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| September 6, 2008 |
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Catholics gather in prayer against the death penalty
JENNIFER SURGENT | FC ORLANDO | Over the prayerful protests of Florida’s bishops and many Catholics in their flocks, Gov. Charlie Crist declined to halt the July 1 execution of Mark Dean Schwab — the first use of the state’s death penalty in more than a year and a half. Schwab, who was on death row for the April 18, 1991, rape and murder of 11–year–old Junny Rios–Martinez of Cocoa, died by lethal injection at 6:15 p.m. in the state’s death chamber in Starke, about 40 miles southwest of Jacksonville and near the Florida State Prison in Raiford. He was 39. In a June 25 letter, Florida’s nine bishops called on the governor to “set a new standard of respect for life” by stopping the execution. They said they were praying for the victim, and knew they are unable to fully grasp the pain experienced by his family. They lamented, though, that taking the life of another who has killed perpetuates violence as a solution. 
JANET SHELTON | FC Prayer vigils scheduled to coincide with the execution took place in parishes in the dioceses of Palm Beach, St. Petersburg and Venice. A 44–passenger busload of people from two Orlando Diocese parishes took a 90–mile ride to pray outside the building that houses the death chamber. Their prayers — according to interviews at the various vigil sites — were for an end to use of the death penalty, for the young murder victim and his family and friends, for the condemned man and his family and friends, for the governor, for those participating in the execution and for all the people of Florida. “This execution and other executions are being done in our name. We need to take a stand and say ‘not in my name,’” said Barbara Richardson, a member of St. Ann Parish in West Palm Beach, who was among those praying the evening of July 1 with Palm Beach Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito outside the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens. “What the state is doing is wrong. There are other ways to protect society.” The only sounds heard on the cathedral grounds were the slow continuous beats of a drum and cars passing by on busy Military Trail as the crowd of about 50 processed with rosaries in hand carrying a large black and white sign with the words “State–sponsored Killing is Wrong.” In the Diocese of Venice, 15 people attended an execution–time prayer service at St. Thomas More Parish in Sarasota and, outside St. Joseph Parish in Bradenton about 20 people held up signs denouncing the execution and Gov. Crist. “It is not the right of the state to take a life,” St. Joseph parishioner Esther Ricker said. “We need to convince people that this just isn’t right.” 
BOB REDDY | FC The busload of parishioners and others from Our Lady of Lourdes in Daytona Beach and Our Lady of Grace in Palm Bay brought what may have been the sole touch of anti–death–penalty sentiment to the crowd outside the death chamber building. According to news reports, they prayed aloud briefly, then stood in silence, keeping their distance from relatives of the murder victim, who cheered when they heard Schwab had died. “We do not go to judge or condemn but to show compassion, support and mercy,” Nancy Sturm, Our Lady of Lourdes director of faith formation, said early that afternoon in Daytona Beach, as she and the others waited to board the bus. “There’s so much pain the world, prayer is powerful. The family of the young boy are in our hearts, we are there for them, it’s for healing.” The two Orlando Diocese parishes have made it a custom to travel to Starke for executions. In the past, the bus trip has originated at Our Lady of Grace in Palm Bay, 95 miles south of Daytona Beach, and picked up Our Lady of Lourdes passengers on the way. This time, fuel prices prompted the Our Lady of Grace representatives to meet up with the bus by car. Many on the bus, including Sturm, were veterans of the Starke trips. But longtime, active Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners Vivian and Gary Bowden were making the trek for the first time and admitted to being unsure of where they stood on the death penalty. “We are on a journey between two places and feel the Lord has been speaking to us and wants us to experience this, to be there learning,” Bowden said. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, assuming guilt is indisputable, the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty “if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has held for more than 25 years that such instances are rare to nonexistent in the nation, and in 2005 launched a campaign to end use of the death penalty “not only for what it does to those who are executed, but what it does to us as a society. We cannot teach respect for life by taking life.” A series of polls over the years shows Catholics in general are coming around to their bishops’ point of view. Though a November 2004 Zogby International poll on the subject showed slightly more Catholics supported the death penalty than opposed it — 48 percent to 47 percent — the support was down from a previous high of 68 percent. The last person to be executed in Florida was Angel Diaz in December 2006. Mistakes made during his execution resulted in a moratorium on executions in Florida until the state’s lethal injection procedures were reviewed. Following that review, Schwab was scheduled to die last November, but received a stay while the U.S. Supreme Court considered a Kentucky case challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection. The high courts ruling in April that lethal injections similar to Florida’s were not cruel and unusual punishment cleared the way for Schwab’s execution to be rescheduled. ENDNOTE: Linda Reeves, Jennifer Surgent, Bob Reddy and Janet Shelton contributed to this story.
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