This article presents reflections on the Terri Schiavo starvation case: the public confusion about the facts of the case, the ethical and legal principles governing it, the modern philosophical trends that led to it, the failure of all three branches of government to properly address it, the authority of the Florida governor and the President to intervene to save Terri Schiavo, and how the case illustrated a gross and outrageous lack of political will.

This article argues that the U.S. Bishops’ policy, instituted in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal in the U.S., of fingerprinting and conducting criminal background checks of all their employees and volunteers who work with children, is a futile policy that violates the rights of innocent laity and avoids facing the real problem of homosexuality in the priesthood and dissent in the Church.

This was a lecture presented at the beginning of the Society of Catholic Scientists’ spring 2005 conference on “Psychology Informed by Faith and Reason” at St. Gregory the Great Seminary, Seward, Nebraska (Lincoln Diocese), May 20-21, 2005. The audience included scholars, practicing professionals, and students.

This address was delivered at the 8th Annual Christopher Dawson Lecture sponsored by the Humanities and Catholic Culture Program at Franciscan University of Steubenville, on October 28, 2005, as part of the annual Society of Catholic Social Scientists conference. James Likoudis is President Emeritus of Catholics United for the Faith, a long-time writer on Church topics, a Catholic apologist, and former history professor.