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Christendom Collegiates, Defend Life Join Schiavo Rally

By John Jalsevac

(Excerpted from a March 14 article on LifeSiteNews.com.)

On a chilly Friday, March 11, at 9:30 p.m. I, along with 20 of my schoolmates from Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., boarded a chartered bus to join 20 members of the Baltimore-based organization, Defend Life.

Our destination was Woodside Hospice, where Terri Schiavo is currently awaiting her court-ordered execution by starvation and dehydration, scheduled to begin March 18.

A rally in support of Terri was scheduled for the day following our departure, and it was our goal to arrive in time to add our small numbers to that rally.

As Chrissy Walsh, the student-organizer of the trip, said, going that distance for Terri was the most natural thing in the world.

We made the 16-hour bus trip and, having neither the time to eat or shower, a bedraggled group of college students stumbled stiffly and sorely into the heat of Tampa the following afternoon.

Our eyes were greeted by a straggling crowd whose numbers barely exceeded 300 (hardly sufficient, it seemed, for what is being called the Roe v. Wade of euthanasia).

The core of this group huddled around a raised platform.  As the various speakers approached the microphone, a young girl stood behind them in the hot sun, holding up a large crucifix.

Both Christendom and Defend Life slapped on the sunscreen and settled in to listen to the speeches and to pray.

For the first time we all felt, simply by being in such close proximity to her, a unique intimacy with Terri that will certainly never leave us.

Upon picking out Terri’s parents from the crowd, I was struck by the exhaustion evident in their faces.  Both spoke convincingly of their faith, but it was clear that several years’ battle has taken much out of them.

The following day all 21 Christendom students and the members of Defend Life traveled around Tampa in the rented tour bus, finding church parking lots and leaving pro-Terri leaflets on all the cars, exhorting the congregations to take action and to prevent the injustice being committed against Terri.

On several occasions pastors or ushers asked us to leave.  One Catholic priest said that his parishioners “weren’t ready” to be confronted with Terri’s case.

Several parishioners I spoke with were adamantly against the Schindlers.  One woman said to me, “Oh, I’m sick and tired of hearing about the whole thing.”

But hope is not lost, as long as men and women of good will do not remain silent.