Shiavo Thoughts Revisited

In a previous post I noted how many of us who attend Espiritu Santo Catholic Church were upset that our Pastor married Michael Shiavo to his new wife. Many of us have since had discussions with fellow parishioners and our feelings of disapproval to the marriage are certainly not felt by many others.

So, I think there needs to be some clarification to my/our disapproval.

I have no issue with Michaell Shiavo wanting to get married, asking to get married and being allowed to be married, per se, because that is none of my business.

What I do have issue with, however, is the apparent way in which the church seemed to ignore it's own beliefs in order to facilitate his request.

If the church truly believes that life exists from conception to natural death, and that anything else, from abortion to euthanasia, would be considered murder, then under that scenario, Terry Shiavo, having been starved to death, was thereby murdered under the church's pro-life stance.

And since Michael Shiavo was the driving force behind her starvation and eventual death, he would have then murdered his wife.

Under Canon Law, without dispensation from the Pope, a man cannot marry in the church if he murdered his wife in order to marry another woman.

And that's the issue. And all Catholics should be upset about that.

Michael Shiavo, like the rest of us, can ask the church to do anything we want. The church, however, should only take action that are in line with it's core beliefs. If not, then what's the point? Doesn't that make Catholicism a theological buffet that we can pick and choose what we want to follow?

I'm pretty sure the Pope would not agree with that outcome. And that's why we are at a loss as to how such a marriage could be allowed by our Pastor and our Bishop.

And that's the issue in a nutshell. So, get your wills in order, make sure your feelings about whether or not you want feeding tubes or extra effort to keep you alive is written down and notarized.

Because this is a real tragedy on both sides. And we should make sure our spouses and our parents are not faced with making such gut-wrenching decisions because we did not take the time to clarify our own preferences in a living will.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to pull up my new Will program on my computer and get to typing...