The American Spectator

p> TERRI SHIAVO AND THE RIGHT TO DIE br> Re: George Neumayr’s The Chic Culture of Death : /p>

In “The Chic Culture of Death,” George Neumayr has, with his usual brio, written about the slippery slope that American society faces with the right to die and the efforts to provide a constitutional framework around the euthanasia movement. But implicit in such arguments is the question of who will decide. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will judge the judges?) From what I have read, I would not wish to be old and sick and live in the Netherlands. But there is also another story here.

One of the most significant changes in the Catholic Church since Vatican II has been the fundamental altering of the Society of Jesus, a.k.a. the Jesuits. They were trained as scholars and clerics and sent to missions far and wide, often serving as papal shock troops. Their orthodoxy and devotion were unchallenged, until the baleful effects of modernization appeared to undermine that dedication.

p>One example of that change it is to be found in the words of Father Kevin Wildes, S.J. The very idea that Father Wildes would conflate water and bread as “extraordinary” means to keep someone alive, begs the question of what means are ordinary. True, we must allow that Father Wildes is at Georgetown University, which is Catholic in name only, but to misrepresent the Church’s historical position on what is acceptable to maintain life is … strange, to put it mildly. One could be callous and remark that the problem with this Jesuit are the Jesuits. br> — Vincent Chiarello /p> p> I think you are well aware that the true Catholic perspective is that Terri Shiavo has an absolute right to life until God the Father takes her home naturally. The Shiavo case has been at the forefront of Catholic Radio for months and the pressure brought to bear by devout Catholics has had a significant impact on the turnabout on this case. The Catholic Church has been sufficiently vilified for the scandal brought on by homosexual priests, to paint the Church based on the ranting of one non-conforming priest is unjust. I cannot speak to your personal spiritual convictions; however, whatever bias you may hold should not cause you to misstate the positions of the many devout Catholics the world over. The U.S. Catholic Bishops have a long history of leftist ideology that is in conflict with the Catholic Theology. Many of us look to Pope John Paul II and the tradition of the Church for direction on our faith. Perhaps it is time that those with anti-Catholic bias address the true teaching of the Church and assess the teaching of the current Pope and his predecessors and ignore the Bishops who are at variance with those teachings. br> — Sam Kain