An Open Letter to President George W. Bush and to Governor Jeb Bush: Act Now to Save Terri Schindler-Schiavo's Life

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Dear Mr. President and Mr. Governor:

Time is of the essence to save the life of an innocent human being, Mrs. Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who is now into the sixth day of being starved and dehydrated to death under the cover of law. You, Mr. Governor, acted to save Terri's life in October of 2003. You, Mr. President, signed a bill into law on Monday morning, March 21, 2005, to try to give her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schindler, relief in Federal courts. These efforts have thus far failed. It is necessary now for both of you to use the full power of the Executive Authority to rescue Mrs. Schiavo from the clutches of death.

Mr. President, Mrs. Schiavo has been called to testify as a witness by committees of the Congress of the United States. You have the duty to provide her with full Federal protection by sending in United States marshals to take her out of Woodspice Hospice and to commence her feeding and hydration so as to preserve her life. The first duty of a civil officer is to prevent and/or stop the shedding of innocent blood.

Mr. Governor, you have the obligation to protect a disabled resident of the State of Florida who is being starved and dehydrated to death. You could, if you so desired, order the Florida National Guard to take her into the custody of the State and direct the Department of Children and Families to care for her until a full investigation of the judicial malfeasance in her case is reviewed by a special prosecutor.

Taking the action described above carries with it great political risks. Consider, though, the fact that it was precisely because those who knew that Adolf Hitler's Euthanasia Laws of 1939 were wrong but who did not want to risk their political careers (or their lives) that they either stood by while innocent human beings were killed under cover of law or actually carried out the orders issued by the judges of the Third Reich to end the lives of the deformed, the infirmed, the "feeble-minded," the "useless." The Roman Catholic Bishop of Munster, Count Clemens von Galens, denounced these laws and judicial decisions directly in a series of courageous sermons. The political functionaries, though, carried out their orders.

History is repeating itself here in the United States. Professional politicians hide behind the alleged finality of judicial decisions as thousands of babies are killed under cover of law in this country and around the world. Professional politicians excuse themselves of any responsibility of challenging these decisions by the use of their executive authority on the grounds that the "country" is not ready to reverse these judicial decisions, thus abdicating their responsibility to take the political risks necessary to save lives. Notes of regret are offered about Mrs. Schiavo's fate at present, with not one professional politician stating clearly that it is always wrong in all circumstances for food and water to be withdrawn from any human being. Not one professional politician is willing to state that the binding precepts of the Divine positive law and the natural law, entrusted by God to and explicated by His true Church founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, are always superior over any civil law and/or judicial decision that contradict them.

Do not hide, Mr. President and Mr. Governor, behind judges' decisions. Do not hide, Mr. President and Mr. Governor, behind slogans such as "the rule of law," for it was that very slogan that was used quite sanctimoniously by officials in the Third Reich to justify their crimes against God and man. A human being is being starved and dehydrated to death. No, she is not alone. There are scores upon scores of others who are being starved and dehydrated to death under cover of law as this is being written. Their cases are not making headlines because the relatives of these other victims of Modernity do not realize that they are doing anything wrong and thus do not object to the barbaric starvation and dehydration of a loved one to death. Mrs. Schiavo has parents who do object to the state-sponsored murder of their daughter, a practicing Catholic who would never have agreed to any action contrary to her Faith, especially as the Holy See itself has come resoundingly to her defense and has denounced her starvation and dehydration.

Think about Terri Schindler-Schiavo's thirst the next time you have a nice, cold glass of ice water. Think about Terri Schindler-Schiavo's hunger when you eat your next sumptuous meal. Look at your family members. Think of what it would be like to watch one of them starved and dehydrated to death. Would you want the brute power of the state to do to your own family members what is being done to Terri Schindler-Schiavo?

Look at a Crucifix and see what our sins caused the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to suffer in His Sacred Humanity as He paid back the blood debt that was owed to Him in His Infinity as God. We cannot undo what our sins did to Our Lord on Good Friday. We can, though, help a member of His Mystical Body, Terri Schindler-Schiavo, as she endures a needless agony caused by wicked men who have no regard for the law of God and no sense at all of the sufficiency of the graces won for us on Calvary to bear whatever crosses we are asked to bear in this mortal life here below in the vale of tears.

Act to save Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Do not consider political risks. Do not consider poll results. Consider the fact that Our Lord Himself is suffering mystically in the person of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Use your authority to save her. Help her as you would help Christ Himself. Do not delay. Do not wash your hands as Pontius Pilate did on Good Friday. Walk on the Via Dolorosa with Terri Schindler-Schiavo and ask the intercession of the Mother of God to help you endure the political costs of doing your duty before God and man to provide food and water and full legal protection to a disabled human being who has committed no crime and who is deserving only of our love, not execution.

With prayers for both of you to act immediately, I am,

Sincerely yours Christ the King and Mary our Immaculate Queen,

Thomas A. Droleskey, Ph.D.

President

Christ the King College, LLC