Baltimore mourns Cardinal Keeler, former archbishop

Little Rock, Ark., Apr 18, 2017 / 03:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics in Arkansas and around the country continue to pray for death row inmates in the state, after courts on Monday blocked two executions in an eight inmate, 10 day flurry of executions planned by the governor.

“#SCOTUS upheld stays of execution last night in #Arkansas. But other 5 scheduled this week could still happen,” the Catholic Mobilizing Network, which works to end capital punishment, tweeted April 18.

Several courts handed down multiple decisions on Monday and early Tuesday morning, in a complex drama playing out as Arkansas seeks to execute eight men before its supply of midazolam, a sedative used in the lethal injection process, expires at the end of the month.

One inmate, Jason McGehee, had already been granted a temporary stay last week after a parole board recommended clemency. McGehee was convicted of the 1996 killing of John Melbourne, Jr.

Don Davis and Bruce Ward were both scheduled to be executed April 17, but the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed their executions.

Davis was convicted of the 1992 killing of Jane Daniel, and Ward of the 1989 killing of Rebecca Doss.

The men are claimed to have mental health problems, and the United States Supreme Court is due to hear oral arguments next week in a case involving a defendant’s right to access independent mental health experts during their tiral. The state supreme court granted the stays in light of the pending federal case.

Arkansas appealed the stay on Davis, but did not pursue Ward’s case.

In the early hours of April 18, the US Supreme Court denied Arkansas’ application to vacate the stay on Davis’ execution.

Neither of the men were put to death.

On Monday the Arkansas Supreme Court also made two decisions relating to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin and his decisions.

Griffin had on April 14 ruled that the state’s supply of vecuronium bromide, an anesthetic which induces paralysis and which is the second of the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol, could not be used in the process.

The drug supplier, McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc., had stated that the drug manufacturer prohibits vecuronium for use in executions, and that Arkansas had purchased it under false pretenses. McKesson discovered that the drug was to be used for executions and demanded the state return the drug, promising a refund. The supplier said it refunded the state, which never returned the drug.

However, Griffin also attended a protest against capital punishment outside the governor’s mansion on Friday.

On Monday, the Arkansas Supreme Court forbade Griffin from hearing death penalty-related cases, and referred him to the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission to discover if he violated a state code of judicial conduct.

It also vacated Griffin’s restraining order against the state’s use of vecuronium bromide.

Meanwhile, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated April 17 a federal judge’s preliminary stay of executions which had been handed down April 15.

Federal judge Kristine G. Baker had ruled that the use of midazolam, a sedative, may violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishments.

The sedative has been used in botched executions, and some medical experts have claimed it is not proven to be effective, thus exposing an inmate to the risk of severe pain as the other drugs are administered.

The eighth circuit appeals court rejected Baker’s determination that the executions should be delayed to give courts time to consider whether the use of midazolam is a breach of the Eighth Amendment. The appellate judges wrote that “the equivocal evidence recited by the district court falls short of demonstrating a significant possibility that the prisoners will show that the Arkansas protocol is ‘sure or very likely’ to cause severe pain and needless suffering.”

One appellate judge dissented from the eighth circuit’s decision.

After the US Supreme Court declined to reverse the stay on Davis’ execution, Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, stated: “I am disappointed in this delay for the victim’s family. While this has been an exhausting day for all involved, tomorrow we will continue to fight back on last-minute appeals and efforts to block justice for the victims’ families.”

McKesson filed a complaint April 18 in Pulaski County Circuit Court seeking a restraining order and injunction to prevent the vecuronium it supplied from being used “for something other than a legitimate medical purpose.” The case has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray.

In another case, Baker cancelled an April 18 hearing in which the lawyers for Marcel Williams, who is scheduled to be executed April 24, intended to argue that because of his obesity, Arkansas’ lethal injection protocol is not likely to kill him and could cause organ damage. Williams was convicted of the 1994 killing of Stacy Errickson.

Baker cited the Eighth Circuit’s reversal of her earlier stay in her decision to cancel the hearing.

Both Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, the chair of the US bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee, have spoken out against the planned executions.

Arkansas’ next executions are scheduled to be held the evening of April 20.

[…]

Bishop James Conley leads a eucharistic procession outside Lincoln’s Cathedral of the Risen Christ, one of the passport pilgrimage sites. / Diocese of Lincoln

St. Louis, Mo., Aug 17, 2023 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

A new initiative from the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, aims to bring pilgrims to every corner of the state to visit its many adoration chapels. 

Dubbed the “Eucharistic Passport Pilgrimage,” the diocesan initiative is modeled after the Nebraska Passport, a project of the Nebraska Tourism Commission designed to encourage exploration of the state’s various attractions. 

“The Nebraska Passport Program has been a very popular way to promote Nebraska and its beautiful sites. It is my hope and prayer that our diocesan Eucharistic Passport Pilgrimage will offer an opportunity for thousands of Nebraskans to make a spiritual pilgrimage across our state,” Bishop James Conley wrote in a recent column announcing the new initiative.

“I pray that this might be an occasion of true encounter with our eucharistic Lord, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for true renewal and revival for our eucharistic Lord. And, like the Nebraska Passport Program, [that] we might be inspired to travel across our beautiful state in a spirit of prayer and gratitude.”

The Lincoln Diocese encompasses a large and mostly rural swath of southern Nebraska that stretches from the Missouri River in the east to the border with Colorado. Catholics make up about 94,000 of the diocese’s population of 621,000. The diocese spans nearly 25,000 square miles of territory and 134 total parishes, according to the diocese. 

Conley told CNA that in creating the new passport program, he was inspired by his own love of pilgrimages. Over the years, Conley has walked portions of the Camino de Santiago on three different occasions and this summer walked St. Cuthbert’s Way, a Catholic pilgrimage in northern England near the Scottish border. Conley has been open in recent years about the ways that pilgrimages have helped him greatly with his spiritual, emotional, and mental health.

The idea for the passport, Conley said, is to lead pilgrims to 17 designated eucharistic adoration chapels in Nebraska and offer the pilgrims a stamp on their passport to prove that they went there. Conley said they plan to offer a prize of some sort for any pilgrims who visit all 17 locations (though what exactly the prize will be has yet to be determined).

Conley said he hopes pilgrims will visit the adoration chapels and pray specifically for their intentions as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative by the U.S. bishops that aims to inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. 

Conley said central to the passport project is sharing the importance of visiting and adoring Christ in person. 

“We live in such a digitized virtual world, especially since the pandemic years … Anytime we can get away from our screens and out into God’s beautiful creation, whether it’s on a walking pilgrimage, or up in the mountains, or on the beach, or any time we have contact with the really ‘real,’ it’s a remedy for this world, which is becoming more and more in our head,” the bishop said. 

Father Christopher Eckrich, diocesan master of ceremonies and Conley’s priest secretary, told CNA that they hope to provide pilgrims with a true sense of “adventure” with the passport program. 

“[Visiting all 17 sites] might be harder than people think,” Eckrich said via email. 

“People will have to be strategic as adoration is not offered every day in some places. So, people will only be able to get their stamps on certain days — which will add to the adventure! It’s really about creating a pilgrimage environment for people to discover the beautiful adoration chapels, and churches in our diocese, and go visit places they never would have visited before. And the arduousness adds to the excitement upon its completion.”

The passports debuted after Masses the weekend of Aug. 12-13 throughout the Diocese of Lincoln. The passports include informational literature about the 17 designated sites and a map indicating the locations. 

The passports will remain available for anyone to pick up in the back of churches across the Lincoln Diocese for the next year, Eckrich said. (If a parish runs out, it can request more from the chancery, he said.)

Shannon Mullen contributed to this story. 

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CNA Staff, Oct 19, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- A federal appeals court upheld abortion regulations in the state of Kentucky on Friday. The three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that abortion providers failed to prove that a 1998… […]