St. Mark's News & Events for October 22, 2006

Recent news of two scheduled executions in Florida brings rise to the Church's position on the Death Penalty. A statement released by the Florida Bishops states: "In this day of heightened moral awareness, with increasing concerns about execution of the innocent and growing doubts about the fairness and effectiveness of the death penalty, we plead with the State and our Governor to realize that the antidote to violence is not more violence and that we cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing those who have killed others."

Clearly, we need to be protected from criminals but we don't need to go to the extent of executing them. We must pray to stop this cycle of violence and teach our children that the dignity of human life must never be taken away. We have posted the entire document from the Florida Catholic Conference on www.stmarktampa.org, under Announcements. (Or you can request a copy by calling the Church Office). Please take a minute to read this statement and reflect on how we might make a difference in the State of Florida.

On a lighter note, the golf tournament was a HUGE success and I would like to thank the committee headed by Rob Rabil and all the sponsors who made this event happen! Please support them when you can and say thank you! We had one new wrinkle this year with a “Beat the Priest” hole in which they needed to beat me by getting closest to the pin. I’m proud to say only 6 people beat me and I raised over $1000. I won’t mention how many people actually hit it on the green.

Peace,
Fr. David