Res Publica 2005

A Certain Slant brought up this point:

I'm Catholic, so when I read at BlogsforTerri just moments ago that among the motions Circuit Court Judge Greer will rule on during a hearing in his court scheduled for 1:30pm EST on Friday, March 4th, is whether or not Terri Schiavo is permitted to receive the sacrament of Extreme Unction, I came out of my chair. I'm not a lawyer. If a lawyer reads this post, I would very much appreciate an explanation of why this poor woman, a baptized, practicing Catholic at the time of her brain damage in 1990, needs the approval of a judge to receive the sacrament of Extreme Unction as she approaches death (should Judge Greer's death sentence not be overruled by a higher court)?

For non-Catholic readers of this post, Extreme Unction, otherwise known as the "Last Rites" of the Catholic Church, is an annointing of the dying by an ordained priest to give strength to the soul, mind, and body of the soon departed. It is a blessed sacrament.

Why is Terri Schindler-Schiavo's "Freedom of Religion" under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution a matter on which Judge Greer must rule?

For someone who is Catholic, this is an outrage. The implications, and possibly the precident have frightening implications:

Silent Raindrops asks, discussing this:

Where are we going if we allow the courts to decide if and when we can receive the Sacraments of our faith? This is extraordinarily dangerous ground. Not only do we jeopardize our ability to receive the Sacraments, as this author wisely points out, do we also run the risk of judicial interference in the right of the Church to withhold those Sacraments when it is appropriate as a matter of dogma?

Does the court have a right to tell a person how and when they can worship, or tell that church how to manage its normal affairs?

The fact that there is a dispute (no doubt part of the tug of war between Michael Schaivo and the Schindlers) is sad. But if the judge rules against the allowing a priest to be with her for her passing, a normal Catholic procedure, we could be entering a slippery slope of court controlled religious practice.

Not a pleasant thought.