What if I go in there now
and give her communion?'' And they said, ''We will deny you access to her. You
will not be able to put it in her mouth.''
At that point Bobby and Suzanne, said, ''Father, let's go.''
And they did. While Bushnell was talking with the priest, they had had a
prayer service and the ''spiritual communion'' – but many Catholics do not
regard that as the same as communion with a consecrated host.
Outside the hospice a scheduled press conference was about to begin, and
Malanowski found himself in front of the TV cameras.
''I told them [the media] the whole story, that she was denied her religious
privileges and I was denied the right to take care of her religious needs,''
he said. ''I told them, that the attorney had some suggestion about me
touching Terri's lips with the wafer, and then I was supposed to consume it.
What does she know about Catholic ritual or rites?''
As WorldNetDaily reported, the Schindlers had been fighting their son-in-law
for 10 years over the lack of care and therapy Schiavo as her guardian
provided for their daughter, who suffered massive brain damage when she
collapsed at her home 13 years ago under mysterious circumstances at the age
of 26.
The ongoing dispute escalated five years ago when Schiavo petitioned the court
for permission to end his wife's life by removing her feeding tube, insisting
she is in a ''persistent vegetative state'' and had told him years before she
would not want to be maintained ''by tubes'' and ''artificial means'' Although
Terri breathes on her own and maintains her own blood pressure, she requires a
simple tube into her abdomen to her stomach for nourishment and hydration.
The Schindlers fought tenaciously to keep their daughter and the case alive in
the courts, but they have been basically blocked at every turn in particular
by probate judge George Greer, of the Pinellas County Circuit Court, who has
had charge of the case almost from the beginning. When the seven-member
Florida Supreme Court in August turned down a petition to review the case, the
way was clear for Schiavo to starve his wife to death.
On Sept. 17, Greer scheduled Oct. 15 as the day Terri's feeding tube would be
removed. At the same time, in separate rulings, he denied any rehabilitation
for the disabled woman or a chance to be spoon-fed.
Information on Terri's fight for life is posted on the family's website.
Previous stories:
Jeb Bush 'fails' Terri
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35152
Abuse report filed for Terri Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35149
Desperate parents plead to Jeb Bush
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35145
Lawyers: Bush can step in for Terri
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35120
Starvation begins for Terri Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35095
Husband protests video showing alert Terri
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35085
Terri Schiavo wants to live
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35077
No intervention for Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35076
Joni Eareckson Tada joins vigil for Terri Schiavo
Hearing today on woman scheduled to starve
Prayer vigil for Terri Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35006
Bush steps in for Schindler-Schiavo
Florida AG intervenes in Schiavo lawsuit
Order signed for starvation of disabled woman
Disabled woman wins reprieve
Another 9-11 date with death
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34416
Federal judge considers Schiavo case
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34399
Federal Court grants emergency hearing in Schiavo case
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34353
Attorney: Jeb Bush letter only a 'good first step' Gov. Bush's plea for
Schindler-Schiavo rejected
Jeb Bush intervenes for Schindler-Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34275
Legal setbacks clear way for Schiavo starvation
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34252
Schindler-Schiavo on 'death row'
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34229
Husband bars priest from brain-damaged wife
Brain-damaged woman hospitalized
Fight for life bombshell: Terri trying to talk
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33877
Petition drive launched for Terri Schiavo
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33876
Commentary
'Murder is legal if we say so'
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34935
Sarah Foster is a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35156
