tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29488869.post874906400478658582..comments2023-09-06T01:36:44.050-07:00Comments on Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing Blog: Mother of 8 goes to jail joyfullyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29488869.post-53659668960371793242008-08-17T02:42:00.000-07:002008-08-17T02:42:00.000-07:00I'm not catholic but here's an official statement ...I'm not catholic but here's an official statement by the Holy See on the death penalty. At least to me it sounds as if the Holy Father did NOT agree with it.<BR/>Susanne<BR/><BR/>DECLARATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE FIRST WORLD CONGRESS ON THE DEATH PENALTY <BR/><BR/>The Holy See has consistently sought the abolition of the death penalty and his Holiness Pope John Paul II has personally and indiscriminately appealed on numerous occasions in order that such sentences should be commuted to a lesser punishment, which may offer time and incentive for the reform of the guilty, hope to the innocent and safeguard the well-being of civil society itself and of those individuals who through no choice of theirs have become deeply involved in the fate of those condemmed to death. <BR/><BR/>The Pope had most earnestly hoped and prayed that a worldwide moratorium might have been among the spiritual and moral benefits of the Great Jubilee which he proclaimed for the Year Two Thousand, so that dawn of the Third Millennium would have been remembered forever as the pivotal moment in history when the community of nations finally recognised that it now possesses the means to defend itself without recourse to punishments which are "cruel and unnecessary". This hope remains strong but it is unfulfilled, and yet there is encouragement in the growing awareness that "it is time to abolish the death penalty". <BR/><BR/>It is surely more necessary than ever that the inalienable dignity of human life be universally respected and recognised for its immeasurable value. The Holy See has engaged itself in the pursuit of the abolition of capital punishment and an integral part of the defence of human life at every stage of its development and does so in defiance of any assertion of a culture of death. <BR/><BR/>Where the death penalty is a sign of desperation, civil society is invited to assert its belief in a justice that salvages hope from the ruin of the evils which stalk our world. The universal abolition of the death penalty would be a courageous reaffirmation of the belief that humankind can be successful in dealing with criminality and of our refusal to succumb to despair before such forces, and as such it would regenerate new hope in our very humanity. <BR/><BR/>Strasbourg, 21 June 2001.Susannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13100101823323804897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29488869.post-31625281073862840832008-08-14T21:35:00.000-07:002008-08-14T21:35:00.000-07:00I don't doubt that Mrs. Rider is sincerely trying ...I don't doubt that Mrs. Rider is sincerely trying to serve Jesus by doing what she's doing. <BR/><BR/>However, I can't get too excited about someone engaging in civil disobedience to oppose capital punishment, given that faithful Catholics are quite free to disagree on this point. <BR/><BR/>Babies are being slaughtered by the thousands daily, so why break the law to make a futile gesture against a practice that the Church actually recognizes as legitimate under the right circumstances? <BR/><BR/>Moreover, the story as told here is so plainly inaccurate from the beginning that it lacks credibility. Ms. Rider was sent to jail "for praying" during the execution? No, she was sent to jail for trespassing. <BR/><BR/>Lots of other folks were surely praying at the same time and they did not get arrested. That's because they didn't trespass. <BR/><BR/>And, sorry, but the Constitution doesn't give anyone a legal right to trespass in protest simply because they do it out of religious conviction. The judge was right about that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com