READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/september.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101
September 17, 2009(Rom 12:19) Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
FAITH IN ACTION: Coleman lawyer: 'I try to see Jesus Christ in the face of everyone I defend'
Belleville lawyer John O'Gara, has stood beside people accused of the most heinous crimes committed in the state -- a necropheliac serial killer who targeted children, a murderer convicted of shooting a 9-week-old infant in the face with a shotgun and most recently, a Columbia father and husband accused of strangling his whole family.
"I try to see Jesus Christ in the face of everyone I defend," O'Gara said. "Does that mean I love all my clients or have loved all my clients? Absolutely not. I'm a person like everybody else. There are clients who have pushed every button and make me angry, then I have to draw inspiration from the people who love them."O'Gara, 48, has a new client, Christopher Coleman, former bodyguard for television evangelist Joyce Meyer, who faces the death penalty if he's convicted of the strangulations of his wife and two young sons.O'Gara defends clients facing the death penalty because
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his love of the law and his Catholic faith compels him to do it, he said.
There's a portrait of Thomas Moore, patron saint of lawyers, in the lobby of his office. O'Gara keeps a prayer written by Moore in the center drawer of his desk. O'Gara attended St. Stephen's Catholic Grade School in Caseyville, then Althoff Catholic High School, Quincy College and St. Louis University Law School."I'm a complete product of the Catholic school system," O'Gara said.As a testament to his faith, O'Gara opposes the capital punishment, championing death penalty reforms by former Gov. George Ryan."He really believes that what people do to the least of his brothers and sisters you do to Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Clyde Grogan, O'Gara's friend. "He stands with people who have no one to stand beside them. He's a true Catholic."In 2001, a jury recommended the death penalty for O'Gara client Lorenzo Fayne, who pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of East St. Louis children, but Ryan commuted the sentence to life in prison. In the 20 capital cases O'Gara's represented, it's the only case where one of O'Gara's clients received the death penalty.MORE: Proof That Texas Executed An Innocent Man
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Could Turn Tide On Death Penalty
SEE ALSO: Retired attorney uses "pamphlet power" to fight death penalty
CATHOLIC SENTINEL: Repealing the death penalty
Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 23- "On mad pride and unclean, blasphemous thought"
1. Pride is denial of God, an invention of the devil, the despising of men, the mother of condemnation, the offspring of praise, a sign of sterility, flight from Divine assistance, the precursor of madness, the cause of falls, a foothold for satanic possession, a source of anger, a door of hypocricy, the support of demons, the guardian of sins, the patron of pitilessness, the rejection of compassion, a bitter inquisitor, an inhuman judge, an opponent of God, a root of blasphemy.Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.
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