Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.
~ Buddha – Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta

Florida Catholic Articles on Catholic Protest of the execution of Mark Schwab

Catholics Gather in Prayer against the Death Penalty

Faithful Show Courage in face of criticism with execution protests

Bishops to Governor Crist “set a new standard of respect for life”

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable.
~ Howard Zinn, U.S. historian

It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.
~ Socrates, 469 – 399 BC

The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.
~ Charles Eliot Norton

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
~ Thomas Paine

To change masters is not to be free.
~ Jose Marti y Perez

The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the members.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1844

The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the members.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1844

I sat there in agony thinking about all that had led me to this private hell. My idealism, my patriotism, my ambition, my plans to be a good intelligence officer to help my country fight the communist scourge – what in the hell had happened? Why did we have to bomb the people we were trying to save? Why were we napalming young children? Why did the CIA, my employer for 16 years, report lies instead of the truth?

I hated my part in the charade of murder and horror. My efforts were contributing to the deaths, to the burning alive of children – especially the children. The photographs of young Vietnamese children burned by napalm destroyed me.
~ Ralph McGehee former CIA intelligence analyst

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher- ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
~ General Smedley Butler. USMC (Ret.)

Until we go through it ourselves, until our people cower in the shelters of New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere while the buildings collapse overhead and burst into flames, and dead bodies hurtle about and, when it is over for the day or the night, emerge in the rubble to find some of their dear ones mangled, their homes gone, their hospitals, churches, schools demolished – only after that gruesome experience will we realize what we are inflicting on the people of Indochina…
~ William Shirer author 1973

Nothing is enough for the person to whom enough is too little.
~ Max Lucado in Grace for the Moment

When shall it be said in any country of the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance or distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes not oppressive; the rational world is my friend because I am a friend of its happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and government .
~ Thomas Paine

Photos from the Execution Vigil – July 1st

Vigil during Execution before St. Ignatius Cathedral

The Most Reverend Gerald Barbarito, bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach, joins the Vigil

In my memory, this was the first time that a major religious organization has stood publicly before its Cathedral to oppose the Death Penalty.  Our bishop, the Most Reverend Gerald Barbarito, stood with us as we solemnly witnessed the state killing of Mark Schwab.