Saturday, September 15, 2007

The event I missed...

Those of you who have followed my spiritual journey from my former parish to my present situation will probably understand why this grates my nerves. I have tried(and tried and tried) to make things work at the parish we had been members of for over 11 years. Recently, Governor Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky signed death warrant papers for a convicted killer, Ralph Baze. The date, to be exact was August 23rd. Over the Labor Day weekend, Governor Fletcher was a prominent guest of honor at our church festival.
You can read the story of the death warrant here:
Death penalty debate could hinge on local case
Some of our KY bishops just met with Governor Fletcher on September 7th in hopes to change his mind. Mr. Baze is a killer, guilty and should be punished and the families of the victims have a right to see that happens. But for a governor who is a "main event" at a Catholic church festival, it just smacks of trying to please everyone and misrepresentation. Governor Fletcher has also been involved(and cleared) of corruption. He was also involved in a move to take away school bus service from private schools(like Catholics don't pay taxes) which eventually failed.
I just woke up in a mood after I saw the bishops are pleading for Governor Fletcher to commute the death sentence to life without parole. Not the "star" we should have at a Catholic church festival.

2 comments:

Marie said...

I am absolutely PRO-Life. I do not support the death penalty ever. Thank goodness here in Australia we dont have it.

I always remember the story of St. Maria Goretti and how her murderer was forgiven by her in a vision. Her murderer attended St. Maria's canonization.


Peace & blessings to you:)

Marie

Anonymous said...

I would think the priest would have called or written to cancel the appearance as soon as the death warrent was signed! While the Catholic Church does make some concessions for the death penalty, it is such a drastic final option, that it should never be used. There is always hope for a person.

Sometimes I wish we could write anonymous letters to our priests to point out the corrections we would like to see. We have some liturgical abuses that occur on such a frequent basis, I don't think the other parishiners even realize it's wrong! Ah, well, priests are human too.

God Bless!