Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Catholic Governor Jindal opposes Catholic Bishops, again

Jindal rejects Catholic Bishops' request to delay Ash Wednesday execution


 
 



wwltv.com
Posted on February 5, 2013  


By MELINDA DESLATTE / Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Gov. Bobby Jindal won't halt a state execution planned for next week of a DeSoto Parish man who murdered his 6-year-old stepson two decades ago.

Jindal spokesman Sean Lansing said Tuesday that the governor sees no reason to intervene in the case.

Christopher Sepulvado is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Feb. 13 for the beating and scalding death of Wesley Mercer.

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Jindal, a Catholic, to stop the execution, which is planned for the Christian holy day of Ash Wednesday.

The bishops group, which represents the seven Catholic dioceses of Louisiana, says the execution at the start of the somber Christian season of Lent "would be inconsistent with the Lenten call for reconciliation and redemption and an unnecessary tragic irony."


>>>ON February 1st all theCatholic Bishops of Louisiana, Archbishop Aymond of New Orleans, Bishop Sam Jacobs of Houma-Thibodaux, Bishop Michael Jarrell of Lafayette, Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge, Bishop Ronald Herzog of Alexandria, Bishop Glen Prevost of Lake Charles, Bishop Michael Duca of Shreveport and Auxiliary Bishop Shelton Fabre of New Orleans signed a statement to halt the Ash Wednesday execution of Christopher Sepulvado. 

The Bishops acknowledge the brutal death of Sepulvado's victim, Wesley Mercer and in no way condone his actions or deny his evil actions. The Bishops do point out that access to the death penalty by the state should be rare and only if totally necessary to protect society.  Sepulvado, if allowed to live would NEVER be freed from Angola.  Furthermore, the Bishops acknowledge the well documented conversion of heart by Sepulvado and the fact that he expresses profound remorse for his crime and has become a faithful Catholic while in Angola.

If executed on Ash Wednesday, an important holy day for all Catholics, Sepulvado will be the 1st Louisiana execution of an individual over the age of 62 since 1722.  Wow.

Burl Cain, the well known warden of Angola said that Sepulvado not only practices his faith inside the walls of prison but ministers to his fellow death row inmates.

But Bobby Jindal, a Catholic, who recently took on the Church over his new found position of free birth control for all over the counter, now tells the Bishops, to heck with ya and my church, fry him.

Sad.

Of course we must always remember the victim here, he was a young boy and his death was painful and cruel.  Prayers for him and his family and all who love him and miss him abound.  Simply put, killing his killer does nothing.  And it certainly violates Catholic teaching.  We will never truly Pro-Life until we understand the totality of the Church's teaching on the death penalty.

1 comment:

  1. "But Bobby Jindal, a Catholic, who recently took on the Church over his new found position of free birth control for all over the counter, now tells the Bishops, to heck with ya and my church, fry him."

    Unlike contraception, capital punishment is *not* intrinsically immoral and the Church has always confessed that is a permissible and sometimes laudable form of justice. It's unfair of you to characterize Jindal as "opposing the bishops" as though he were opposing the Church.

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