From October 17th to 19th a group of organizations and individuals from countries of the Greater Caribbean opposed to the application of the capital punishment participated in the International Conference on the Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean organized in Madrid by the Community of Sant’ Edigio.
Author: Web administrator
Report from Death Penalty Conference
![leelaramdeen by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ](https://i0.wp.com/rcsocialjusticett.org/2.0/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/leelaramdeen.jpg?resize=60%2C60)
The Community of Sant’Egidio invited me to attend The First International Conference on The Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean. It was held in Madrid from 17 – 19 October, 2011 and was organized in collaboration with the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, The Puerto Rican Coalition Against The Death Penalty, and the Death Penalty Project. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation sponsored the Conference.
![abpharris By Archbishop Joseph Harris](https://i2.wp.com/rcsocialjusticett.org/2.0/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/abpharris.jpg?resize=150%2C150)
Gospel: Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Raising awareness of lupus
![leelaramdeen by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ](https://i0.wp.com/rcsocialjusticett.org/2.0/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/leelaramdeen.jpg?resize=60%2C60)
There are about five million people worldwide who suffer from Lupus. If you know anyone with this chronic disease you will know how debilitating it is, particularly when it flares up. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes an individual’s immune system to attack its own tissues, cells, and organs. It is not contagious.
![abpharris By Archbishop Joseph Harris](https://i2.wp.com/rcsocialjusticett.org/2.0/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/abpharris.jpg?resize=150%2C150)
Gospel Mt 22:15-21
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”