Keith A. Fournier is the Founder of the Common
Good movement and Co-Chair of the National Clergy Council's Board of Scholars.
Deacon Fournier is a member of the Catholic clergy, serving as a deacon of
the Roman Catholic Church. He also serves with approbation in the Melkite Greek
(Byzantine) Catholic Church. He has spent most of his adult life serving efforts
encouraging Christian co-operation and authentic ecumenism. Attorney Fournier
is a constitutional lawyer and policy activist/consultant, with extensive experience
in the practice of law, association leadership and policy work spanning a twenty-four
year professional career. He is a founder and builder of several policy efforts
dedicated to life, family, and authentic economic, religious and human freedom.
| 4/1/05
 By
Deacon Keith A Fournier
© Third Millennium,LLC
_____________________________________________________________ The
news out of Pinellas Park, Florida breaks the hearts of all decent people. It
should shake us to the core. Terri Schiavo is dead, intentionally deprived of
food and water, with the force of the raw power of government holding the hands
of the executioners. She was killed deliberately, by starvation and dehydration.
No Court, Legislative body or Chief Executive had the courage to stop this killing.
She was deprived of her substantive due process rights by every branch of government.
Terri was not dying. She was not receiving any “extraordinary
medical treatment.” She was being fed and given water, as many disabled people
are at this very moment, with assistance. She had trouble swallowing because she
was disabled by damage to her brain. She would have lived for many, many years,
bringing great joy to her family and changing the world. But now she is dead;
killed by the complete abject failure of a system that has lost its soul.
The Greek word for “witness” is “martyrion”. In our
use of the word over all these centuries of Christian history, we have emphasized
those who shed their blood for the faith. However, there is also a tradition of
“white martyrs”, those who live sacrificial lives that change the world.
That is what Terri did. None of us will forget her smile. We all adopted her beautiful
family. We now mourn her loss and share, at least a little, in their deep pain.
We must also become outraged at the sheer evil of this killing and we must act.
Terri Schiavo is a martyr. She had her life taken away by the enforcers
of a New Rome. Remember, the old Rome also had an elaborate system of courts and
a highly developed legislative system. It prided itself on its culture, its arts
and its claims to “civilization.” Yet, it legally sanctioned horrors
such as the practice of exposure, where children, the disabled and other “unwanted”
persons were left on rocks to die by exposure to the elements or to be killed
by hostile passers by. We now do the same. The killing of Terri
Schindler must mark a turning point in American history. Terri was killed while
“the law” was unwilling to intervene. Her death stripped away the veneer
of civility painted on the face of the current culture of death. It was a diabolical
event, plain and simple. The rejection of the inherent value of every human life
as a foundation of our whole understanding of ordered liberty is a clear and present
danger. We face a serious risk to both life and liberty when reference to the
truth is removed as the measuring stick for our behavior. Authentic freedom has
been replaced by a counterfeit. The very foundation of decency is shaken.
To honor Terri, we should dedicate ourselves to the long term work of building
a new society, a culture of life and civilization of love, where the dignity of
every human life will be the polestar of all public policy; marriage and family
will be protected as the first mediating institution and defended against those
who aim to replace and eradicate them; authentic freedom will be exercised in
reference to truth and within a moral constitution, and our obligations in solidarity
to one another, and most especially those who have no voice, will be upheld by
elected and unelected public servants. With all the talk of the
“religious influence” in America, the martyrdom of Terri Schiavo reveals
the lack of a national soul. Terri was killed in a manner reminiscent of past
evil regimes. I am reminded of the old adage attributed to the English Philosopher
Alisdair Macintyre who, commenting on the decay in English society, once said
“The Creed of the English is that there is no God but it is proper to pray
to him once in a while.” Without reference to the Source of unalienable rights,
the One who placed the hunger for true justice within every human heart, we have
become unmoored as a Nation. Terrible injustices sometimes mark
turning points in the political history of Nations. I pray that Terri’s death
becomes such an event; an impetus for a new coalition for life, family, freedom
and solidarity. If it does, Terri’s martyrdom will not have been in vain. ____________________________________________________________________ Deacon
Keith Fournier is a member of the Catholic Clergy and a human rights lawyer.
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