Mike Naranjo / YouTube
CV NEWS FEED // A parish in Texas has confirmed to CatholicVote that a funeral, initially scheduled for a disabled woman who is still living, will not be taking place, reportedly because the parish learned that her parents planned to remove their daughter’s artificial nutrition and hydration.
According to a June 17, 2020, report from KTRE ABC 9, Margaret (Margo) Naranjo suffered serious injuries and brain damage in a car accident near her college campus when a pickup truck ran a red light and collided with her car. News outlet KETK FOX 51 reported in 2022 that since the accident, her parents have led continuous prayers for a miraculous healing for Margo, gaining global attention.
Margo’s father Mike Naranjo’s Facebook page includes videos posted as recently as July 24 praying for Margo’s healing.
However, Mike and his wife Cathy Naranjo previously announced their intention to remove Margo from “life support,” in this instance meaning depriving her of food and water, on a recent Facebook livestream that has since been deleted, according to LifeSite News.
The Naranjos stated in another now-deleted Facebook post that they recently lost guardianship of Margo, and received a temporary restraining order on July 19, stopping them from legally removing life support, according to LifeSite News. The deleted Facebook post also stated that Margo has been put back on her ordinary nutritional schedule.
LifeSite News highlighted that “Margo Naranjo is not dying. A feeding tube is not ‘extraordinary care.’ Cathy Naranjo herself noted that it would take ‘three to five days’ for her daughter to die after removal of ‘nutrition and particularly hydration.’”
The parents had scheduled Margo’s funeral for Aug. 2 at St. Ann Catholic Church in Coppell, Texas.
According to a July 25 X post from Catholic journalist Christine Niles, St. Ann canceled the funeral upon learning that Margo would be euthanized. Niles also wrote in the X post that St. Ann’s priest prayed with the family and instructed them on the Church’s teachings against euthanasia.
At the time of publication, St. Ann confirmed to CatholicVote that the funeral is no longer taking place.
On July 25, LifeSite News also published an op-ed by Dorothy Cummings McLean, in which she highlights now-inaccessible Facebook posts by Mike Naranjo that offer more insight into the family’s response and care for Margo.
“To read the beginning of the story is to appreciate how much they love their daughter,” McLean wrote. “What we pray is that they will spare the life of the woman she has become.”
McLean highlighted that in 2020, Margo’s father Mike posted on Facebook (in posts that are now unavailable) about how the family’s response to the accident was with prayers for Margo’s healing. In the beginning also, doctors recommended putting Margo on “comfort care,” which Mike learned meant essentially letting Margo die. McLean highlighted that Mike was opposed to this recommendation, and instead advocated, hoped, and prayed for Margo’s healing.
“In his earliest posts, Mike is grateful that Margo survived. He is determined to be hopeful and upbeat, to trust in God, to pray for a miracle, to be grateful for all the love and support his family is receiving. He is a fan of neither euthanasia nor euphemisms,” McLean wrote, noting that in October 2020 Mike “was still absolutely determined to keep her alive and give her all the help she needed”.
McLean highlighted that the parents have continued to pray for their daughter publicly almost every day since the accident.
According to McLean, in November 2020, Mike shared in a Facebook post: “I am counting on full restoration and each night I pray that while she sleeps God will heal the connections in her brain and that in the morning, she will tell me she loves me. ”
“Each [night] I pray that it will be this night that it happens,” Mike continued. ”The first thing I do in the morning after I wake up is go to her bed to see if she is going to speak to me. I pray that like in Cana, Jesus will turn this water into the greatest wine ever. Lastly, I pray that Margs will complete her mission on earth, that her book is unfinished, and that she will be able to tell her own miracle.”
McLean wrote that the story “started with hope,” but later wrote, “What it was that finally robbed Mike and Cathy of their hope, I do not know.”
“I didn’t have time to read their whole account before they restricted access to it,” McLean continued:
What I did grasp were the daily challenges of Margo’s care, the gratitude for stellar medical professionals, the anger at incompetent ones, the nightmare of American medical insurance, the joy when Margo appeared to communicate, the disappointment when she had setbacks, and the indescribable grief of having lost the girl as the Naranjos had known her.
McLean called for prayers for the Naranjos, and urged anyone contacting Margo’s parents to have compassion.
“Please pray for Margo and her parents. And if you contact Mike and Cathy, remember that, despite the upbeat tone they have used to talk and write about Margo, they have suffered for over four years. Please write from a place of love,” she concluded:
“A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1)
