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Saying ‘Thanks’

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

“Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.” (Alfred Painter)

On behalf of CCSJ, I would like to thank all those who helped to make our 4th Respect for Life Week a memorable one. Our theme this year was: Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of our Society. Presentations such as Archbishop Harris’ and Dr Terrence Farrell’s – delivered at our opening Conference – will be uploaded on CCSJ’s website. DVDs of the Conference and of most of the panel discussions that took place across the country can be obtained from CCSJ’s Office (Tel: 290 1635).

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Death Penalty Conference: Message from the Archbishop

by Archbishop Joseph Harris
by Archbishop Joseph Harris

Dear friends and participants at this International Conference entitled: “The Death Penalty in the context of Public Security: Neither right nor Effective.” I would have liked to be here with you to add my “two cents” to the public debate on the death Penalty, unfortunately matters of the clergy have me occupied and I am unable to attend.

I would like to say however, from the very outset, that I stand with Francis bishop of Rome on this issue.

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Caribbean hangs on to death penalty

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

Our Caribbean bishops said in their pastoral letter on Capital Punishment (2000): “The prophetic voice of the Church must be heard especially in times of moral and social crisis…regardless of the potential unpopularity of our Gospel message…Capital punishment symbolises a form of despair for the effective reform of persons.”

And in their Pastoral Letter The Gift of Life, the AEC Bishops expressed their “firm desire that the leaders and people of Caribbean society move toward the total abolition of the Death Penalty. Therefore, we should place emphasis on the rehabilitation of the offender rather than on his/her elimination”.

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5TH World Congress against the Death Penalty

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Commentary

Death Penalty – The Value of Life

By Archbishop Joseph Harris
By Archbishop Joseph Harris

Excerpt from ‘Shepherd’s Corner’

Thursday, 2 February 2012

Death Penalty – The Value of Life

The Most Reverend Archbishop Joseph Harris

Archbishop of Port-of-Spain

“What I want to do now is begin to talk a little bit about life, the value of life.  It is the greatest gift that God has given to us; and in our Church there is the pro-life movement, the movement which says life is special, life is a gift of God, life must be maintained, life must be sustained, life must be lived in very human ways and that we, as christians, have to ensure that people live really human lives.  That is what God wants of us as christian people.

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