Comments for Saying Yes to Life at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 8 out of 8 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sun, 19 May 2013 02:25:48 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9363 For the sake of clarity, I am not familiar with Ms Lopez's article 11Bravo referenced and Ms Lopez surely isnt the "poorly informed Catholic laypeople" I mentioned above. From what I know of her writing, she is reliable on this topic. Come to think of it, I would love to see her write a piece on "common misunderstandings" in Catholic Bioethics. - Tammy Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:17:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9361 Profmom, Thank you for your post. As a nurse who has worked in end-of-life care (a little with adults, mostly for critically ill babies) I've interacted with a lot of Catholics and other pro-life Christians who have a poor understanding of the proper ethics of end of life care. ProfMom is right, we dont starve people but neither do we force people to submit to terribly burdensome treatment when there is no expectation for recovery. Allowing natural death in an unchangeable situation isnt "killing" anyone. Please know though, Ive read many articles written by poorly informed Catholic lay people (even some associated with well funded prolife organizations) who misinform people on this topic. There are reliable sources of info , my 2 favorite are the USCCB website and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. 11Bravo, please dont let some misinformed person condemn you in the caring you provided for your loved ones. - Tammy Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:50:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9357 11Bravo: Nowhere in Catholic doctrine does it say we have to keep people alive by any means necessary. Fatally injured people need not be kept alive on plugs - respirators, etc. No one who has faced the decision to keep a loved one "alive" on a machine is guilty of anything if they do not do so. Neither Kathryn nor anyone else has accused you of killing anyone. But your post has the potential to confuse people on an issue that is already emotionally wrenching and which was distorted by inaccurate and biased media coverage. As Kathryn notes, Terri Schiavo was not on a respirator. She was not comatose. She was not in a "persistent vegetative state." She was not being kept alive artificially. She was starved and dehydrated to death. Her death was no more natural than a baby's would be if you simply stopped feeding it. We don't starve babies, or sick people, or old people, or injured people, or disabled people. We don't claim that feeding the helpless is "extraordinary care." That fairly straightforward principle should be obvious. The fact that it isn't; that so many could claim that starving and dehydrating Terri Schiavo was something that ought to have been done is proof of how desperately we need "fervent" believers to remind us of value of all life, and the risks inherent is deciding that some lives have value, and some do not. - ProfMom Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:58:33 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9355 Dear 11bravo, I am so sorry about your siblings ... so many of us have faced difficult, painful decisions. Raye, as spokesman for the Schindler foundation, believes that we ought to be a little more open to life. Not by any means necessary but certainly by being open to feeding a person. As he said: “I know that there are a lot of complex issues involved. But in the case of Terri, she didn’t need any extraordinary means. She wasn’t on a respirator. She simply needed food and water to stay alive." I'm really not interested in accusing anyone of anything but of encouraging an openness to life, even when it's difficult. God bless you in the new year. - Kathryn Jean Lopez Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:45:32 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9330 This author has lost all her credibility in opinionating on matters of life-pro life and end-of-life matters. According to her I have killed two of my siblings. Her article 2 months ago with the country artist was disscusting in my view. Terri schivo's case went according to catholic doctrine so she (and the church) should shut up! and not be hypocrites. Unplug Kathy and what happens is God's will if she can't hang on naturally. Keep her alive at all costs and wait and pray for a miracle...and its god's will!! Do you people get it? When you parse the issue you lose the general population of catholics. Just like the abortion issue, when you let "fervent" believers be your spokespeople it makes you look stupid, and gives opposing views more ammunition. - 11bravo Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:37:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9329 In the 1930s - early 1950s virtues such as modesty seemed much more acceptable to the media. Yet our teens still knew or discovered sex; and a number became pregnant. Proportionately more babies carried to term were put out for adoption, and their mothers had a "cover story" for the months away from their usual homes. Abortions still existed - probably fewer proportionately than the years since 1973, a/c illegal to some extent in most states. Currently a sad situation is that few mothers in this situation - perhaps less than 10% - seriously consider adoption. If the father (of the child) is not willing or able to commit to marriage and support, the mother and child often wind up on welfare and in poverty. Getting an education that allows self-support at a comfortable economic level is a challenge at best. With a small dependent child it becomes more like climbing Mt. Everest for a woman in this situation. Some succeed, but they are truly exceptional. TeaPot562 - TeaPot562 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:38:55 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9325 "If we instead spent those same resources housing, feeding, clothing and nurturing young women in crisis, we would have nothing to fight about." If we spent those same resources cultivating--and demanding (through our wallets) that the media cultivate--the virtues of modesty, chastity, and self-restraint, and teaching our children to respect for others (and themselves), to recognize others (and themselves) as having been made in the image and likeness of God, supporting the dignity of others as persons and not as tools for our own pleasure and satisfaction, demanding that Catholic politicians be held accountable and not coddled or thinking that they can be taught to respect what they have no respect for, we wouldn't need to spend those resources on either of the above noble causes. In the mean time, we save a child here and a teenager there (which is no small thing), while our culture is debased and ultimately destroyed. Merry Christmas. - Louise Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:16:13 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/saying-yes-to-life.html#comment-9323 I was in the room when Shama gave that amazing speech and her testimony was so powerful and eloquent. When the issue of abortion comes up in discussion in the big world, I will freely admit that Im tired of fighting with people about it, our culture spends too much of its time and resources fighting this issue. If we instead spent those same resources housing, feeding, clothing and nurturing young women in crisis, we would have nothing to fight about. And that is why I love the Paul Stefan Homes ...they do the corporeal works of mercy to care for those who have no other options left. I am honored to know Randy and Evelyn James and proud to support their apostolate. - Tammy Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:33:40 +0100