Father Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Advocates Mark 5th Terri Schiavo Day Wednesday

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 29, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Father Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Advocates Mark 5th Terri Schiavo Day Wednesday

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 29
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Hundreds of pro-life advocates will join Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life on Wednesday to mark the fifth annual Terri’s Day. This is the ceremonial day set aside by those who want to honor the life of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose former husband killed her.

Five years ago, Terri’s husband Michael Schiavo won a court order to take her life by depriving her of food and water because she was in a minimally conscious state.

The order came despite the wishes of her family — a mother and father as well as a brother and sister who wanted to provide her with the medical care and rehabilitation Michael denied Terri during the years-long legal battle between them.

“On March 31, five years ago, Terri Schiavo died a court mandated and government enforced death,” Father Pavone, the national director of the pro-life Catholic group, told LifeNews.com.

Pavone was present with the Schindler family not long before Terri died and he painted a different picture of her death than the one euthanasia proponents set up.

“I saw for myself, as I held her hand and prayed at her bedside, that this death was not ‘peaceful’ and ‘beautiful’ as euthanasia advocates want us to think," he explained.

“Terri’s Day” was established by Terri’s family and Priests for Life to foster education, prayer, and activism to counter discrimination against the disabled. Together, they urge churches, schools, organizations, families, and individuals to observe this day.

Pavone tells LifeNews.com it is more greatly needed this year because of the recent passage of health care legislation that presents problems for the elderly and disabled.

"As health care is placed more and more in the hands of the government, we have to be more vigilant than ever to protect the Terris of today and tomorrow," he said.

Pavone will be the celebrant and homilist at the Annual National Mass for Terri’s Day Wednesday night, March 31 at the Ave Maria Oratory of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.

The National Mass for Terri’s Day will be held on March 31 at 5:00 p.m., at 5040 Ave Maria Boulevard, Ave Maria, FL 34142. A light reception will follow.

Related web sites:
Terri’s Day – https://www.TerrisDay.org
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation – https://www.terrisfight.org

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