What happened to Terri Schiavo was "tyranny" that threatens our entire culture, said Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life during a "national Mass" at the Ave Maria Oratory in honor of Terri Schiavo four years after her death. (At right, a picture of Terri was near the altar at the Mass.)
"We live in the midst of a storm of violence," Fr. Pavone said, and "so many people are dying the same way [as Terri} every day."
"Terri's life continues," he said, explaining that he said the same words to Terri's family four years ago when the young woman died two weeks after a federal court ruled that her husband could remove tubes supplying her with food and water. Her death was a "tyranny," Fr. Pavone said, and he urged those attending the Mass to remember that when they vote. Too many politicians do not respect life, Fr. Pavone said, "and we must use the power of our vote to get them out of office."
"We must obey God rather than man," he said. "That is the radical stance of Christianity when the government throws the laws of God out the window."
At the conclusion of Mass, Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler (at left, with Fr. Pavone in background), said the Mass was overwhelming. "We never expected to fill the oratory."
He said the large attendance shows the extent of concern for people like Terri everywhere.
"Every day people are being killed the way she was," he said, noting that confusion about her condition persists to this day. "She wasn't dying," he said. "If she were alive, we could have put her in a wheelchair and brought her here today. It is absolutely false that she was in a persistent vegetative state," he said. (At right, Mr. Schindler speaks with Grace and Ken Hipp from Lehigh Acres after the Mass. Mrs. Hipp suffers from MS.)
Both Fr. Pavone and Mr. Schindler praised Ave Maria University for being a "great witness for life" and Fr. Pavone said he looked forward to further collaboration with AMU on pro-life matters.
At left, Fr. Robert Tatman, administrator of the Ave Maria Oratory quasi-parish, greets Bobby Schindler and Terri's mother before the Mass.
What happened to Terri Schiavo was "tyranny" that threatens our entire culture, said Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life during a "national Mass" at the Ave Maria Oratory in honor of Terri Schiavo four years after her death. (At right, a picture of Terri was near the altar at the Mass.)
At the conclusion of Mass, Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler (at left, with Fr. Pavone in background), said the Mass was overwhelming. "We never expected to fill the oratory."
"She wasn't dying," he said. "If she were alive, we could have put her in a wheelchair and brought her here today. It is absolutely false that she was in a persistent vegetative state," he said. (At right, Mr. Schindler speaks with Grace and Ken Hipp from Lehigh Acres after the Mass. Mrs. Hipp suffers from MS.)