Parents of Terri Schiavo overwhelmed by support at former parish

Published: 2004-02-19

SOUTHAMPTON, Pa. (CNS) -- "It's overwhelming." That's how Bob Schindler felt after attending a Feb. 10 Mass for his daughter, Terri Schindler Schiavo, at his old parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Southampton, just outside Philadelphia. "The whole thing is overwhelming. To have all these people show up," he said, his eyes filled with tears. "I'm ecstatic for Terri that these people would come out -- and pray for her. It is so meaningful," he told The Catholic Standard & Times, Philadelphia's archdiocesan newspaper. "Personally, I'm just overwhelmed at coming home again and being in our church. I'm so thankful, I'm so grateful." Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, has been battling Bob Schindler and his wife, Mary, in court for the past three years to have Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed so she can die. He claims that her doctors say there is no hope for her recovery and that she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially. The Schindlers doubt their brain-damaged daughter, who lives in a Clearwater, Fla., nursing home, had expressed any such end-of-life wishes. Some doctors describe her as being in a persistent vegetative state, but her parents dispute that and believe her condition could improve with therapy.

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