September 23 VIGIL opposing the execution of Richard Henyard

Florida’s next execution has been set for September 23rd.

A decision to kill caused this terrible tragedy…
more killing cannot repair the damage done.

As members of Pax Christi Florida witness against the execution of Richard Henyard and all state-sponsored killings, we are deeply sympathetic and ever mindful of the unimaginable pain and suffering which the family of Dorothy Lewis continues to endure. We mourn the loss of her daughters, Jasmine and Jamilya.   Please keep the family and friends of these girls in your thoughts and prayers.

Florida is one of five states that contribute to more than 65% of the nation’s executions.

After a seven-month moratorium executions have resumed in Florida. As Catholics and as citizens of this state, we are compelled to voice our unequivocal opposition to this practice of State sponsored killing.

Florida’s Catholic Bishops have concurred that the death penalty has been discriminatory toward the poor, the indigent and racial minorities. In their position statement released in January 2002, they stated,

“Capital punishment contributes to the escalating atmosphere of violence in our society and undermines belief of the inherent worth and dignity of human life.”

Take Action! Join Pax Christi Palm Beach in an execution vigil in front of the St. Ignatius Loyola Cathedral (9500 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens) on Tuesday, July 1st from 5:45 – 6:15 p.m. during the execution of Richard Henyard currently scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST.

Action against Death Penalty

Florida’s next execution is set for Tuesday, September 23 at 6:00 pm. By law, our governor decides whether or not to sign Death Warrants, how many to sign and how often to sign them. Please take a few moments to contact Gov. Crist and ask him NOT to sign Death Warrants. Your opinion will be counted. Take Action.

The institutions founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” have failed. Since the end of World War II, some thirty million people have been killed in armed conflict. Most of them were civilians.

~ George Monbiot’s “The Age of Consent”

The Murder of Darrell Grayson

Darrell Grayson, the day before he was executed

Walking to Alabama’s death chamber with his friend changed Father Sebastian Muccilli’s life. He writes of his hope that Darrell Grayson’s story may change our attitudes about the death penalty as well.

READ THE STORY IN U.S. CATHOLIC

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
~ Walter Lippman

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
~ Frederick Douglass – July 4, 1852
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13837.htm

Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and humanity must be proclaimed and denounced. . . .
~ Frederick Douglass – July 4, 1852

Liberty can not be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.
~ John Adams

As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.
~ U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 – (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) – Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

They (corporations) cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls.
~ Lord Edward Coke

“criminal,” n. A person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation.
~ Howard Scott