Posted by Jo I came across a quote the other day from Most Rev. David B. Thompson, Bishop of Charleston, that summed up exactly what you have said in your post: "Capital punishment feeds the cycle of violence in society by pandering to a lust for revenge. It brutalizes us, and deadens our sensitivities to the precious nature of every single human life." There is also an interesting editorial for Eureka Street (which also mentions Ronald Ryan - how eye opening, when we fully realize the far reaching effects on so many lives!) by Peter Norden sj and Andrew Hamilton sj. You can read it here: http://info.jesuit.org.au/info/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=470 I wonder at this point, what I can possibly do for Van Nguyen and his poor family ...except pray and hug my own children a little closer than usual and warn them that the world isn't always a forgiving place! --Previous Message-- Link: http://info.jesuit.org.au/info/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=470
on November 29, 2005, 9:10 pm, in reply to "Van Nguyen - I wonder What we all think!"
Kev, thanks for bringing Van Nguyen up for discussion. My heart simply aches for his mother, as I try to IMAGINE the powerlessness she must be experiencing, as well as all the other emotions! They are very much in my heart.
: Today New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark
: had the courage and the compassion to
: confront Singapore's Prime Minister on the
: issue of Van Nguyen's upcoming execution.
: Our own Government has been wringing its
: hands in an impotent kind of impersonation
: of Uriah Heap as it claims that we can do
: nothing.
:
: This is the same mob whose leader only two
: years' ago suggested that we might have a
: discussion on the possibility of
: reintroducing Captial Punishment in
: Australia!
:
: Drug trafficking is of course an awful crime
: and deserves to be punished accordingly.
: Nothing however is worth the deliberate
: taking of another person's life. The trauma
: experienced by the witnesses to the hanging
: of Ronald Ryan in Melbourne's Pentridge Gaol
: in 1967, and the enduring damage done to the
: families of at least one of the judges
: involved in that case, attest to the fact
: that it is not just the excecuted person and
: his or her family who suffer.
:
: The whole of society is demeaned by such
: barbarism, and the existence of a death
: penalty is surely evidence of a society that
: is yet to mature to the point where it can
: deal with serious crime with justice and
: with real wisdom.
:
: Eighty countries, and thirty five U.S.
: States still employ the death penalty, with
: Singapore having the highest per capita rate
: of executions each year.
:
: I pray that we can do better and that our
: leaders can somehow grasp the enormity of
: their mealy-mouthed excuses for not doing
: more to save the life of Van Nguyen.
:
:
:
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