LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE MORE
REFLECTIVE OF CIVILIZED SOCIETY
(A PLEA OF MERCY FOR ROBERT D. GLOCK II)

Tallahassee --- The 1983 murder of Sharilyn Richie was a terrible crime and we express our sincere sympathy for her brutalization and loss of life.  Robert D. Glock is scheduled to die for this crime at 6:00 p.m. on January 11, 2001, after a brief stay by the Florida Supreme Court.  Once again, we ask Governor Bush to halt this execution.

The added violence of this execution is harmful to our society.   Florida law provides for the alternative of life imprisonment without parole.   This legitimized killing by the state coarsens us all.   It is only when society cannot be protected in any other way that the death penalty is justified.  We diminish ourselves as a people by taking away a human life.  Every human life must be respected, even lives of those who fail to show that respect for others.

Society needs to be protected from criminals, but we need not go to the extent of executing them.  The cycle of violence must end.  We must seek justice without vengeance.  "As I live, says the Lord God, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather that he may be converted and live ." (Cf. Ezekiel 33:11)

We are a government of, for and by the people. Let those speak loudly who agree that these executions are not taking place in our names.  We appeal to Governor Bush for mercy in the case of Robert D. Glock, II.

The Florida Catholic Conference is an agency of the Catholic Bishops, established in 1969.  It speaks for the Church in matters of public policy, serves as liaison to government and the legislature, and coordinates communications and activities between the Church and secular agencies.  The Bishops of the seven dioceses of Florida constitute its Board of Directors.