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NRLC-DISABLED Jul-7-2008 (670 words) xxxn
Defend disabled, unborn with equal vigor, Catholic brother urges
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service
ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- A Catholic brother who cared for a brain-damaged fellow brother for more than 12 years urged activists in the pro-life movement July 5 to defend the rights of the disabled as vigorously as they fight for the unborn.
Brother Paul O'Donnell, a member of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace in St. Paul, Minn., spoke at a workshop session of the National Right to Life Committee's annual convention in Arlington.
He said he ran into conflict with health care professionals, even at Catholic facilities, as he sought appropriate care for Brother Michael Gaworski, founder of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace, who suffered a severe brain injury after he contracted a rare bacterial pneumonia at age 32.
Until he became involved in Brother Michael's care, said Brother Paul, "I had no idea of the effect the anti-life forces had had on the health care industry."
"Quality of life is not a Gospel value," he said. "It's a secular value. Quality of life is Hollywood secularism and materialism. ... Where there's love there is no burden."
Told that his friend would be "a vegetable for the rest of his life," Brother Paul said he was encouraged to consider donating Brother Michael's organs and, when he did not die as expected, to send him off to a nursing home.
Instead the brothers worked with Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul to develop its "coma stimulation program," which sought to raise Brother Michael's level of consciousness by providing a wide variety of stimuli to his senses -- "different foods, sweet-smelling or obnoxious-smelling; music he liked and music he hated; different touches, a soft cloth and sandpaper."
Brother Michael eventually was able to respond to simple "yes" or "no" questions, but then "reached a plateau he could not get beyond," Brother Paul said. "But almost every doctor tried to patronize us by saying" that Brother Michael's actions were reflexes, not attempts to communicate, Brother Paul said.
Brother Michael spent eight months at the hospital, then 12 and a half years at home at the monastery before his death in 2003 of natural causes.
Although he said some Catholic theologians "thought it would be perfectly OK to starve and dehydrate Brother Michael to death, ... we chose to withstand the pressures of the church."
The brothers believe their stand was affirmed by a 2004 talk by Pope John Paul II on life-sustaining treatment to those in a persistent vegetative state and a related 2007 document from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The experience of caring for Brother Michael led Brother Paul and other members of his community to become involved in "defining the rights of brain-injured persons," particularly those of Terri Schindler Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose parents fought unsuccessfully to keep her husband from removing the feeding tube that was keeping her alive. A court ordered the tube's removal.
Brother Paul traveled to Florida to provide spiritual care to the Schindler family, "but more and more it became necessary to get into the media arena," said Brother Paul, who holds degrees in moral theology and communications.
"I knew Terri probably would not live, but I decided this is for someone else's child," he said.
He said he saw "a disconnect in the right-to-life movement when it comes to this area" and challenged his audience to "treat (end-of-life issues) with equal vigor."
Brother Paul said the "will to live" document promoted by the National Right to Life Committee as a way for people to put into writing their desire for all life-sustaining medical treatment, including food and water, "may not do you a bit of good if an ethics committee (at a hospital) decides your request is not reasonable."
He also warned the workshop participants to "beware of hospice."
"It can be very, very good and capable of helping people in the dying process," he said. "But make sure you know what their philosophy is before you sign your loved one in."
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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