My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we have just celebrated Holy Week and the great feast of Easter, the Christian understanding of death and resurrection has been before our eyes, as well as the tragic situation with Terri Schiavo. Almost twenty years ago, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, issued the apostolic letter, Salvific Doloris, on the Christian meaning of human suffering. The Holy Father wrote, "Declaring the power of salvific suffering, the Apostle Paul says: 'In my flesh, I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church'" (Col. 1:24).

Christians not only understand the meaning of both life and death, but also understand suffering, which causes us perhaps the greatest of difficulties. Just ten years ago last week, our Holy Father issued the encyclical, The Gospel of Life, Evangelium Vitae. In this great encyclical, he tried to instruct the Church on what it means to foster a culture of life and contrasted it to a culture of death.

Unfortunately, in our country we have just witnessed the triumph of a culture of death which misunderstands the meaning of both life and death. Perhaps to understand better the Church's teaching, which comes not from theological tenets but rather from a study of philosophy on the meaning of human existence, we can compare another famous situation of Karen Ann Quinlan to that of Terri Schiavo.

Thirty years ago, Karen Ann Quinlan went into a coma after mixing alcohol and drugs. Her parents, supported by the teaching of the Church and by their own bishop in Paterson, New Jersey, petitioned the court to remove the respirator that provided her life. The extraordinary means of this respirator was not necessary according to our understanding of the sustenance of human life in these circumstances. The respirator was removed; however, Karen Ann Quinlan continued to live, her needs sustained by a nasal gastric tube which provided her nutrition and hydration. She lived for nine years and died in the loving care of her parents who witnessed this suffering, but understood its meaning.

In contrast, today we have the situation of Terri Schiavo, whose parents wish her to live but whose husband claims that it was his wife's wish that she would not want to continue to live in what some have called a "persistent vegetative state." A person is never a vegetable. Rather, we are born as human beings and we die as human beings. We do not descend from one state of existence to a lower state.

The fact is, Terri Schiavo is not in a chronic coma nor is she a stroke victim, nor is she brain dead, as the common parlance calls it where there is no cerebral activity, and she has an ability to breathe on her own. She does not, however, have the inability to swallow her own food. The situation of Terri Schiavo is very similar to many disabled who are unable to feed themselves. Certainly this is not a pathology, but rather a disability from which she will not die unless death is induced by withholding food and water in an action which amounts to euthanasia.

The contrast here is between assisted nutrition versus an understanding that this is an artificial nutrition and a misunderstood means of therapy. Assisted nutrition certainly is not extraordinary. Just over a year ago, John Paul II said, "The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, represents a natural way for preserving life and is not a medical procedure." Many argue that this is a medical procedure. But what about medicines each one of us take each day? What about an insulin-dependent diabetic? Are these natural means that preserve life? Certainly they are artificial; at the same time they are not extraordinary, they are very ordinary and none of us would deprive ourselves of life-sustaining medicines simply because someone would call them artificial means of sustaining life.

This celebrated incident has pricked the conscience of our nation. There is much talk today about the quality of life. This, however, must be seen as secondary to the sanctity of life. Though Terri Schiavo and many others are impaired in their quality of life, this does not make them less than human, since they are all created in the image and likeness of God. By virtue of their personhood, she and many others continue to be endowed with the same inherent dignity of fully functioning individuals. This dignity must be respected.

The basic way that we respect persons is to provide them with the necessities of life, including food and water. Just as we would not let an infant die simply because it cannot feed itself, we would not let die an older person who is debilitated by age, because he is unable to feed himself and not able to swallow. Would we not feed them too? The answer is, of course. There are many people in nursing homes today who have feeding tubes inserted so that the nursing staff can save time by avoiding hand feeding the patients. This may or may not be a good practice, but the fact is feeding tubes are not extraordinary means of maintaining life.

The traditional distinction of ordinary and extraordinary means in Catholic moral theology is what can guide us. When therapies, medications or medical procedures offer no proportional benefit to the patient but merely prolong the life-threatening disease or pathology, they may not be morally obligatory. In such cases, it is permissible to allow the nature of the disease to run its course, resulting in natural death. In the Schiavo case, however, it would not be the pathology that runs its course and brings about death, but rather the denial of a basic human necessity for life---food and water---that would result in death.

This does not mean, however, that food and water must always be administered in every situation. If a person is in the advanced states of a terminal illness and his or her body is rejecting food and water, that is, the body cannot absorb it, we would not be obligated to continue to force nutrition and hydration into that body. In such a case, it is not that nutrition and hydration have become something other than basic human care, as it is always that. Rather, it is a recognition of the state of the illness and the imminence of death, which would come about from the effects of the disease.

All of this brings us to understanding the issue of living wills and health care proxies. The bottom line, however, is that no one can ever commit suicide. That is the basic distinction. Yes, we can list procedures that are extraordinary and that we wish not to be applied to ourselves, especially in cases of terminal illness. We cannot relegate to anyone the taking of our life in euthanasia, the taking of our own life in assisted suicide, or by taking medications that will shorten our life and not just ease our pain.

The life and death issues that have come to our attention in the life and death of Terri Schiavo is certainly something that gives us cause to think. Notwithstanding the political ramifications of this case, the Church must teach clearly the value of life, suffering and death.

As we continue in this Easter season, we truly can put out into the deep through the understanding of the basic message of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a message that tells us that suffering and death lead to glory.