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Death penalty opposition is subject of church talk

COURTESY PHOTO Marina Kopko, assistant director of the Diocese of Venice's Respect Life department, meets with the Rev. Frank J. Dewane, bishop of the Diocese of Venice.

By CHRISTINE HAWES CORRESPONDENT

Published: Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 10, 2008 at 6:40 p.m.

Marina Kopko had not given much thought to the topic of the death penalty during her years of working in corporate America. But when she left that dog-eat-dog world and became deeply involved in the Roman Catholic Church in 1998, the death penalty became an issue central to her life.

That is when Kopko, now assistant director of the Diocese of Venice's Respect Life department, began writing to Terry Melvin Sims, the first death row inmate in Florida to be executed by lethal injection.

"By writing to that person, I learned that these men and women are people just like you and I," Kopko said.

"The perception in many is that this person chose to murder, and if a person chooses to murder, they deserve to forfeit their life.

"But we don't go deep enough into the person, or what caused this person to commit this crime," she added.

"It's much easier to just eliminate the problem by executing someone than it is to go to the heart of the problem."

Kopko will outline the church's teachings on the death penalty Wednesday in a rare presentation at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Sarasota. The church's overall message, Kopko says, is respect life and forgive.

It is a topic that is especially timely in Florida, which just resumed execution by lethal injection in July after a two-year moratorium on executions following one inmate's botched death by lethal injection in 2006.

The topic is also especially sensitive for Sarasota County, Kopko says, because the area has been the site of numerous high-profile murders.

"We do have great sympathy and we pray for them," she said. "However, executing a person is not going to bring peace of mind."

The talk is part of the statewide Respect Life Month, which kicked off last week with Respect Life Sunday.

"But while it is an opportunity for people of different faiths to unite, it's sometimes very divisive," she said, noting a vigil for a death row inmate held last month at a Bradenton church that elicited nasty e-mails from people asking variations of, "How can you have a vigil for someone who committed such a horrible crime?"

"Yes, it was horrible,' Kopko said. "but our Catholic Church says we should forgive.

"Not forget, but forgive."


This story appeared in print on page BS4

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  1. KHAYES7356 says...
    October 12, 2008 12:13:37 am

    RE: Link

    I hate to disagree with someone who has "so much experience", but I have several times as much as she has, Death row inmates ARE NOT just like the rest of us! At least I hope they are not.Although she and many others imply that the Catholic Church is totally opposed to the death penalty, it is not! Look at the letter to the Governor about Richard Henyard last month.

    Link

    The implication that people do not choose to murder is without foundation. The perfect example is that of Henyard, anyone who knows anything about the case knows that the statement is not true.They cannot even get the story correct in a letter going to the Governor: NJ did not abolish the death penalty in 2003 AND the statement "more than 120 people who were on death row have been exonerated" is a blatant lie.A little truth may go a lot further than making statements that are very easy to challenge.

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  2. sharpjfa says...
    October 12, 2008 4:53:24 am

    Ms. Kopko makes numerous errors.

    There is no conflict between forgiveness and punishment. Those who have been harmed can forgive the criminal and still undertstand and support that sanction by the state is just and appropriate.

    When it comes to murder, there is an added problem. Where does the forgiveness come from? The murder victim is dead and only the victim holds the moral authority for forgiveness. In the context of the religious, God is the provider of such grace.

    Currently, in Catholic teaching, the death penalty is licit and individual Catholics are free to support the death penalty based upon their own prudential judgements.

    For nearly 2000 years, the Catholic Church has had rational, biblical, theological and traditional teachings supportive of the death penalty.

    Strangely, their newest teachings are founded upon the secular position of a defense of society based upon improved prisons (Evangelium Vitae), which failed to even consider that innocents are more protected by the death penalty.

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