What About the Next Terry Schiavo?

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Oct. 26 — David Gelertner wrote in the Oct. 26 Wall Street Journal about the implications of the legal attempt by Michael Schiavo to remove his sick wife Terry's feeding tube.

Gelertner wrote: “When we have condemned a criminal to death, it is remarkable how patient we are in extending his life. So long as there are legal paths to follow, we follow them, and the courts are apt to postpone the execution. Both aspects of the process speak well for us: that we are willing (however painful it may be for us — and it gets more painful every year) to execute murderers, and that we are in no hurry to, and will search on and on for a convincing reason not to.

“With the likes of Mrs. Schiavo, we are a lot less patient. The governor can grant a stay of execution when a condemned murderer's life is on the line. Mrs. Schiavo's stay required that the whole Florida Legislature mobilize for action. The frightening question is: What happens to the next Mrs. Schiavo?”

Two Catholics Vie for Louisiana Governor's Mansion

THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, Nov. 2 — The Nov. 15 runoff election in Louisiana will make history one way or the other, The New Orleans Times-Picayune noted.

The two candidates who made the cut and will duel for executive power in the state are Kathleen Blanco, a Cajun Catholic Democrat, and Republican Bobby Jindal, a whiz-kid Indian immigrant and Catholic convert.

The Times-Picayune pointed out that either way, the state will have a Catholic governor — a rare event in that deep-Southern state despite its large Cajun population. The paper noted that since 1888, there has been exactly one self-styled Catholic governor of the state, the convicted felon Edwin Edwards, who publicly questioned the resurrection of Christ and dabbled as a Protestant preacher.

The suspicion between the state's Protestant-Republican northern half and its Catholic-Democratic south has been diminishing recently.

“The coming together to support unborn human life has done a lot to blur those [sectarian] boundaries,” said Sally Campbell, former head of the Louisiana Christian Coalition. “The religious right, has traditionally … been more of a Protestant evangelical outgrowth. But now it enjoys many, many Catholics in its ranks.”

Goretti Schoolgirls Bash Sexual Predator

REUTERS, Nov. 3 — Rudy Susanto, 25, has learned not to mess with Catholic schoolgirls.

The repeated sexual predator allegedly exposed himself to female students at a local high school Oct. 30, and more than 20 of them turned on him, chasing him down the block, kicking and punching him until police took Susanto to a hospital.

According to Reuters, he is being held on “14 criminal counts including harassment, disorderly conduct, open lewdness and corrupting the morals of a minor.”

It was the eighth time Susanto had victimized the girls at that particular school, and they were apparently fed up. The school happens to be named for St. Maria Goretti, who submitted to death rather than agree to premarital sex.