Possenti
Society President Says Priest Would Be Alive If He Had Handgun
U.S. Newswire
9 Jun 18:11
Priest Would Be Alive Today If He'd Had a
Handgun, Says President
of St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc.
To: National Desk
Contact: John Snyder of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc.
202-326-5259 or 703-418-0849
WASHINGTON, June 9 /U.S. Newswire/ --
"Monsignor Thomas Wells of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington
most likely would be alive today if he'd had a loaded handgun and knew how to
use it," John Michael Snyder, president of the interdenominational,
international St. Gabriel Possenti Society Inc., said here today.
Msgr. Wells, pastor of Mother Seton Roman
Catholic Church in Germantown, Md., was found beaten to death early yesterday
morning
in his Montgomery County rectory.
"This senseless, brutal and tragic murder
of an obviously dedicated and beloved clergyman shows that we need the spirit of
St. Gabriel Possenti now more than ever," stated Snyder.
St. Gabriel Possenti was a Catholic seminarian
who rescued the villagers of Isola del Gran Sasso, Italy from a gang of 20
terrorists in 1860 with a striking, one-shot, lizard-slaying demonstration of
handgun marksmanship. Possenti's fellow Passionist, Rev. Godfrey Poage, C.P.,
recounted the incident is his hierarchically sanctioned 1962 biography of the
Saint, SON OF THE PASSION, published in Milwaukee by The Bruce Publishing
Company. Possenti died in 1862. Pope Benedict XV canonized him in 1920.
The society promotes public recognition of
Possenti, seeking his official Vatican designation as Patron of Handgunners. It
underscores the historical, philosophical and theological bases for the doctrine
of legitimate self-defense. It publishes a monograph on SELF DEFENSE AND THE
BIBLE by Rev. Anthony L. Winfield, an ordained Baptist Minister.
Snyder contrasted yesterday's "probably
avoidable tragedy" with a 1993 incident across the Potomac River in
Annandale, Va., when Rev. Michael R. Duesterhaus of Holy Spirit Roman Catholic
Church used his handgun to shoot and wound an intruder, thus protecting himself
as well as interrupting a burglary. He also recalled that last July, two
cloistered nuns in Tunja, Colombia, 80 miles northeast of Bogota, Sisters Eva
Maria Silva and Luz Adelia Barragan, fatally shot a man, Severo Mendez, who
broke into their El Topo monastery.
Snyder noted that law-abiding citizens in the
United States use firearms defensively up to four million times a year,
according to surveys by criminologist Gary Kleck of Florida State University,
thus preventing or interrupting millions of crimes. He noted also that Professor
John R. Lott, Jr. of Yale University demonstrates in his study MORE GUNS, LESS
CRIME, published in 1998 by the University of Chicago Press, that states which
permit law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns, which 31 states now do,
experience precipitous declines in rates of murder, rape, robbery
and aggravated assault.
Snyder recently presented the St. Gabriel
Possenti Society Medallion and Certificate to Maryland Delegate Carmen Amedori
of Carroll County, author of proposed concealed carry legislation in the state
legislature, "for her promotion of the right of law-abiding citizens to the
means necessary for the defense of life against criminal violence." The
Medallion features an image of Possenti flanked by silhouettes of a lizard and a
handgun surrounded by appropriate lettering.
Previous Medallion recipients of the Medallion
include Suzanna Gratia Hupp, whose parents were murdered during a Killeen, Texas
cafeteria massacre on October 16, 1991 because at the time, according to her,
Texas state law prevented her from carrying her handgun into the cafeteria. She
campaigned successfully for passage of a right to carry concealed law in Texas
and subsequently she won election to the Texas State legislature.
Other previous recipients include Revs. Poage,
Duesterhaus, and Winfield, Archbishop Custodio, Alvim Pereira, Vice President of
the Chapter of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, Reps. Phil Crane of
Illinois, and Bill McCollum and Cliff Stearns of Florida, Sen. Bob Smith of New
Hampshire, author John Lott, and, most recently, Sgt. Andrew "Drew"
Carter of the Texas Rangers. Carter last year brought about the surrender and
arrest of Angel Maturino Resendiz, who became known as the "Railway
Killer" after bludgeoning at least eight people in a two-year crime spree
that spread from Texas to Kentucky to Illinois.
-0-
/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
06/09 18:11
Copyright 2000, U.S. Newswire
