c. 1998 Religion News Service

Family agrees to remove tube from brain-damaged man

(RNS) The family of a Virginia man believed to be in a persistent vegetative state has agreed to remove the man’s feeding tube after a bitter debate.

The parents and brothers of Hugh Finn, 44, decided not to request that the Virginia Supreme Court overturn a Prince William County judge’s ruling to permit his wife, Michele, from removing the tube. The action could take place as soon as Wednesday (Sept. 30), The Washington Post reported.

Prior to this turn of events, Michele Finn’s in-laws had called her plan tantamount to murder. But after meeting with her husband’s relatives on Sunday and Monday, feelings changed.

Hugh Finn’s brother, Edward, said the family determined that”even if we kept Hugh alive, we don’t think his quality of life would ever be anything to speak of.” In 1995, Hugh Finn, a former newscaster, suffered severe brain damage in an auto accident. Circuit Court Judge Frank A. Hoss Jr. ruled in August that Michele Finn could remove the feeding tube because three physicians had stated that Finn was in a permanent vegetative state and because there was”clear and convincing evidence”that he would not want to be kept alive in that condition.

Three state agencies have been investigating whether Finn had been mistreated or misdiagnosed.

The office of Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley and the state health department became involved after a nurse they sent to investigate Finn’s parents’ concerns reported that their son said”hi”to her.

A state official close to the case told the Post that Earley’s office did not have plans to attempt to prevent the tube removal if the family no longer opposes it.

The case gained widespread attention after 400 protesters gathered at the nursing home in Manassas where Finn has lived for the last two years.

At a news conference, Michele Finn spoke of the family’s agreement.”The reconciliation of the family is the best gift which we can give to our son, brother, husband and father as his wishes are carried out,”she said.”I ask that the family now be allowed to grieve privately so my husband can be accorded the dignity he would want for his life and family.” Patients in permanent vegetative states do not die immediately after hydration and nutrition are stopped, doctors said. Some may linger for a few weeks; others die within a few days.

Nancy Cruzan, who was involved in a landmark 1990 Supreme Court ruling, lived for 12 days after her parents won the right to remove her feeding tube.

Private voucher program offers scholarships for poor youngsters

(RNS) Some 35,000 children from low-income families across the nation will receive scholarships to private secular and religious schools through a fund established by investor Theodore J. Forstmann and Wal-Mart heir John T. Walton.

Grade school children in 28 states and the District of Columbia will be eligible for between $600 and $1,600, depending upon family income, in scholarships for the 1999-2000 school year. Forstmann said Monday (Sept. 28) that scholarship winners will be determined through a lottery set for April 17, 1999.

Children in all of Arkansas and Michigan are eligible for the scholarships. So are children in such cities as Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Dallas; Indianapolis; New Orleans; Omaha, Neb.; Savannah, Ga.; Seattle; St. Louis and Toledo, Ohio.

In June, Forstmann and Walton jointly put up $100 million to create the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which has also raised $70 million in matching funds. The men said they hoped to give children of poor families”equal opportunity”to attend quality private schools, both secular and religious, and to spur improvement in public schools through competition.

However, critics such as the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way Foundation, say what appears to be altruism is really a disguised attempt to gain support for publicly funded school vouchers _ an idea widely supported by conservative religious leaders.”The amount of the voucher CSF will provide tells this story once again,”said foundation president Carol Shields, noting that scholarship amounts will not generally cover all annual costs at most private schools.”Clearly, this strategy has more public relations value than it has education value for the children involved.” Forstmann denied he had a political agenda.”The distinction is not between public education and private education _ I am for both,”he said.”The distinction is, in fact, between good education and bad education. We must give parents the ability to seek a good education wherever they can find it.” Forstmann said applications for the scholarship lottery may be obtained by calling 1-800-805-5437.

Forstmann is co-founder and senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co., a leverage buyout firm, and is chairman of Gulfstream Aerospace. Walton is a director of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Catholics, Lutherans seek to clarify justification statement

(RNS) Roman Catholic Cardinal Edward Cassidy, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, has told leaders of the Lutheran World Federation that there is”no difficulty”standing in the way of the Catholic church signing a proposed Joint Declaration on Justification.

Cassidy’s comments, in a July 30 letter to the leaders of the Lutheran World Federation, sought to clarify the church’s official response to the proposed Joint Declaration, which argues the two faith groups have reached a key consensus on the meaning of the doctrine of justification _ how one is saved _ and which lifts the mutual condemnations Lutherans and Catholics hurled at one another at the time of the Reformation.

In July, shortly after the LWF announced its member churches had overwhelmingly approved the Joint Declaration and were ready to take the next step in formally signing the statement, the Catholic response seemed to indicate the Vatican was not prepared to declare that a consensus existed.

The response threw the Lutherans into confusion as they thought the Catholics were pulling back from a joint signing.

In his his July 30 letter, released by the LWF in preparation for its executive committee meeting in November, Cassidy said the Vatican made a distinction between the Joint Declaration and so-called”clarifications’ attached to the declaration.

Cassidy said the Vatican response”is clear and totally unequivocal _ there is a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification.” He said the Vatican, like the Lutherans, agreed there are issues still to be resolved but that in its response, the Vatican was more specific.”This cannot, however, be seen as going back in any way on the consent expressly stated on fundamental truths of the doctrine of justification,”Cassidy said.

Among those differences are the way the two churches use the word”sin.” Despite Cassidy’s letter, however, Noko said any public ceremony affirming and publicly signing the Joint Declaration does not appear to be viable for the immediate future.”If we had had this distinction from the outset, some of the debates that have taken place, owing to the lack of clarity regarding the character of the Roman Catholic response, could have been avoided,”the Rev. Ishmael Noko said in a letter to Lutheran leaders around the world.

Religious right materials end up at ultra-liberal UC Berkeley

(RNS) One of the nation’s largest collections of material chronicling the growth of the religious right has _ ironically _ come to rest at one of the nation’s most liberal colleges, the University of California at Berkeley. Sociologist Sara Diamond donated her collection of religious right materials _ including early Christian Coalition newsletters _ because, she said,”I needed to get rid of it and I wanted a permanent, good-condition archive.” Diamond, who has tracked the religious right since her days as a college student in the early 1980s and has written four books on the subject, turned over 62 boxes of materials to the university. The collection spans the religious right’s formative years, from the early 1960s through the late 1970s.”The stuff was stacked up to the ceiling in my house and I was renting a storage unit,”she said.

Peter Hanff, deputy director of the university’s Bancroft Library, said the school accepted the materials, despite its ultra-liberal reputation, because”we strive to document all social action movements in California without regard to political viewpoint.” The Associated Press quoted Diamond as saying her donation marked the end of her study of the religious right.”I’m not studying people that I disagree with anymore,”she said.

Quote of the Day: Television executive Lowell”Bud”Paxson

(RNS)”I go to church. I don’t want the church on television. Christian television stinks. If it were any good, it would get ratings.” Lowell”Bud”Paxson, founder of Paxson Communications and creator of Pax TV, a new network offering family-oriented programs. In an interview in the Tuesday (Sept. 29) edition of USA Today, he explained why his network was not going to resemble religious broadcaster Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.

DEA END RNS