FATHER LINUS CLOVIS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AN OPTION

Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

- Saint Stephen Prayer from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Local Priest says Capital punishment an option

December 12th, 2016

Catholic Priest, Linus Clovis, has asserted in an exclusive interview with the Times that for some crimes, capital punishment is the only option.

“This is my opinion – nobody else’s,” Clovis declared while noting that the church in the Caribbean has adopted the position that capital punishment should not be exercised.

The Clergyman made the remarks while expressing concern  about crime and  the “horrendous” rape of the elderly as investigations continue here into the burglary, rape and homicide involving 76-year old victim – Rosa Rosemond of Marisule.

In voicing support for capital punishment for some crimes, the Catholic Priest told the Times he was not looking at the issue from a standpoint of vindictiveness.

“I am looking at it as retribution,” Clovis said.

He expressed the view that the persons committing the crimes, until brought face to face with their mortality, do not appreciate that there is a God on the “other side” to whom they have to answer.

“I think when you are faced with your mortality – when you know that you have  only a week, two days, three days, it gives you an opportunity to repent,” Clovis explained.

He referred to the ‘good thief’ who was about to be executed along with Jesus Christ.

“He recognized that his life did not match up to Christ who was suffering patiently and unjustly and he said ‘We – have you no fear of God?’ were his first words, speaking to his brother thief : ‘we are only paying for what we have done wrong; this man is innocent’,” Clovis stated.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/saint-thomas-aquinas-on-death-penalty.html]

The Catholic Priest asserted that there has been a lot of misunderstanding regarding the church’s position on capital punishment.

He explained that the church has not and cannot condemn capital punishment because it is something sanctioned in scripture.

Clovis observed that what happened was that Pope John Paul had said because of the violence, particularly the murder of children in the wombs of their mothers and the devaluation of human life especially of the innocent, the stage was reached where it was possible to incarcerate or find alternative punishment rather than capital punishment.

According to Clovis, John Paul was referring to developed countries which can afford to incarcerate.

“When you come to developing countries and the developing world, can we afford to incarcerate so many criminals when our children do not have the basic necessities to even go to school?” The local Clergyman said.

Clovis presented a number of reasons for the current crime situation locally and offered several suggestions to deal with the problem.

“Personally I think that unless something is really done – and it must begin spiritually, we are going to see even worse crimes,”  he told the Times.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://stluciatimes.com/2016/12/12/local-priest-says-capital-punishment-option#

FATHER IAN TAYLOR URGES REINSTATEMENT OF THE DEATH PENALTY

Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

- Saint Stephen Prayer from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

T&T Priest urges reinstatement of death penalty

December 12th, 2016

  

Trinidad Guardian:-Disgusted by the daily bloodshed and lawlessness sweeping the country, Roman Catholic priest Father Ian Taylor is calling for the death penalty to be swiftly reinstated.

In delivering the sermon during Mass on Saturday night at the St Charles RC Church in Tunapuna, Taylor said the country may never come to terms with last week’s killing of bank employee Shannon Banfield.

Saying that the “country was in a state,” Taylor demanded that Banfield’s killers from “top to bottom” face the hangman within the soonest possible time, as he prayed for justice to be delivered to the young woman’s family.

“Don’t think that criminals are sorry. These men have become hardened criminals. We should feel sorry for the victims and you should be sorry for the victims’ families,” he told the congregation.

“If you take someone’s life then you will pay the penalty of your life.”

He explained that this was the right of the State, which the Roman Catholic Church had previously asked the State not to carry out in a show of mercy to criminals. However, said while he himself would like to see the death penalty reinstated due to the current level of lawlessness, the Church cannot demand that the State hang criminals.

“If the State needs the death penalty to protect its citizenry then let it (State) do so and let it exercise it knowing that God has given the State the right to take life if you murder,” Taylor said.

“We need to pray that the laws in this country are implemented and let it be done so that criminals will take heed. The country has gone lawless and people need to be punished for breaking the laws and that includes people in high places because they are the real criminals. Corrupt men must be brought to justice.”

Banfield, 20 of Mc Carthy Street, Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz, was last seen leaving her work place—RBL’s Independence Square branch—around 4 pm last Monday. She had told her mother, Sherry-Ann Lopez, via phone she was leaving work to purchase items at IAM and company.

Her decomposing body was found last Thursday in a storeroom of the third floor of the building located at Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain.

Taylor said criminals had become so brazen that they were unafraid of the police and of being locked up, adding that jail had become “a nice thing where there were cellphones and even a flat screen TV.”

The priest also lambasted the Police Service for its poor response when his own church was recently robbed. He said he had given the police footage from CCTV cameras showing a man pretending to be a member of the congregation before stealing the offering and calmly walking out of the church.

“After I put everything on a flash drive and give it to the police, the policeman turn and ask me, ‘Well father, what you want to do?’ Imagine that. I should have told him show me where the man is so I could run after him myself,” Taylor said.

He called for prayers to be offered up to the Police Service, which he said desperately needed to weed out its rogue cops.

On the case where a murder accused was allowed to conduct business at a bank unsupervised by police, Taylor said, “That is how we operating now. Somebody smoking something.”

He called on the congregation and the wider community to join forces to combat the crime scourge, firstly by taking communities back from criminal elements. He said discussions were being held to have activities within the parish so that peace could be restored.

Taylor’s sermon was not the only case in which citizens showed their disgust over Banfield and other people’s murders over the weekend. There were two public events in memory of Banfield yesterday in Port-of-Spain, while the families of those murdered over the weekend also spoke openly about the crime scourge and the police and Government’s inability to get a handle on it.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/saint-thomas-aquinas-on-death-penalty.html]

Asked after the Mass whether the death penalty would be a deterrent, Taylor said no one, not even criminals, wanted to die, adding, however, that the death penalty must be exercised frequently. He said personally he did not hold the position that the death penalty should be abolished.

“Secondly, it must be a form of retribution. There must be a form of punishment to suit the crime. When you commit murder the penalty is your life and that is what the scripture says,” he said.

“And the State also has the duty to protect its citizens, because when a person’s life is gone they cannot repeat crimes but when a person gets 15 years and they come out they can repeat what has happened.”

On whether he was worried there may backlash regarding his statements, Taylor said, “I think for myself.”

INTERNET SOURCE: https://stluciatimes.com/2016/12/12/tt-priest-urges-reinstatement-death-penalty#