UPDATE:
LifeSiteNews — LifeSiteNews is calling for prayers for Margo Naranjo, a young Texas woman who suffered a severe brain injury in 2020 following a car wreck, whose parents have decided to withdraw life-sustaining artificial nutrition and hydration to bring about her death.
In a July 7 video posted to Facebook, Naranjo’s mother, Cathy, announced that after years of little to no improvement in their daughter’s condition, the family has decided “to go ahead and take her off life support.” What that means in this situation, Cathy explained, is that Margo’s artificially-administered nutrition and hydration will be removed.
Incredibly, Cathy filmed the video with Margo sitting next to her. The video has now been removed from Facebook.
Following the announcement that Margo is no longer going to receive artificial nutrition and hydration and will consequently die, the family has organized a funeral to take place on August 2 at St. Ann Catholic Church in Coppell, Texas, within the Diocese of Dallas. The next day the family is hosting a “Celebration of Life” party.
While the removal of artificially-administered nutrition and hydration is often legal, it is a violation of Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life.
As explained by the National Catholic Bioethics Center, “Having a patient die of dehydration or malnutrition because of withdrawing or refusing to provide food and water by artificial means was declared a violation of the moral law by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2007.”
As a result, Catholics online have begun to express their concern for Margo and are urging her parents not to withdraw her life-sustaining nutrition and hydration.
“Here is a still from Cathy Naranjo waxing bland and banal about the death by starvation she and her husband Mike have planned, and have begun to execute, for their beautiful, vulnerable, daughter Margo,” Catholic commentator Patrick Coffin wrote on X.
Coffin then drew a comparison to the 2005 case of Terri Schiavo, who spent years in a brain-injured condition and become the subject of a lengthy legal battle because her husband desired to remove her feeding tube to cause her death. Terri’s husband was ultimately successful in court, and the woman had her feeding tube removed and subsequently died.
LifeSiteNews is urging Catholics to pray for Margo, and to pray that her family and those involved do the right thing and preserve her life by continuing to provide her with nutrition and hydration.
To respectfully voice your concerns to the Office of Bishop Edward J. Burns of the Diocese of Dallas, please contact:
Phone number: (214) 528-2240
Email: communications@cathdal.org
The soul is formed by God, in His likeness and image, at the moment of conception. That soul is not dependent on the mortal clay forming around it, by the grace and miracle of God. That soul will not change in its essence throughout eternity – it is immortal, and precisely according to God’s sovereign will.
When that soul is in a body broken by whatever cause, it is hindered in how it can make choices and act in this world of time. Nevertheless that soul is not “disabled”; that soul is not a “vegetable”. That soul is very very good because God made it.
So when anyone makes the choice to end the life of the soul’s body, that is a grave act of injustice against the person and against God who made them.
Margo, I am sure, is fully aware of what her mother and father plan to do to her. May God grant her solace and peace and communion with His angels in her solitude and suffering.
As a father to multiple children with a variety of (relatively minor) cognitive disabilities, it is important for people to know that the ability to speak and hear and act in “normal”, “rational” ways.
The soul is hindered by the body.
The soul is not the body.
I will post a beautiful story about a child with a *disability*, who might have been killed, was saved by a mother with sacrificial love, and has more *ability* than the crowds around him.
(To be contd)
Typo above … I failed to complete the thought, which was kind of important (towards the end)
“it is important for people to know that the ability to speak and hear and act in “normal”, “rational” ways” … *does not detract from the majesty of the soul restricted by those “dis”abilities of the body, perhaps the mind.*
Thank you for your beautiful words regarding the disabled. I have a daughter that is disabled and absolutely perfect in God’s Eyes! You made that beautifully clear.
Catholic teaching is that body and soul are one.
yes they’re separated at death for a short time but will be rejoined at the Resurrection
Ken,
It is not Catholic teaching that the soul is the body. United as one, yes, but not the same.
If you are saying that the soul is in every cell of the body, starting with a single cell zygote, which I think you are, then that is true.
The soul is immortal and is the same when it is infused by God into that single cell zygote as it is when the person is later gasping for breath 90 years later on their death bed.
And the body you reference the soul being re-united to one glorious day will not be the broken, aged, disabled body – such as Margo’s – of this life, but a glorified body that we can only speculate upon, since it will be re-formed by our Maker from the long-forgotten dust in which it has returned. The soul, however, will never change.
That being said, *I hope you get the main point* – that Margo is far, far more than the broken, speechless, immobile utterly dependent outer shell pictured above. She is a Queen, as created by God, deserving of all our love and protection. It is so easy, these days, to place value on a person only to the extent they function in some useful way – a sort of hierarchy of value as worth. Eugenics us based on that devilish premise. Life, otoh, is based on the premise that we are *all* made in the image and likeness of God from conception to natural death irregardless of our “functionality”.
Contd from previous post … the rest of the story. Someone shared this about a child they saw with a *disability* who actually had unseen gifts that raised up all the *abled* around him. True story –
“Sean Dietrich (Twitter)
·
Shared with Public
Kansas City International Airport. I was standing in a long, LONG line, waiting to board my plane. We were like cattle, clogging up the chute. Nobody was happy.
Namely, because yesterday the whole world underwent a historic global internet outage, which delayed and canceled nearly 3,000 American flights. And on this particular historic day in human civilization, I happened to be flying.
You could see boiling anger and frustration on every face in the airport.
The young man in line ahead of me was with his mother. He was maybe 15. He had Down syndrome. He was shouting hellos to people in line. He was a natural comedian. He was Mister Personality.
And you couldn’t help but smile when the kid landed his miracle gaze on you.
“Hello!” the boy shouted to a businessman in line. “How are you today?!”
The business guy was on the phone, having a heated conversation at the time.
“Uh, I don’t know,” the guy says.
Then the boy hugged the man. “Does this help!?” he said.
The businessman tentatively hugged back. Until, finally, he broke a smile, ended up terminating the phone call, and he said to the boy, midhug, “I guess I’m good, how are you?”
“It’s not ‘good,’” the boy said. “You never say ‘I’m good,’ it’s bad grammar. It’s WELL. You should have told me, you’re doing WELL!”
Everyone laughed at that. All the people in line, in foul moods, some of whom had been living in KCI for the past 20 hours, surviving on vending machine food, actually began chuckling.
The businessman was laughing too, when he said, “Okay, then I am doing WELL, and how are you today?”
“I’m good,” the boy said.
More laughter.
Then the boy addressed another woman in line. She was playing on her phone. She was mid-forties. She looked like she’d just sucked a lemon.
“Hi,” the kid said.
She looked up from her phone.
“Um. Hi?” she replied.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Laura.”
“Can I give you a hug, Laura?”
Laura looked around. “Um. I don’t think so.”
He hugged her anyway. He even closed his eyes. Laura was taken off guard. She put her phone away and committed to the hug.
“You smell good,” the kid said.
“Thanks,” she said.
“What about me?” he said. “Do I smell good too?”
Laura looked around again. “Sure.”
This made her laugh.
Which was exactly what the boy was aiming for, of course.
The kid approached several others in line. I watched people’s rancid attitudes fade, one by one. And I watched a few hundred delayed airline passengers start to smile.
When it was time to board the plane, the kid stepped back in line. His comedy routine was over. He was with his mom once again. He was quiet.
“That’s one remarkable boy,” I whispered to his mother.
She smiled.
“He has a gift,” she said. “He can make anyone smile. And I mean ANYONE.”
“He must inherit that gift from you?” I said.
She laughed. “Lord, no. His biological parents left him in a dumpster as a baby, behind a restaurant.” She used a pinky to dab away a tear. “I was just the one who was lucky enough to find him.”
Some folks get all the luck.
– end quote –
I have two of these little gems. They are my lights. God is good.
Thank you for this, Aqua. Very touching.
“Restraining order imposed; new guardian ordered” …
Real men, doing real work, tangible good for the Kingdom of God and the “least” among us. Salute! Patrick Coffin and whoever else is fighting for the life of this precious young woman.
Yes, thank you! I just learnt about this beautiful girl. I’ll sure pray. Hard to find Catholicism. I’ll be praying the Fiery Prayer of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. God blessings.
Aqua, that’s superb. People with Down Syndrome light up my world as well. If I see them in a crowd, I hope our paths cross. Very often, they bring all the joy, in a million ways. It is typically a blessing just to know them. A man with Down Syndrome sat in front of me at Mass two weeks ago. When he turned around and smiled at me he made my day.
This family has been through so much pain, pain they have had to deal with over years. I’m sorry for it. But this is not the way to end it. I pray they reconsider.
Evangeline,
Thanks.
I’ve always said that all my career accomplishments (for whatever they’re worth) will pale in comparison with the satisfaction I will have from helping my most challenging child to deal with and thrive with his autistic limitations.
But as time has gone by, I’ve found that it’s not *him* that is in need of help and transformation … it’s *me*! And my working with him, consistently and over time, has been exposing my (deeper than expected) spiritual weaknesses and then, by God’s grace, changing me!
The challenge of meeting special needs has benefits that go both ways – the greater the challenge, the greater the spiritual benefits (if the challenge is united in some way to Christ).
I’m not saying I support their monstrous decision.
I will say that unless you’ve been a caregiver you really don’t know how excruciating and tortuous it can be. So to say this woman is “waxing bland” is maybe not accurate. Caregiving is like going through a car crash daily. You become numb to reality.
She’s wrong, she’s absolutely wrong. Just pray you are never in this position.
Mike, you sound like someone who speaks from experience so, I salute you. I have great empathy for anyone experiencing suffering and sacrifice in ways that I can imagine but do not share.
That being said, I have also had my share of sufferings of late. Caregiving in a hospice setting my best friend ever – my Dad. I have voluntarily chosen to raise and accompany seven special needs adopted children, some of whom will be under my care until the end of my life.
My opinion on this subject is best expressed by that little story I related above. *WE* are the ones who need to be spiritually healed by those who are physically, mentally suffering. Come to find out, once you take up that Cross, day after day, it’s you, me, we who need the help and healing only comes from that blessed Cross willingly taken up – in this case shouldering the burden, in love, of caregiving, special needs (etc).
“Greater love hath no man than this, to give up his life for his friend.”
To “give up” does not only mean “to die”. It can also mean to sacrifice what you want in life for the sake of your friend, as caregivers do for those for whom they care.