September/October 2003
My dear friends in Christ,
An August 6th article in the Florida Times-Union told the moving story
of Brenda Sartor, who at 28 years of age weighs a mere 60 pounds.
Confined to a wheelchair, she has never walked or even crawled. She was
born with a condition known as spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that
kills 50 percent of the infants born with it before their second
birthday. When she was nine months old, her doctor told Brenda’s mother
to put her in a nursing home and let her die in peace.
But Brenda refused to quit. Graduating from Middleburg High School in
1993, she set her sights on college. The article recounts how Brenda
lived in an apartment with her mother in Gainesville, often staying up
until 2 a.m. doing homework, and then getting up at 6 a.m. for class.
Today, hanging on a wall in her home is Brenda’s college diploma from
the University of Florida.
October is Respect Life Month for U.S. Catholics. It’s a time when we
revisit the life issues and our commitment to them. Unfortunately, in
today’s society, where one’s worth is measured by one’s ability to
produce, moving examples like Brenda Sartor are becoming increasingly
rare. The reason is that their lives are snuffed out before birth, if
the amniocentesis test gives even a hint of an
abnormality.
The clash between the forces of life and death are most poignantly seen
in our courts. Recently, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a law
that required physicians to give 48 hours notice to a minor’s parents
before terminating the minor’s pregnancy. What an
aberration! We require a parent’s permission before a school nurse may
dispense an aspirin to a minor, yet forbid a physician from
informing the parents that he is about to perform major surgery on that
same minor!
Since 1973 adherents of the culture of death have won their victories
not in the voting booth but in the courts. Accordingly, it’s of
paramount importance to elect to office only those representatives who
staunchly support the life issues. Why? In most cases, court nominees
are appointed pending approval of the Senate. And senators have become
ever more intransigent in rejecting anyone who would interpret the law
objectively in questions of life.
Take the case of the nomination of Alabama Attorney General William
Pryor to the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Pryor, a
committed Catholic, is unapologetic in his views on abortion, which he
considers a serious moral wrong. Even though he has received the
unanimous approval of the America Bar Association and even though he has
testified that he will respect and apply the law of the land, his
nomination is being blocked by a handful of senators in committee.
Someone may object that no one in public office should force his
morality on others. Some candidates attempt to hide behind this charade,
protesting: “I’m personally opposed to abortion, but I can’t force my
morality on anyone else. If a woman wants to have an abortion, that’s
her choice.” Quoting from a talk that I delivered in Tallahassee last
year, I ask you to judge the following cases:
• A legislator at the time of the Missouri Compromise: “I’m personally
opposed to slavery, but I can’t force my morality on anyone else. If a
master wants to own
slaves, that’s his choice.”
• A member of Congress in 1964: “I’m personally opposed to racism, but I
can’t force my morality on anyone else. If a restaurant owner wants to
discriminate, that’s his
choice.”
• A hypothetical legislator today: “I’m personally opposed to
pedophilia, but I can’t force my morality on anyone else. If a man wants
to engage in that sort of activity, that’s his choice.”
Why is it that in each of these cases, we not only can, but in fact do
“force our morality” on others? Because the civil rights of an innocent
party are being violated. It’s the same in the case of abortion,
euthanasia, or any other life issue: The civil rights of an innocent
party are being violated.
Let me stress this all-important point. The time to mobilize ourselves
is not when we are fighting the removal of a feeding tube from a
comatose patient. By then it’s too late. No, the time to mobilize
ourselves is before a general election. Let us educate ourselves on the
basic issues. Let us learn the positions of the various candidates. And
finally, let us vow never to cast a vote for anyone who does not support
that most basic of all human rights – the right to life.
+ Victor Galeone,
Bishop of St. Augustine
