Priests for Life and the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation have established March 31st of every year as the “International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters,” or simply, “Terri’s Day.” This coming March 31st, 2008 will mark the third anniversary of Terri’s death by dehydration. The purpose of Terri’s Day is to “foster education, prayer and activism regarding discrimination against the disabled.”
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life stated, “Those of us who were with Terri will never forget her life and her death. For the sake of all the vulnerable, it is critically important that those who never knew Terri likewise remember the lessons that God taught us through her.”
Terri’s sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, said, “No family should ever have to witness what my family witnessed, watching a loved one slowly dehydrate to death . . . We want Terri’s Day to remind us all that persons with disabilities are never burdens and should be treated with nothing but our unconditional love and compassion.”
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and Priests for Life have released educational and prayer materials that are available to parishes, congregations, disability awareness groups, and all communities throughout the Nation for the observation of Terri’s Day on March 31st.