South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1990 Page: 1 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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m, m
PPIPIWIIIMH
High court sides with Missouri
in Cruzan ‘right-to-die’ case
By Julie Asher, Catholic News Service
and Rachelle Ramon, STC editor
WASHINGTON--The U.S. Supreme
Court in its first decision in a so-called
“right-to-die" case June 25 ruled against
withdrawing food and water from a young
Missouri woman in a “persistent vegeta-
tive state."
In a 5-4 ruling in the case of Nancy Beth
Cruzan, the hi git court sided with the
Missouri Supreme Court, saying that a
state’s interest in preserving life may su-
persede the wishes of the family in cases
where a patient is in an irreversible coma-
like state.
Writing for the court, Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist said that Missouri
has “a genctal interest in the protection
and preservation of human life" and has
the right to require ‘ ‘clear and convincing
evidence" that Ms. Cruzan wants to die
before it allows the withdrawal of life-
sustaining measures.
The high court ruled that the state “did
not commit constitutional error’ in con-
cluding that evidence presented was not
clear and convincing proof of Ms. Cruzan’s
desire to have hydration and nutrition
withdrawn.
Bishop Rene H. Gracida of the Diocese
of Corpus Christi said in a telephone inter-
view with the .South Texas Catholic news-
paper that he agrees with the court's deci-
sion.
The bishop has been a vocal opponentof
the “right-to-dic” movement. In the May
25 issue of the STC he uisscmed from a
recent statement issued by 16 of the 21
Texas bishops in which they state that
‘ ‘artificial nutrition and hydration” can be
considered burdensome and therefore
withdrawn from a person in a persistent
vegetative state.
Bishop Gracida's stand against the bish-
ops' statement was supported by the edito-
See Supreme Court, page 3
Might to live-
right to die
By George W. Koch Jr.
On April 26-28, 1990, in
Washington,D.C., ihe Columbus School
cf Law of the Catholic University of
America, the National Legal Center for
the Medically Dependent and Disabled,
the Horatio R. Storer Foundation, and the
American Academy of Medical Ethics
presented a seminar titled “Current Con-
troversies in the Right to Live, the Right to
Die.”
The extremely interesting and contro-
versial program, dealt primarily with the
problem of making medical decisions which
would ultimately result in the death of the
patient: who is to make such decisions,
and the legal considerations of this proc-
ess.
The tone of the conference was set in
the disquieting remarks by Dr. Richard
Fenigscn, M.D. (Willcm-Alex.ander Hos-
pital, Netherlands).
See Euthanasia, page 7
several children from throughout the city present to me city secretary ove; iu.ouu
signatures of people who support a proposed amendment to the City Charter which
. that human life begins at conception and continues until natural death. "We
i*ave accomplished only the first step in the process of coming to terms with the
digmtv and human value of each and every one of the members of our family, “ said
Cassidy Monday. The signatures wore gathered in just over two weeks' time
so that the City Council could vote during its June 26th meeting whether tc include
the amendment in a referendum in August. As of press time on Tuesday, ihe council
had not yet made a decision on that issue.(STC photo by Luz Loza)
Our American heritor
By Father John Catoir
Director of the Christophers
“The greatest achievement ever made in the cause of
human progress is the total and final separation of
Church and state. If we had nothing else to boast of, we
could lay claim with justice that first among the nations
we of this country made it an article of organic law that
the relations between man and his Maker were a private
concern, into which other men have no right to in-
trude.”-David Dudley Field (1850-94)
People of today only have to look back over the
centuries to recall dreadful persecutions in the name of
religion. Modem-day Iran gives ample evidence of the
kind of tyranny that can take place when religious
figures take control of state power.
The American experiment, which abandoned the state-
religion concept, not only forbade the violation of reli-
gious rights, but promoted active cooperation and mu-
tual understanding between the various churches and the
state. The climate of respect has promoted mutual
sympathy and friendly interaction between the religious
bodies themselves.
Under our Constitution, all legal ties between Church
and state are severed. This means that the churches are
all cqualin the sightofihcstate.and no particular church
has the advantages or disadvantages of establish rw- a,
i.e., being considered the state religion.
The Supreme Court was created to preserve the
ConstiUF on and to protect minorities. It has done so in
religious matters by relegating all religions to the sphere
of private interests, to be invaded only when the public
good or public safety appears to be involved.
These historical facts can help us to appreciate our
American heritage of religious freedom. We are indeed
blessed to live in a country where these freedoms are
protected under the law.
STC
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1990, newspaper, June 29, 1990; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840707/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .