Reader: In whose authority does La. execute?

Carroll P. Matherne
November 25, 2008
RoseMary Smith Giron
November 28, 2008
Carroll P. Matherne
November 25, 2008
RoseMary Smith Giron
November 28, 2008

Dear Editor:


In America we have separation of church and state. In 1999 while in St. Louis, the late Pope John Paul II stated that “a sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”

God never infringes upon our wills, and because of this, we are free. But for all of our actions, or inactions, we will have to give an account. Since you choose to execute in the name of the state, be very careful, because you will then be infringing upon God’s will. God is Lord of both life and death.


Furthermore the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that if the guilty party can be incarcerated to protect society, the capital punishment of the offender is not justifiable.


The Cardinal who was president of the Papal Commission that wrote the Catechism is now Pope Benedict XVI.

Parish of Louisiana, teach your children, and teach them well. Teach them right from wrong, and may they choose right over wrong. But if they should fail, teach them that to err is human and to forgive is divine. Teach your children that two wrongs do not make a right. Teach your children to choose life over death, and that the violence of capital punishment only begets more violence.

Society will never learn to respect human life when the state hypocritically kills those who have killed.

God protect all children from this wicked, presumptuous, self-righteous and perverse generation that thinks it is doing right when in reality it is doing wrong by executing.

Matthew “Born on the Bayou” Dunnigan,

Rome, Italy