Good news for New Orleans. We’re getting a new archbishop Gregory Aymond, who worked actively and visibly in Austin, TX to end the death penalty.
He’s coming to Louisiana at a good time. The LA Supreme Court is doing its best to expedite executions, setting its legal crosshairs first on Antoinette Frank. The Court is intolerant of the fact that LA hasn’t had an execution in seven years.
Reminds me of Chief Justice Rehnquist of the US Supreme Court, who did his level best to oil the legal gears of the death machine. “Let’s get on with it!” was his cry.
Look around. All around the land the death machinery is slowing down. Even Harris County in Texas, the very buckle of the death belt, had ZERO death sentences handed down by juries in 2008.
Archbishop Aymond is not afraid to speak out publicly about the moral wrongness of the death penalty. We welcome his moral leadership.