From Womb to Tomb, Every Life is Sacred
This coming Tuesday, unless clemency is granted by Governor Mike Kehoe, Lance Shockley will be executed. Following a conversion in 2010, Shockley has been an incredible force for good and a spiritual leader – from prison – for his family. The fruits of his life and the transformation he has undergone are readily apparent to all who meet him.1
Yet, it’s not his merits that justify his worth. A person’s life is worth saving whether justly or unjustly convicted, hard-hearted or converted. During a general audience, Pope Leo XIV affirmed, “There is no past so ruined, no history so compromised, that it cannot be touched by God’s mercy.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that the death penalty (previously permitted in rare situations where a criminal was still a threat to society) is no longer needed because “…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.” (CCC 2267)
Mercy and redemption are at the heart of Our Lord’s promise to us. He died for every person, and he allows our circumstances, no matter how difficult, to draw us closer to Him. Indeed, every life is sacred.
Please contact Governor Kehoe TODAY to urge clemency for Lance Shockley at in https://governor.mo.gov/contact-us/mo-governor or (573) 751-3222.
1 St. Louis Review (www.stlouisreview.com/story/a-shoe-repairman-with-a-servants-heart/)