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Missouri Set to Execute Man with Developmental Disabilities
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Contact Governor Nixon and let him know
such an execution violates all standards of decency!
November 3 is the execution date for a man with lifetime developmental disabilities.
In 2001 Missouri banned the execution of persons with developmental disabilities (formerly referred to as mental retardation). One year later the U.S. Supreme Court banned the practice because it violated the 8th Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Despite these safeguards Missouri is set to execute Ernest Lee Johnston, an individual with developmental disabilities.
Ernest Lee Johnson has had seven IQ tests administered in his life. All but one score was in the intellectually disabled range (below an IQ of 70). He was retained three times during his school years and was either in "ungraded" or Special Education classes for his entire academic career. When he quit school at 16 he was still reading on the second grade level. He also has suffered from lifelong limitations in adaptive behaviors, including not being able to successfully hold a job or being able to live independently in his adult years.
Raised in a physically and sexually abusive family by a mother who was addicted to drugs and alcohol, Johnson also exhibits signs of brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and several head injury accidents.
Please contact Gov. Jay Nixon at 573-751-3222 or email and urge him to show mercy to Ernest Lee Johnson. To execute a person with intellectual disabilities would violate all standards of decency and serve no penological purpose. |
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Catholic Medical Providers Urge Lab to Sever Ties with Abortion Industry
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 Dr. David Stansfield, president of the St. Louis Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, is asking Pathology Services, Inc. to "resign your business relationship with Planned Parenthood and discontinue accepting their surgical specimens." In a letter to Dr. James R. Miller, the owner of the laboratory, Dr. Stansfield states:
"Your cooperation with Planned Parenthood in the taking of innocent human life is real and undeniable. By agreeing to take the human remains of these children aborted at Planned Parenthood, you are facilitating and morally cooperating with this evil."
This is a courageous step for our Catholic health care providers. Click Stansfield letter to read the entire text. |
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Pathology Services, Inc.: Sloppy Bookkeeping; Sloppy Business?
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Pathology Services, Inc. in St. Louis, the lab that has been examining fetal remains from abortions performed at St. Louis Planned Parenthood, has a history of sloppy bookkeeping practices - at least as to its corporate documents.
A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article reveals that the lab has missed corporate filings in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, the three states in which it operates. Its current Missouri corporate status as of September 21st is "administratively dissolved or revoked" for failure to file an annual report.
Filing corporate documents with the Secretary of State's office is a routine, pro forma process. If Pathology Services, Inc. is sloppy in this business practice, what other business practice is it performing in a sloppy manner? |
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Don't Forget to Write Dr. Miller at Pathology Services, Inc.
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 Last week we sent an Action Alert to all our network members urging letters to Dr. James R. Miller, the owner of Pathology Services, Inc., the laboratory that accepts for pathological examination the remains of unborn children aborted as late as the 20th and 21st week of fetal development. The plea to Dr. Miller is for the laboratory to quit assisting the abortion industry by no longer accepting these "specimens" from St. Louis Planned Parenthood.
If you have not yet sent your letter to Dr. Miller, you can do so now. Click MCC Alert to send him a pre-composed letter. |
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Dame Magazine Doesn't Like Missouri's Effort to Close Down the Abortion Industry
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The national magazine, Dame: For Women Who Know Better, does not approve of efforts in Missouri to close down the abortion industry. In a recent article, Robin Marty complains about the General Assembly's investigations into Planned Parenthood. A letter from Missouri Catholic Conference executive director Mike Hoey to Pathology Services, Inc. urging the laboratory to get out of the abortion business is also quoted. The tragic fate of unborn children destroyed by Planned Parenthood, however, is never discussed. Read "Say Good-bye to Abortion Access." |
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Nebraska to Have Statewide Vote on Death Penalty Ban
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The death penalty saga continues in Nebraska. This past week the Nebraska Secretary of State certified signatures on a petition drive mounted to re-instate the death penalty in the state.
In May, a bill abolishing the death penalty was passed by the unicameral legislature only to be vetoed by Governor Pete Ricketts (R). During a dramatic veto session lawmakers then overrode the veto with the exact number of votes needed.
Governor Ricketts then helped organize and fund a petition drive to put the measure before the citizens of the state in November, 2016. The Nebraska Secretary of State has certified that Nebraskans for the Death Penalty has collected over 143,00 valid signatures.
The state has not executed anyone since 1997 and does not currently possess any drugs to carry out lethal injections. |
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Archbishop Carlson Responds as Arsonist Torches Seventh St. Louis Church
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 An arsonist is torching churches in St. Louis, including two Catholic Churches in the City. While not burning the structures to the ground, the perpetrator is targeting churches in what appears to be an effort to send a message. What that message happens to be is anyone's guess.
This week, Archbishop Carlson issued a public statement, in which he calls for prayers for the perpetrator. For more on this story, click here. |
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What Does Real Leadership Look Like?
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In 1996 the late Cardinal George Basil Hume addressed the British Parliament on what he considered essential attributes for any leader. Here is one passage from that talk worth recalling as Americans approach the 2016 electoral season:
Leaders in all walks of life, whether in business, politics or the media, local or national, have a role in articulating a vision for the people they lead and influence. There is a judgment to be made by those in positions of leadership about what it is in others to which they will seek to appeal. Is it to the best, the noblest in people, to their generosity and capacity for sacrifice, to the desire to be open to others? Or do they appeal to the worst in people, to their greed, their selfishness, to their fears and prejudices? Do we encourage the good in people or do we exploit the bad? The kind of society we become depends in large measure upon the answers. |
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Largest Image Ever of Milky Way
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 Weary of the often petty nature of American politics? Look to the stars! Astronomers have unveiled a 46-billion-pixel view of the Milky Way. The images were stitched together from images taken from an observatory in northern Chili between September 2010 and May 2015. Explore the Milky Way.
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St. Louis Archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate to Host 39th Annual Convention Sunday
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 The 39th Annual St. Louis RLA Convention will be held this year in St. Charles, MO on Sunday, October 25th at the St. Charles Convention Center. Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President and CEO of Americans United for Life, will keynote the event. In addition, there will be seven different seminars offered on issues ranging from physician-assisted suicide to understanding spiritual warfare to reaching youth with the pro-life message. Don't miss it! The event begins with Mass at 9:30, and the program begins at 11:30. For more information, visit STLRespectLife.org, or call 314-792-7555. |
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