RELIGIOUS LEADERS: ORGAN DONATION HOLY ACT.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Jackie Colleran looked around the room of religious leaders gathered in West Hills recently to talk about National Donor Sabbath this weekend, and he said what was on everyone's mind.

``People dying don't ask if the liver they're getting is black or white, Jewish or Muslim,'' the 65-year-old retired school nurse from Thousand Oaks said.

``They just thank God.''

Nine years ago, Colleran was in a coma at UCLA Medical Center -- near death -- when she was wheeled into surgery to receive the healthy liver of a 37-year-old man who died in a motorcycle crash.

``His name is Wade Schoenhals,'' she said, holding up his picture. His kidneys, heart and liver gave life to four people.

The religious leaders from the Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Hindu faiths nodded and began to talk about the reason they had gathered.

Whatever religious differences they have are put aside for National Donor Sabbath weekend. It's a time for all religions to try to clear up any misconceptions that their religion prohibits them from becoming organ donors.

That misconception is one of the biggest obstacles faced by donor transplant organizations such as OneLegacy and the Ventura/San Fernando Valley chapter of TRIO -- Transplant Recipient International Organization -- in trying to find donors for the 93,000 people waiting on the national transplant list.

``There is the misconception many Jews have of a traditional burial and not tampering with the body, but the mitzvah -- this act of love in saving a life -- supersedes all others,'' said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

``We are all guardians of our bodies, but we don't own them. We have to ask ourselves, `What does God want?' God wants us to do the right thing.''

It is the same in the Muslim faith, said Dr. Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California.

``From the Islamic perspective, all organs are a gift from God. Donating them is totally acceptable and encouraged.

``Our only reservation is if the organ is sold,'' he said. ``That would be demeaning and degrading. But donating an organ to enhance life is virtuous.

``One of the problems is that sometimes the cultural baggage runs deeper than the spiritual. People say, `God won't be angry with me, but my grandmother will.'''

Misconceptions about organ donations are changing slowly in the Buddhist community, says Debra Boudreaux, executive vice president of the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation in Alhambra.

``Like the Islamics, there are sensitive cultural and religious issues, and many Buddhist families do struggle with the idea.

``Hindu people ask, How can I be a donor? It goes against the whole body concept at burial. We tell them: `Use your body, but don't own it. If you can save another life, do it.'

``They are afraid that if they don't have their whole body they will not go to heaven. But you will. You are planting your spirit in another human body, giving someone else life.''

In the Catholic religion, transplantation is morally permissible, but no economic advantage should accrue to the donor, said the Rev. Elly Tavarro, chaplain at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange County.

Fifteen years ago, the priest donated one of his kidneys to his sister.

``God doesn't want your organs in heaven,'' Tavarro said. ``He only wants your soul.''

And people who are dying don't ask if the kidney they're getting is black or white, Jewish or Muslim.

For more information on organ donation, go to www.donatelifecalifornia.org, or call OneLegacy at [phone], or TRIO at [phone].

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Jackie Colleran, front, holds a picture of Wade Schoenhals, her liver donor. The others are, from left, Dr. Maher Hathout of the Islamic Center, Rabbi Mark Diamond of the Board of Rabbis, and Debra Boudreaux of the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer