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Contact: Karen Dwyer, 239-594-5754
or dwyerj1@comcast.net
Local group celebrates National Weekend of Faith in Action Against the Death Penalty
Leafleting for Life, Portrait from Death Row, PBS Documentary
Faith communities across the nation are organizing for October 10-12, the sixth annual National Weekend of Faith in Action Against the Death Penalty, sponsored by Amnesty International, a human rights organization and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. For a list of events across the nation, see http://www.amnestyusa.org/events/nwfa2003.html and for background information, see http://www.aiusa.org/abolish/faithinaction.html.
Pax Christi Naples, a member of the Capital Punishment Task Force of the Diocese of Venice Respect Life Office, invites parishioners of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church to join them in celebrating the sixth annual National Weekend of Faith in Action Against the Death Penalty, by participating in their leafleting for life. They invite parishioners to stop by their information table to sign the Florida Time-Out Petition and to support their adopted Death Row inmate, Gregory Capehart. “We’re asking for donations of 50 cents to one dollar. He needs the money to buy shampoo, soap, aspirin, toothpaste, towel, blanket, clothing, stamps, paper.”
Behind the group’s actions lie the words of Catherine O’Connell-Cahill,
Convicted criminals rarely inspire much compassion. They are, after all, the people who actually do the things we have nightmares about—armed robbery, rape, murder. We want these people put away, sometimes for good. Isn’t that what they deserve? Criminals may deserve many things, says the Catholic Church, but vengeance is not one of them. We are very concerned because we sense in our society a growing acceptance of revenge as a principle of justice.
On Sunday Pax Christi also invites the public to join them at 3:00 pm in the Parish Life Center Library for the acclaimed PBS Documentary: Requiem for Frank Lee Smith. How did he end up on Florida death row for a crime he didn’t commit? And why did he die there, despite evidence of his innocence? Followed by a discussion and then a brief Report Back from Death Row.
John Dwyer, an organizer for Pax Christi, says, “Our purpose is to educate the parish and public about why the death penalty is fatally flawed and to highlight readily available alternatives.”
So why are Catholics for convicts? Quoting the U.S. Catholic Conference, Karen Dwyer of Pax Christi replies, “We oppose capital punishment because the death penalty diminishes all of us and is a sign of growing disrespect for human life. We cannot overcome crime by simply executing criminals, nor can we restore the lives of the innocent by ending the lives of those convicted of their murders. The death penalty offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life.”
If we truly believe that killing is wrong, we must abolish the death penalty.
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