wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Terri Schiavo's brother addresses LFL

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>8.6.2009		
>	LCMS News	 	
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>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod  	 	
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	August 6, 2009 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 64

Terri Schiavo's death not peaceful, says brother

>By Paula Schlueter Ross

In his keynote to the 26th National Conference of Lutherans For Life
(LFL), July 24-25 in St. Louis, Bobby Schindler said his sister, Terri
Schindler Schiavo, did not die a peaceful death, as her husband has
said.

Terri Schiavo, 41, died in 2005 after her husband, Michael Schiavo,
received court-ordered permission to have her feeding tube removed in
the high-profile case.  Her family disagreed that Terri would have
wanted to die.

In Terri's last days, while Michael Schiavo's attorney was telling
reporters he'd never seen Terri so "beautiful," the Schindler siblings
were begging their mother not to visit her daughter, whose court-ordered
starvation had ravaged her body almost beyond recognition.

Bobby Schindler said it was impossible for him to describe his sister
after two weeks without food, water, and palliative care, but called her
starvation "the most heinous, barbaric thing I ever had to witness."  It
is, he told LFL conference-goers, something he will remember all his
life.

Some 275 people attended the annual conference, which included a
pre-conference leaders workshop, plenary sessions, worship, a banquet,
an abortion-clinic vigil, and workshops on a variety of pro-life topics
under the theme "Celebrating the Abundant Life," from John 10:10.

In his keynote, Schindler said that in his home state of Florida, it's a
felony to starve an animal, "but we're doing it to our most disabled
people."

"If we can't value life, how can we value anything?" he asked, calling
the disregard for human life "the most significant issue facing the
country and world today."

Schindler said his sister's situation can't be classified as an
"end-of-life issue," since Terri was not dying, was not in a coma, was
not "brain dead," and was not in a "persistent vegetative state."

In fact, his family thought she was getting better -- she was starting
to form words and trying to talk, abilities that would surely have
improved with rehabilitation, he said.

The Schindlers were "shocked," he said, when they learned that Terri's
husband wanted to remove her feeding tube -- which she needed because
she had trouble swallowing -- and they offered to care for her
themselves.  But after five years of trying to save Terri, even with
support from around the world, the judge ruled in Michael Schiavo's
favor.

Schindler said he believes more and more U.S. judges, lawmakers, the
media -- even some in the medical profession -- are embracing a "quality
of life mentality" in deciding whether disabled people should live or
die.

"Who would want to live in this condition?" is the wrong question to
ask, he says, since thousands of people are living "in this condition"
nationwide.

Schindler sees two choices: You rationalize that it's OK to kill people
with disabilities, or you take care of them.  In a chilling development,
food and water, he said, can now be classified by courts as "life
support," even for those who, like Terri, may have a severe brain injury
but are not dying.

"What I saw happen to my sister, no brother, no family, no parents, in
particular, should ever have to witness," said Schindler, who, with his
parents, Robert and Mary, and sister, Suzanne, have started the Terri
Schindler Schiavo Foundation to "help families fight for those who
cannot fight for themselves."  The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based foundation
has received more than 600 calls since it was established in 2001 and
has assisted in 100-plus cases. (For more information, visit its Web
site at http://www.terrisfight.org.)

>Schindler encouraged LFL conference-goers to:

*	care about the value-of-life issue.  Apathy, he said, has made
the problem worse.  "We have to care, we have to get involved," he said.
"We have to look at this issue [as being] just as important as ... the
abortion issue because it is the same issue -- it's the killing of
life."

*	support pro-life lawmakers who "have the same principles and
values that we do because they're in positions where they can change the
laws and help stop things like this from happening."

*	write the media. "Be professional and kind ... and tell them
that we disagree with their position. It works."

>*	continue to pray for pro-life efforts.

*	educate people.  "I think we can change their hearts when they
see just how barbaric this issue is, the abortion issue, all these
issues when we're taking life for no other reason than these people have
become an inconvenience in one way or another to us."

Schindler called the audience members "heroes," and commended them for
their willingness to fight for life.

Edna Walker of Cleburne, Texas, called Schindler "very inspiring," and
said his talk "reminds us of what's going on in our society and how
things are deteriorating in the value of life."

LFL Executive Director James Lamb said Schindler's talk was "very
powerful" because "he was speaking from his heart and his soul and his
passion.  He was speaking out of his love for his sister, and out of his
great desire that what happened to her would not happen to others."

Lamb said LFL "has a part in sharing that message, to help people know
what's going on and that we can indeed do something about it because
we've got a more powerful message than the message of death, and that's
the Lord of Life.

"And," he added, "that's what this gathering is all about -- following
that Shepherd of Life."

Cynthia Chapa of Fort Worth, Texas, said she appreciates "the fellowship
with people of like mind" an LFL conference provides.  "Seeing people
still in the ministry who have been in it for years and years is very,
very inspiring," she said.

First-timer Cynthia Schulz, a teacher for more than three decades who
has been involved in youth ministry for 18-plus years, said she attended
the conference because she feels "very strongly" about the abortion
issue and has seen firsthand "the hurt that comes in the lives of
children who experience abortions."

Abortion never "solves" the problem of teen pregnancy, Schulz said, but
instead causes "grief and hurt."

The next LFL national conference is planned for July 23-24, 2010, in
Milwaukee, under the theme "Bringing Good News to Life."

For more information about Lutherans For Life, call 888-364-LIFE (5433)
or visit its Web site <http://www.lutheransforlife.org> .

Based in Nevada, Iowa, LFL is a pro-life, pro-family ministry that
witnesses to the sanctity of human life through education, based on the
Word of God.

>****************************************

If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact
Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
<mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org>  or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter
Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org>  or (314)
996-1230.

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