Tallahassee, Fla., Aug 21, 2019 / 09:30 am (CNA).- The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is pleading for Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop the execution of Gary Ray Bowles, who confessed to murdering six men during a six month period in 1994.
“As we approach the date of Gary Ray Bowles’ scheduled execution, we urge you to grant a stay,” said an Aug. 14 letter, signed by Michael B. Sheedy, the executive director of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the state’s bishops.
Bowles’ execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 22. He was first sentenced to death in May 1996, after pleading guilty to the murder of Walter “Jay” Hinton, and then re-sentenced to death in 1999 after his initial death sentence was overturned. While in prison for Hinton’s murder, he was convicted of three other murders, and sentenced to two life sentences.
When Bowles was arrested for Hinton’s death, he admitted that he had killed a total of six people. As Bowles’ crime spree spread from Jacksonville, Florida to Montgomery County, Maryland, he was dubbed the “I-95 Killer.”
He killed men in three states, two of which presently use the death penalty. At the time of the crimes, the death penalty was legal in all three states.
Bowles met most of his victims in gay bars, and offered to have sex with them in exchange for money. He would then beat and strangle the men to death, and rob them. At the time he was arrested, he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
The letter said that while Bowles’ “violent actions” ended the lives of six people, and caused “great grief” to their loved ones, “each of us is more than the worst thing we have done.”
“Mr. Bowles is more than a man who committed multiple murders,” said the bishops’ conference.
“He is a human being who survived many years of childhood abuse and, after escaping his stepfather’s violence as a young teenager, endured years of homelessness and child prostitution.”
“Neuroscientific research has found that such traumatic experiences severely affect a child’s developing brain, and thus affect subsequent behavior,” the letter added.
The bishops’ conference wrote that Bowles does not pose a danger to society as long as he remains in prison without parole, and that the death penalty is not necessary. Instead, “premeditated, state-sanctioned homicide of Mr. Bowles would only perpetuate the cycle of violence that victimized him, and which he later perpetuated.”
“Killing him will only further erode the sense of the sacredness of human life and implicate us all – the citizens of the State of Florida – in his death.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, Florida Catholics, as well as others opposed to the death penalty, will be gathering at locations around the state, including the governor’s mansion and across the highway from the Florida State Prison’s Execution Building. They say they will be praying for Bowles, his victims, the families of the victims, and for an end to the death penalty.
If Bowles is executed, he will be the 99th person sentenced to death in Florida since the state reinstituted its death penalty in 1976. His will be the second execution presided over by DeSantis, a practicing Roman Catholic.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty is today “inadmissable,” because “there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes,” and “more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.”
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The trailer of the upcoming Russell Crowe movie “The Pope’s Exorcist” indicates that the film might not do justice to the Italian exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth or the rite of exorcism as practiced in the Catholic Church, according to an exorcist organization Amorth himself helped to found.
The International Association of Exorcists on March 7 voiced concern that the film seems to fall under the category of “splatter cinema,” which it calls a “sub-genre of horror.”
The Vatican, the statement said, is filmed with a high-contrast “chiaroscuro” effect seen in film noir.
This gives the film a “‘Da Vinci Code’ effect to instill in the public the usual doubt: Who is the real enemy? The devil or ecclesiastical ‘power’?” the exorcists’ association said.
While special effects are “inevitable” in every film about demonic possession, “everything is exaggerated, with striking physical and verbal manifestations, typical of horror films,” the group said.
“This way of narrating Don Amorth’s experience as an exorcist, in addition to being contrary to historical reality, distorts and falsifies what is truly lived and experienced during the exorcism of truly possessed people,” said the association, which claims more than 800 exorcist members and more than 120 auxiliary members worldwide.
“In addition, it is offensive with regard to the state of suffering in which those who are victims of an extraordinary action of the devil find themselves,” the group’s statement added. The statement responded to the release of the movie trailer and promised a more in-depth response to the film’s April 14 theatrical release.
Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist of Rome, speaks to CNA on May 22, 2013. Steven Driscoll/CNA
Amorth, who died at age 91 in 2016, said he performed an estimated 100,000 exorcisms during his life. He was perhaps the world’s best-known exorcist and the author of many books, including “An Exorcist Tells His Story,” reportedly an inspiration for the upcoming movie.
Several of Amorth’s books are carried by the U.S. publisher Sophia Institute Press. The publisher’s newly released book “The Pope’s Exorcist: 101 Questions About Fr. Gabriele Amorth” is an interview in which the priest addresses many topics ranging from prayer to pop music.
Michael Lichens, editor and spokesperson at Sophia Institute Press, voiced some agreement with the exorcist group.
“The International Association of Exorcists is right to be concerned and I’m thankful for their words,” Lichens told CNA. “My hope is that audiences will remember that Father Amorth is a real person with a great legacy and perhaps a few moviegoers will look up an interview or pick up his books.”
“This was a man who included St. Padre Pio and Blessed Giacomo Alberione as mentors, as well as Servant of God Candido Amantini, who was his teacher for the ministry of exorcism,” he said. “Father Amorth fought as a partisan as a young man and grew to fight greater evil as an exorcist. His life is an inspiration and I know that his work and words will still reach many.”
Amorth was born in Modena, Italy, on May 1, 1925. In wartime Italy, he was a soldier with the underground anti-fascist partisans. He was ordained a priest in 1951. He did not become an exorcist until 1986, when Cardinal Ugo Poletti, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, named him the diocesan exorcist.
The priest was frequently in the news for his comments on the subject of demonic forces. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in 2000, he said: “I speak with the devil every day. I talk to him in Latin. He answers in Italian. I have been wrestling with him, day in, day out, for 14 years.”
The movie “The Pope’s Exorcist” claims to be “inspired by the actual files of the Vatican’s chief exorcist.” The Sony Pictures movie stars the New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe as Amorth. Crowe’s character wears a gray beard and speaks English with a noticeable accent.
“The majority of cases do not require an exorcism,” the Amorth character says in the movie’s first trailer. A cardinal explains that Crowe’s character recommends 98% of people who seek an exorcism to doctors and psychiatrists instead.
“The other 2%… I call it… evil,” Crowe adds.
The plot appears to concern Amorth’s encounter with a particular demon. Crowe’s character suggests the Church “has fought this demon before” but covered it up.
“We need to find out why,” he says.
The trailer shows short dramatic scenes of exorcism, including a confrontation between Amorth and a girl apparently suffering demonic possession.
The International Association of Exorcists said such a representation makes exorcism become “a spectacle aimed at inspiring strong and unhealthy emotions, thanks to a gloomy scenography, with sound effects such as to inspire only anxiety, restlessness, and fear in the viewer.”
“The end result is to instill the conviction that exorcism is an abnormal, monstrous, and frightening phenomenon, whose only protagonist is the devil, whose violent reactions can be faced with great difficulty,” said the exorcist group. “This is the exact opposite of what occurs in the context of exorcism celebrated in the Catholic Church in obedience to the directives imparted by it.”
CNA sought comment from Sony Pictures and “The Pope’s Exorcist” executive producer Father Edward Siebert, SJ, but did not receive a response by publication.
Amorth co-founded the International Association of Exorcists with Father René Laurentin in 1994. In 2014 the Catholic Church recognized the group as a Private Association of the Faithful.
The association trains exorcists and promotes their incorporation into local communities and normal pastoral care. It also aims to promote “correct knowledge” about exorcism ministry and collaboration with medical and psychiatric experts who have competence in spirituality.
Exorcism is considered a sacramental, not a sacrament, of the Church. It is a liturgical rite that only a priest can perform.
Hollywood made the topic a focus most famously in the 1973 movie “The Exorcist,” based on the novel by William Peter Blatty.
“Most movies about Catholicism and spiritual warfare sensationalize,” Lichens of Sophia Institute Press told CNA. “Sensationalism and terror sell tickets. As a fan of horror movies, I can understand and even appreciate that. As a Catholic who has studied Father Amorth, though, I think such sensationalism distorts the important work of exorcism.”
“On the other hand, ‘The Exorcist’ made the wider public more curious about this overlooked ministry. That is a good thing that came out, despite other reservations and concerns,” he continued. “Still, I would love it if a screenwriter and director spoke to exorcists and tried to show the often-quotidian parts of the ministry.”
An unhealthy curiosity can be a problem, Lichens said.
“When I work as a spokesperson for Amorth’s books, I am always concerned about inspiring curiosity about the demonic,” he told CNA. “As Christians, we know we have nothing to fear from the demonic but curiosity might lead some to want to seek out the supernatural or the demonic. Father Amorth has dozens of stories of people who found themselves afflicted after party game seances.”
Lichens encouraged those who are curious to read more of Amorth’s writings, some of which are excerpted on the Catholic Exchange website. Sophia Institute Press has published “Diary of an American Exorcist” by Monsignor Stephen Rosetti and “The Exorcism Files” by the American lay Catholic Adam Blai.
“First and foremost, Father Amorth was involved in a healing ministry,” Lichens said. “Like other exorcists, his work often involved doctors in physical and mental health because the goal is to bring healing and hope to the potentially afflicted.”
“Those of us who read Amorth might have been excited to read firsthand accounts of spiritual warfare, but readers quickly see a man whose heart was always full of love for those who sought his help,” he added.
The International Association of Exorcists, for its part, praised the 2016 documentary “Deliver Us,” saying this shows “what exorcism really is in the Catholic Church and “the authentic traits of a Catholic exorcist.” It shows exorcism as “a most joyful event,” in their view, because through experiencing “the presence and action of Christ the Lord and of the Communion of the Saints,” those who are “tormented by the extraordinary action of the devil gradually find liberation and peace.”
Attendees at a gathering sponsored by the Napa Institute sing the "Salve Regina" to drone out protesters who demonstrated at the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, California, on July 30, 2022. / Screenshot from Chris Stefanick video
A Border Patrol agent processes a group of unaccompanied Central American minors who crossed the Rio Grande River on May 26, 2021. / Credit: Vic Hinterlang/Shutterstock
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“If Bowles is executed, he will be the 99th person sentenced to death in Florida since the state reinstituted its death penalty in 1976. His will be the second execution presided over by DeSantis, a practicing Roman Catholic.”
So, should DeSantis no longer receive Holy Communion? Does the “eloquent ambiguity” (Barron) of the “inadmissible” death penalty over which the governor presides necessitate his not receiving Holy Communion?
How about governors Cuomo and Murphy?
“The letter said that while Bowles’ ‘violent actions’ ended the lives of six people, and caused ‘great grief’ to their loved ones, ‘each of us is more than the worst thing we have done.'”
Consoling words for the victims’ families. Yes, even a serial killer isn’t killing 24/7.
And true, this could also be said about Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung and the beloved Castro…true also for sexual predators in the Catholic Church…who have caused that standard of “great grief.”
This is what you end up with when you graft “person” (and the “dignity” of “person” onto the body/soul unity (which is already the “person”): a bogus Thomism… a Platonic realm really…where you can NEVER lose that “dignity” or choose against that “dignity”…where everyone is saved…even before they repent…with no need to consider “justice” or a sense of “penalty.”
Yes, don’t “perpetuate that cycle of violence.” And while we’re at it…don’t perpetuate the cycle of consumerism and lavish materialism by seeking restitution of monies embezzled from parishes and chanceries by the clergy and hierarchy. Why perpetuate the cycle of “great grief” by putting sexual predators (and thieves) in jail vs retiring them quietly which is much less minus “great grief? ” BTW…isn’t life imprisonment also “inadmissible” or soon to be?
“Premeditated, state-sanctioned homicide?” Far worse than a killing spree or simply not much difference?
“Killing him will only further erode the sense of the sacredness of human life and implicate us all – the citizens of the State of Florida – in his death.” Not in my book.
Someone goes on a killing spree and what best promotes the “sacredness of human life”…why does this article omit any mention of Bowles’ sense of remorse, repentance…and guess what else is omitted? A lot of facts!!!
Bowles and his defense team did NOT raise an issue of mental impairment until 2017. In a calculated way he used false documents to evade capture. Research Bowles! (Aside from the history of the Church’s Teaching on Capital Punishment).
For a start (scroll down to Bowles in second link):
The right of the state to use the death penalty is unequivocally affirmed by the natural law, sacred scripture, tradition and the ordinary universal magisterium of the Church, which, according to The First Vatican Council, is infallible. In other words, it is an irreformable teaching of the Church. Any Catholic who denies this reality (including Bishops and the Pope). Is a heretic.
One of the victims was a member of a local business family, a vulnerable, 72 yr. old, brain injured, WWII veteran. The police officer who viewed the crime scene said it was an example of “over kill.” Horribly brutal.
The Catholic bishops are within their rights to claim this execution was unnecessary. From a vantage point of Catholic teaching, that may well be. But the psychological excuses claimed by the bishops for the perpetrator were unnecessary also.
“If Bowles is executed, he will be the 99th person sentenced to death in Florida since the state reinstituted its death penalty in 1976. His will be the second execution presided over by DeSantis, a practicing Roman Catholic.”
So, should DeSantis no longer receive Holy Communion? Does the “eloquent ambiguity” (Barron) of the “inadmissible” death penalty over which the governor presides necessitate his not receiving Holy Communion?
How about governors Cuomo and Murphy?
“The letter said that while Bowles’ ‘violent actions’ ended the lives of six people, and caused ‘great grief’ to their loved ones, ‘each of us is more than the worst thing we have done.'”
Consoling words for the victims’ families. Yes, even a serial killer isn’t killing 24/7.
And true, this could also be said about Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung and the beloved Castro…true also for sexual predators in the Catholic Church…who have caused that standard of “great grief.”
This is what you end up with when you graft “person” (and the “dignity” of “person” onto the body/soul unity (which is already the “person”): a bogus Thomism… a Platonic realm really…where you can NEVER lose that “dignity” or choose against that “dignity”…where everyone is saved…even before they repent…with no need to consider “justice” or a sense of “penalty.”
Yes, don’t “perpetuate that cycle of violence.” And while we’re at it…don’t perpetuate the cycle of consumerism and lavish materialism by seeking restitution of monies embezzled from parishes and chanceries by the clergy and hierarchy. Why perpetuate the cycle of “great grief” by putting sexual predators (and thieves) in jail vs retiring them quietly which is much less minus “great grief? ” BTW…isn’t life imprisonment also “inadmissible” or soon to be?
“Premeditated, state-sanctioned homicide?” Far worse than a killing spree or simply not much difference?
“Killing him will only further erode the sense of the sacredness of human life and implicate us all – the citizens of the State of Florida – in his death.” Not in my book.
Someone goes on a killing spree and what best promotes the “sacredness of human life”…why does this article omit any mention of Bowles’ sense of remorse, repentance…and guess what else is omitted? A lot of facts!!!
Bowles and his defense team did NOT raise an issue of mental impairment until 2017. In a calculated way he used false documents to evade capture. Research Bowles! (Aside from the history of the Church’s Teaching on Capital Punishment).
For a start (scroll down to Bowles in second link):
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/victim-of-1994-serial-killings-remembered-as-execution-nears/ar-AAG4TkK
https://p2.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html
May he repent! May God have mercy on his soul!
The right of the state to use the death penalty is unequivocally affirmed by the natural law, sacred scripture, tradition and the ordinary universal magisterium of the Church, which, according to The First Vatican Council, is infallible. In other words, it is an irreformable teaching of the Church. Any Catholic who denies this reality (including Bishops and the Pope). Is a heretic.
Amen.
So what happens if the next Pope reverses this change to the Catechism and decides the death penalty is “admissible” again?
One of the victims was a member of a local business family, a vulnerable, 72 yr. old, brain injured, WWII veteran. The police officer who viewed the crime scene said it was an example of “over kill.” Horribly brutal.
The Catholic bishops are within their rights to claim this execution was unnecessary. From a vantage point of Catholic teaching, that may well be. But the psychological excuses claimed by the bishops for the perpetrator were unnecessary also.