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The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 22 No. 39
Thursday, November 8, 1984
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(
OPENING THE DOORS -- The archdiocese’s
first personal care home for the elderly was
dedicated Sun., Nov. 4 with much celebration and
joy. The home, called Marian Manor, is in the
former Immaculate Heart of Mary convent, and
will house 15 elderly people with a live-in staff.
At the dedication, pictured above, are (1-r)
William Rich, chairman of the board of Catholic
Social Services; Sister Teresa Termini, C.S.J., who
heads CSS Services to the Elderly; Father Jacob
Bollmer, director of CSS; Monsignor Donald
Kiernan, pastor of IHM, Archbishop Thomas
Donnellan and Father Peter Ludden, chancellor.
Executions Rise; So Do Voices Opposed
BY NC NEWS SERVICE
Capital punishment is not a moral or effective
answer to the violence that plagues society, church
leaders, including the U.S. bishops, have argued as
the number of executions continues to climb.
As of Nov. 5, 29 people had been executed in
the United States since the Supreme Court
restored the death penalty in 1976. Recently three
people were executed in a one-week period: Velma
Barfield was executed in North Carolina Nov. 2
and Thomas Barefoot in Texas and Ernest
Knighton Jr. in Louisiana were both executed Oct.
30.
After a 1972 Supreme Court decision striking
down the application of the death penalty as cruel
and unusual punishment, there was a moratorium
on executions while states rewrote their death
penalty laws to conform to the court’s ruling. In
1974 the U.S. bishops, in a brief statement,
declared their opposition to the reinstitution of
capital punishment.
In 1976 the Supreme Court restored the death
penalty under stricter conditions. Thirty-eight
states now have death penalty laws on the books.
In 1980 the bishops at a general meeting
approved a statement arguing that while
theoretically the state has the right to impose the
death penalty, there is no conclusive evidence that
capital punishment deters crime or that it serves as
just retribution.
The 1980 statement said capital punishment
discriminates against the poor.
Pope John Paul II, in his 1983
beginning-of-the-year message to diplomats, asked
for clemency for inmates sentenced to death,
especially political prisoners.
“You can understand . . . why, in its
humanitarian concern, the Holy See is prompted
to recommend clemency and mercy for those
condemned to death, especially those who have
been condemned for political motives,” the pope
said.
The pope did not morally condemn capital
punishment but his remarks reaffirmed Vatican
opposition to the application of the death penalty.
Bishops in Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Maryland and Virginia have spoken out
this year against capital punishment.
“Violence breeds more violence,” the Florida
bishops stated in their unsuccessful appeal for
mercy for convicted murderer Anthony Antone.
Antone was executed in Florida’s electric chair in
January.
Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, USCC general secretary,
said in February that the increased frequency of
executions at the state level “raises the prospect
that publicly sanctioned killing can become a
routine occurrence. This is an ominous possibility
that would dehumanize us all - both victims and
offenders. The use of the death penalty can only
fuel an atmosphere of vengeance and aggravate the
(Continued on page 15)
For Many Cubans,
Penitentiary Is
Endless Sentence
• i
BY GRETCHEN REISER
Last week the tall barricaded windows of the Atlanta
Federal Penitentiary glowed with the light of fires set
inside by Cuban inmates in the latest and most serious
prison disturbance.
At the same time Father Joseph Fahy, a
Spanish-speaking Passionist priest, and Max Munoz, a
parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish and a
Cuban, were inside the prison. It was the time for their
regular Thursday visit to the prison, a schedule which had
been disrupted for the last two or three weeks by sporadic
disturbances and a clamp-down by prison officials.
Normally Father Fahy, Mr. Munoz and a small group of
other Hispanic laymen come to the inmates on Thursdays
for Mass and a small Bible study and prayer meeting. The
work, and other efforts by priests and laymen on other
days during the week, are a small light burning in an area
of the archdiocese overshadowed by great frustration,
anger and difficulty.
There are about 1,500 Cuban men in the penitentiary
right now, according to those visitors and the lawyers who
represent the Cuban group. They are a tiny percentage of
thousands of Cubans who fled the island in 1980 in a
wave of boats to Florida that became known as the
Freedom Flotilla. Because they left from Mariel Harbor,
those who came are also called “Marielitos. ”
The refugee wave was unexpected by U.S. officials and
hurried preparations to deal with it in Florida still resulted
in confusion and difficulty. The numbers who came in are
still disputed, estimated at anywhere from 115,000 to
150,000.
Out of that large number, it is the minority who have
always attracted the most attention and negative
publicity-the small number who have been in prison
either from the beginning or in the years since they
arrived in the United States.
The resettlement of the Freedom Flotilla is actually
“one of the great success stories” of refugee resettlement,
said Dale Schwartz, an immigration lawyer who was one
of two appointed by a federal judge in 1980 to represent
the jailed Cubans. He estimated that about 60,000 of the
Cubans were resettled by the U.S. Catholic Conference
alone.
Yet the good news of resettlement for over 100,000
people cannot help with the plight of those 1,500 who are
in the federal penitentiary here.
Out of that group, an estimated 300 to 400 have been
in jail since they arrived in Florida four years ago and are
judged to be either criminally dangerous or mentally
disturbed. The other 1,000 to 1,100 have been sent to the
federal penitentiary from other parts of the country.
According to Schwartz and others involved in their plight,
these men generally have been arrested for crimes in other
(Continued on page 10)
Famine Relief
The drought and famine which are ravaging the
African nation of Ethiopia have struck the hearts of
many who want to help. Those who wish to make a
donation to famine relief may do so by sending a
check to Catholic Relief Services, 1011 First Ave.,
New York, N.Y. 10022. Stories on the Ethiopian
tragedy appear on page 8.