The Diocese of St. Augustine is urging prayer ahead of the scheduled Thursday execution of Gary Ray Bowles, who pleaded guilty to the 1994 murder of Jacksonville's Walter Hinton.
Bowles also confessed to five other murders in Florida, Georgia and Maryland.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed his death warrant, the second of his term, prompting the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops to urge DeSantis to commute the death sentence. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty.
The Most Rev. Felipe J. Estévez leads the Diocese of St. Augustine. He issued a statement on behalf of the bishops, writing in part:
My brother bishops of the Province and I ask the Governor to stay each execution and to seek a commutation of the condemned man’s sentence to life without parole.
We have noted Pope Francis’ characterization of such a 'life sentence' as a death sentence, but we are following St. John Paul II’s admonition to accept incremental improvements when the desired goal is beyond our grasp.
The local diocese has scheduled vigils across the region asking people people to pray for DeSantis along with Bowles, his family, his victims and their family and for society, which the diocese says "continues to impose violence in return for violence."
The vigils have been scheduled at the following locations and times:
Alachua County - Catholic Gators and GCADP will carpool to the Florida State Prison in Starke. They will meet at Emmanuel Mennonite Church, 1236 N.W. 18th Ave., Gainesville, Thursday, Aug. 22, at 4:30 p.m. Participants will attend the prayer service at the prison. Contact: Miriam Elliott at (352) 278-4342
Bradford County - Across the highway from the Florida State Prison Execution Building, Starke, Thursday, Aug. 22, at 5 p.m. Contact: Miriam Elliott at (352) 278-4342.
Duval County - In front of the Duval County Courthouse, 501 W. Adams St., Thursday, Aug. 22, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Contact: Jackie Gunning at (904) 449-3328 or by email at jmgunning@bellsouth.net or Sister Maureen Kelley at (904) 704-0313, email mkelleyop@att.net.
Flagler County - In front of the Flagler County Courthouse, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell, Thursday, Aug. 22 from 5 to 6 p.m. Contact: John Bangert at (301) 318-6832 or by email at astrodude9000@gmail.com.
St. Johns County - In front of the St. Augustine Beach City Hall, corner of A1A and 16th Street, St. Augustine Beach, Thursday, Aug. 22, from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Contact: Nancy O'Byrne at (904) 422-3618 or by email obyrnen@bellsouth.net.
WJCT News has reached out to Gov. DeSantis' office asking for his response to the bishops' plea. This story will be updated if a response is received.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
Prayer vigil and Bowles photos used under Creative Commons license.
