Courage

You may or may not have heard about Eluana Englaro, an 39 year old Italian woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for 17 years following a car accident.  She passed away last week, 4 days after her food and water were suspended.  Consider her Italy's Terri Schiavo.  

Eluana's father Beppino Englaro went all the way to the highest Italian Court to receive the right to discontinue her nutrition and hydration, arguing that she would not have wanted to continue living in her current state.   The court granted his request after a series of appeals.  Since the nuns who had cared for Eluana for 14 years refused to comply with his wishes, Beppino had her moved to a hospital in Udine, Northern Italy, that was willing to carry out the court order.

A constitutional crisis emerged when emergency legislation designed to save Eluana's life was vetoed by President Giorgio Neopolitano.  Prime Minister Berlusconi then stepped in with his own legislation, vowing that he would go so far as to change the Italian Constitution if it would save her life (for the first time over here, I found myself saying Go Berlusconi).  The bill was expected to pass within 3 days.  Eluana passed away the evening of February 9, just as this measure was being debated on the Parliament floor.  The suddenness of her death was immediately questioned, as her conditions were reported as being stable the morning she died.  An autopsy is being performed.

My roommate and I happened to be watching TV online when she died.  It was remarkable to see how openly the news reporters expressed their  sadness over the turn of events.  A beautiful story just appeared on Zenit about an Italian missionary who returned a national award in protest of the President's refusal to save Eluana's life:

Cases like Eluana's can have happy endings

Father Trento lists four specific cases of comatose and "useless" people that he welcomed into his home and, quite simply, loved.  For those who are immune to the euthanasia debate, his imagery presents a powerful and compelling argument.  His no-nonsense statement challenges all of us to see the beauty and meaning inherent within life, regardless of a person's consciousness.

Didja know? Catholic stats and other such stuff

So.

One minute ago I sent in my fifteen page Research Project, known throughout the Santa Croce communication halls as the dreaded "Ricerca." (Ree.Cherk.Ah.) It wasn't pretty. It wasn't the best. But it's done. We had to look up a ton of data for the Pope's upcoming visit to the United States. Some of it was absolutely fascinating.

For instance, did you have any idea that Catholics constitute 23.9% of the United States Population? Or that roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics? That's sad, considering that 31% of Americans were raised in the Catholic Faith.

Some other interesting tidbits:

41% of American Catholics are aged 30-49.
58% are married
61% have no children at home
There were 58,632 priests in 1965; in 2005, there were 42,528.
There were 8,325 graduate-level seminarians in 1965; in 2005, there were 3,308

81% of Americans believe in Heaven, but only 69% believe in Hell.

Virginia's population is 14% Catholic; New York's is 39%; New Jersey is at 42%.

USA Today has the highest circulation in the United States, followed by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

So that's it: I'm done! Easter break has officially started for me, starting NOW. The parents and one of the awesomest nephews in the world will be arriving here for Holy Week (Santa Settimana) on Wednesday. In between planning tour routes and buying groceries, I'm planning on reminding myself what Rome feels like without a bookbag on my shoulder. A presto - until the next post!